Understanding Lexical Structure: Antonymy, Hyponymy, and Components
Antonymy refers to words with opposite meanings, divided into gradable and non-gradable categories. Hyponymy involves one term's meaning being included in another. Relational opposites show reversal of relationships, while componential analysis breaks down word meaning into distinct elements.
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Lexical Structure Eighth Lecture/ Part 2 Third Year/ Evening Classes Translation Department/ College of Arts/ Mustansiriyah University Lecturer Zayneb Elaiwi Sallumi (PhD)
Antonymy O The term antonymy is used for oppositeness of meaning ; two forms with opposite meanings are called antonyms. O Some common examples are the pairs: alive/dead, big/small, happy/sad, hot/cold, long/short, male/female, married/single, old/new, rich/poor, true/false. O Antonyms are usually divided into two main types: gradable opposites along a scale non-gradable direct opposites
Gradable antonyms O Gradable antonyms, such as big/small, can be used in comparative constructions like I m bigger than you and A pony is smaller than a horse. O The negative of one member of a gradable pair does not necessarily imply the other. For example, the sentence My car isn t old does not necessarily mean My car is new.
Non-gradable antonyms O With non-gradable antonyms (also called complementary pairs ) , comparative constructions are not normally used. We don t typically describe someone as deader or more dead than another. O The negative of one member of a non-gradable pair does imply the other member. That is, My grandparents aren t alive does indeed mean My grandparents are dead.
Hyponymy O When the meaning of one form is included in the meaning of another, the relationship is described as hyponymy. O Examples are the pairs: animal/dog, dog/poodle, vegetable/carrot, flower/rose, tree/banyan.
Relational Opposites A quite different kind of opposite is found with pairs of words which exhibit the reversal of a relationship between items. Examples: buy/ sell, lend/ borrow, husband/ wife, parent/ child Relations are often characterised by logicians in terms of symmetry, transitivity, and reflexivity.
Components O Analysis in terms of components is the total meaning of a word seen in terms of a number of distinct elements or components of meaning. O Componential analysis attempts to treat components in terms of binary opposites, e.g., between (male) and (female), (animate) and (inanimate), (adult) and (non adult). O Notationally, we can express the existence or non-existence of pre-established semantic properties by using plus and minus signs, e.g., baby is [+ young], [+ human], [+animate]
