Sofiya Bulyk-Verkhola

Lviv PolytechnicNational University

ANTONYMIC RELATIONS  IN THE UKRAINIAN MUSICAL TERMINOLOGY

© Bulyk-Verkhola S. Z., 2016

Antonymy is a wide-spread phenomenon in Ukrainian musical terminology. Antonyms play a positive part in term system organization. Antonymous relations allow emphasizing a deep-laid essence of the concepts to be opposed, help determine the place of every single term in musical terminology and contribute to the entire perception of scientific information.

Keywords: Ukrainian language, musical terminology, аntonym, аntonymous relations, semantics.

Antonyms system is an important feature of the terms systematic organization on the paradigmatic relations level. Still, each phenomenon or notion is perceived deeper and more vividly during comparison and looking for antithesis.

As for the expression plan, the antonymic units in the Ukrainian musical terminology are divided into the one-component simple (lyargo (largo) – presto (presto)) and compound (odnoholossya (monophony) – bahatoholossya (polyphony)), and the terminological compounds (zmenshenyi tryzvuk (reduced triad) – zbil’shenyi tryzvuk (increased triad)).

The most productive way of the polar notions expression is joining the prefixes de-, a-, dys- to the term with the affirmative semantics: kreshchendo (crescendo) – dekreshchendo (decrescendo), tonal’nist’ (tonality) – atonal’nist’ (atonality), harmoniya (harmony) – dysharmoniya (disharmony). In addition to the single-root antonymy based on the prefixes correlation, there are antonyms pairs in the musical terminological system, in which antonymic relations are built on the opposition of the first components of the compound words and the similar second components. So, the contracted bases makro- (macro-) and mikro- (micro-) contain the features of the size opposition: makrostruktura (macrostructure) – mikrostruktura (microstructure). The contracted bases of the Greek origin mono- (mono-) ((odno -) (single)) and poli- (poly-) ((bahato-) (many-) are used for expressing the opposition of the singularity or plurality expressed by the second component of the compound word: monotematyzm (monothematic technique) – politematyzm (polythematic technique), monokhord (monochord) – polikhord (polychord). The respective structural types are also present among the Ukrainian terms: odnoholossya (monophony) – bahatoholossya (polyphony). In the above mentioned examples the antonymy of one component of the compound term causes the antonymy of the entire compound term.    

The antonymic relations have been found among the terms that are contrasted by the following features: the phenomena, objects properties (holovni holosy (main voices) – suprovidni holosy (accompanying voices)), the feature presence or absence (zvuchannya (sounding) – bezzvuchnist (soundless)), quantitative relations (odnoholossya (monophony) – bahatoholossya (polyphony)), location (nadstrunnyk (above-string) – pidstrunnyk (under-string), actions or features direction (vyshidna sekventsiya (ascending sequence) – nyzhidna sekventsiya (descending sequence), size (velykyi symfonichnyi orkestr (great symphony orchestra) – malyi symfonichnyi orkestr (small symphony orchestra). 

The antonyms are present in different thematic groups of the musical terminology: the moods and tonalities names: mazhor, mazhornyi lad (major) (fret with the big triad in the basis) – minor, minornyi lad (moll) (fret with the small triad in the basis); musical times names: andante (slowly) – allegro (quickly, merrily); the singers voices names: verkhniy holos (canto) – nyzhniy holos (lowest part), the professions, specialities, roles names: spivak (singer) – hrets’, hravets’(player); the musical actions and processes names: zvuchannya (sounding) – bezzvuchnist (soundless); the musical samples compound parts: teza (thesis) (heavy part) – arza (arza) (light part).

The antonymic relations contribute to the deep penetration into the essence of the contrasted notions; they provide the possibility to perceive the special arts information in all its complexity and with systematic approach, defining each term place in the musical terminology. Antonymy plays positive part in the musical system arrangement.

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