Sense relations words would not exist without their

Sense relations

words would not exist without their meanings l The specific field of linguistics that studies meanings is semantics. l synonymy, hyponymy and antonymy l

SYNOMYMY l Synonymy is the relationship between two words that have the same sense. This is a strict definition of synonymy – the identity of sense. Some linguists, however, consider synonymy a similarity of meaning. l EXERCISE: Do the following pairs have the same sense: The thief tried to CONCEAL / HIDE the evidence. I am going to PURCHASE / BUY a new coat. These tomatoes and LARGE / RIPE. This is a very LOOSE / SHORT definition. You have my PROFOUND / DEEP sympathy. It is a very WIDE / BROAD street.

EXERCISE: Are these sets of words synonymous: He comes to see us every AUTUMN / FALL. Nothing is more precious to us than our FREEDOM / LIBERTY. The body was found in the BOOT / TRUNK of the car. We’ve just bought a new HOUSE / APARTMENT. How do they differ? Which ones have dialectal, stylistic or social associations /differences? l

At least one meaning identical Deep/profound You have my deep / profound sympathy. The lake is deep / profound. l Wide/broad She speaks with a very wide / broad Scottish accent. The river is very broad / wide at this point l l Most often, synonyms share at least one meaning, while with the change of context, they both change their meaning, and lose their referential identity with the other member of the pair.

Polysemy and conversion My head hurts. He is the head of the family. Let’s head out. Keep you head on your shoulders. Lets hide from mommy! The thief hid the money upon leaving the crime scene

Paraphrase A similar relationship can be found at the sentence level, where a synonymous sentence is actually a paraphrase: l John is the parent of James. l James is the child of John A paraphrase is to a sentence what a synonym is to a lexeme

HYPONYMY l l l Hyponymy is a sense relation between lexemes such that the meaning of one lexeme is included in the meaning of the other. hyperonym hyponym plants flowers rose trees carnation weeds

Pig l Virtue l Tree l Emotion l Family l Institutions l Furniture l Color l

ANTONYMY Antonymy is a sense relation in which oppositeness of meaning is observed. l Exercise: What are the opposites of: hot thick buy lend male dead lunch liquid

Antonymy can be: l l BINARY ANTONYMY CONVERSENESS GRADABLE ANTONYMS CONTRADICTION

BINARY ANTONYMY Binary antonyms come in pairs and between them exhaust all the relevant possibilities. If one is applicable, the other cannot be, and vice versa. l true – false l dead – alive l married – unmarried l same – different

Four-way contrast Male Female Adult Man Woman Non-adult Boy girl

Some other terms complementarity l complementary antonyms l l Multiple incompatibility

CONVERSENESS If a lexeme describes a relationship between two things (or people) and some other lexeme describes the same relationship when the two things are mentioned in the opposite order, then the two lexemes are CONVERSES of each other Exercise: Are the following pairs of expressions converses? 1. below – above 2. grandparent – grandchild 3. love – hate 4. conceal – reveal 5. greater than – less than 6. own – belong to

GRADABLE ANTONYMS Two lexemes are GRADABLE antonyms if they are at opposite ends of a continuous scale of values (a scale which typically varies according to the context of use). EXERCISE: Are the following gradable antonyms: tall –short long – short clever – stupid top – bottom love – hate

EXERCISE Classify the following pairs as binary antonyms, multiple incompatibles, converses or gradable antonyms: l cat – dog l easy – difficult l good – bad l better than – worse than l deciduous – evergreen l pass – fail l urban – rural