【正文】 in every direction like rayes. Concatenation, meaning ‘linking together’, is the semantic process in which the meaning of a word moves gradually away from its first sense by successive shifts until.Unlike radiation where each of the derived meanings is directly connected to the primary meaning, concatenation describes a process where each of the later meaning is related only to the preceding one like chains. Generally, radiation precedes concatenation. In many cases, the two processes work together, plementing each other.5 Homonyms are generally defined as words different in meaning but either identical both in sound and spelling or identical only in sound or spelling. 6 Based on the degree of similarity, homonyms fall into three classes: perfect homonyms, homographs and homophones. Perfect homonyms are words identical both in sound and spelling, but different in meaning. Homographs are words identical only in spelling but different in sound and meaning. Homophones are words identical only in sound but different in spelling and meaning. Of the three types, homophones constitute the largest number and are most mon.7 There are various sources of homonyms: change in sound and spelling, borrowing, etc. Change in sound and spelling. Some homonyms are native by origin, derived from different earlier forms in Old English. The change in sound and spelling gradually made them identical in modern English.Borrowing. As a result of heavy borrowing from other languages, many words of foreign origin coincide in sound and/or spelling with those of native origin or with those of other foreign origin.Shortening. Many shortened forms of words happen to be identical with other words in spelling or sound.8 The fundamental difference between homonyms and polysemants lies in the fact that the former refers to different words which happen to share the same form and the latter is the one and same word which has several distinguishable meanings. One important criterion is to see their etymology. homonyms are from different sources whereas a polysemant is from the same source which has acquired different meanings in the course of development. The second principal consideration is semantic relatedness. The various meanings of a polysemant are correlated and connected to one central meaning to a greater or lesser degree,On the other hand, meanings of different homonyms have nothing to do with one another.In dictionaries, a polysemant has its meanings all listed under one headword whereas homonyms are listed as separate entries. 9 Synonymy is one of the characteristic features of the vocabulary of natural languages. Synonyms can be defined as word different in sound and spelling but most nearly alike or exactly the same in meaning. Synonyms might be defined as ‘one of two or more words in the English language which have the same or very nearly the same essential meaning. In other words, synonyms share a likeness in denotation as well as in part of speech. 10 Synonyms can be classified into two major groups: absolute synonyms and relative synonyms. Absolute synonyms also known as plete synonyms are words which are identical in meaning in all its aspects. both in grammatical meaning and lexical meaning, including conceptual and associative meanings. It is observed that absolute synonyms are rare in natural languages and some people even hold that such synonyms are nonexistent. Absolute synonyms are restricted to highly specialized vocabulary.Relative synonyms also called nearsynonyms are similar or nearly the same in denotation, but embrace different shades of meaning or different degrees of a given quality.11 Sources of Synonyms:Borrowing. Modern English is extremely rich in synonyms, which e from different sources. Dialects and regional English, Figurative and euphemistic use of words, Coincidence with idiomatic expressions12 The differences between synonyms boil down to three areas: denotation, connotation, and application. Difference in denotation. Synonyms may differ in the range and intensity of meaning. Some words have a wider range of meaning than others.Difference in connotation. By connotation we mean the stylistic and emotive colouring of words. Some words share the same denotation but differ in their stylistic appropriateness.Difference in application. Many words are synonymous in meaning but different in usage in simple terms. They form different collocations and fit into different sentence patterns.13 Antonymy is concerned with semantic opposition. Antonyms can be defined as words which are opposite in meaning. Contradictory terms. These Antonyms truly represent oppositeness of meaning. They are so opposed to each other that they are mutually exclusive and admit no possibility between them. The assertion of one is the denial of the other. In other words, if one of the pair is true, then the other cannot be.Contrary terms. Antonyms of this type are best viewed in terms of a scale running between two poles or extremes. The two opposites are gradable and one exists in parison with the other.Relative terms. This third type consists of relational opposites. The pairs of words indicate such a reciprocal social relationship that one of them cannot be used without suggesting the other. This type also includes reverse terms, which prise adjectives and adverbs signifying a quality, or verbs and nouns signifying an act or state that reverse the quality, action or state of the other.14 Some of the Characteristics of Antonyms Antonyms are classified on the basis of semantic opposition. A word which has more than one meaning can have more than one antonym. Antonyms differ in semantic inclusion. Contrary terms are gradable antonyms, differing in degree of intensity, so each has its own corresponding opposite. Some words can have two different types of antonyms at the same time, one being the negative and the other opposite.15 The Use of AntonymsAntony