INTRODUCTION This essay aims to study the classification of antonyms in English.. The focus of the paper is on the use of antonyms in specific English texts froma linguistics perspective
lOMoARcPSD|38895030 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO UBND THÀNH PHỐ HẢI PHÒNG TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HẢI PHÒNG KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ BÀI TẬP LỚN Học phần: Ngữ Nghĩa Học Tiếng Anh Sinh viên: Phạm Thị Khánh Huyền (193122201057) – 29/06/2001 Nguyễn Phương Linh (193122201148) – 14/01/2001 Hoàng Thị Ngọc Mai (193122201120) – 03/12/2001 Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Trâm (193122201075) – 29/11/2001 Lớp: DHNNA2.K20 HẢI PHÒNG - 2022 Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38895030 HAIPHONG UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT Mid-course Assignment Subject: Semantics Topic: A study on the classification of antonyms in English Student: Pham Thi Khanh Huyen (193122201057) – 29/06/2001 Nguyen Phuong Linh (193122201148) – 14/01/2001 Hoang Thi Ngoc Mai (193122201120) – 03/12/2001 Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram (193122201075) – 29/11/2001 Class: DHNNA2.K20 Haiphong, October 2022 Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38895030 Part 1 INTRODUCTION This essay aims to study the classification of antonyms in English This article aims to study antonyms in English texts The meaning of the study is presented first, then the definition of the antonym and its classification are detailed with examples The focus of the paper is on the use of antonyms in specific English texts from a linguistics perspective, where numerous examples of antonyms are cited to help illustrate and demonstrate that Understanding and learning about antonyms can help understand different texts and the development of literature In linguistics, one of the most important fields is semantic relations, specifically lexical relations, including synonyms, antonyms, antonyms, etc meaning, which have long been considered one of the most important semantic relations Human thinking and language are closely related, and the meaning of antonyms in human thinking is necessarily reflected in human language Besides, this would explain the existence of a large number of antonyms in the vocabulary of the human language Antonym is one of the very useful semantic relations Antonym pairs are often used in texts and in a large number of proverbs and idioms to achieve a rhetorical effect, for example, "you with everyone is friends with no one", regardless of that in common speech or literature In addition, antonyms play an extremely important role in language teaching and learning, which can be expressed in many definitions Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38895030 Part 2 MAIN CONTENTS 2.1 DEFINITION An antonym is a word that has the opposite meaning of another word For example, the word small means limited size, while big means large size Happy, a feeling of gladness, is an antonym for sad, a feeling of sorrow Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs can all have antonyms, though not all do A word can also have multiple antonyms For example, the words fast, quick, speedy, swift, and rapid are all antonyms of the word slow Even antonym has an antonym! The opposite of an antonym is a synonym, which is a word that has the same meaning as another word For example, a synonym of the word fast would be quick—both describe something that moves with speed 2.2 TYPES A Lyons’s classification (1) Antonyms Proper (gradable antonyms) Gradable antonymy is the commonest type of antonymy The antonym pairs like hot/cold, big/small, and tall/short all belong to the gradable antonyms We can find that they are mainly adjectives The gradable antonymy has three characteristics: first, as the name suggests, they are gradable, that is, the members of a pair differ in terms of degree; second, antonyms of this kind are graded against different norms; third, one member of a pair, usually the term for the higher degree, serves as the cover term (Hu, 2001, p.164) - As for the first characteristic, it also means that if you deny one thing, you do not necessarily affirm the other And pairs of antonyms can have comparative and superlative degrees For example, "good" and "bad", both of which have comparative and superlative degrees: "better" / "best" and "bad" / "bad" So, not good is not necessarily bad; And if it's not bad, it's not necessarily good Between "good" and "bad", we can find a degree that is "so" Take a look at other examples, between the extremes of size "large" and "small", there is a degree of "medium"; between the two extremes of temperature are "hot" and "cold", whose degrees are "warm" and "cool" From the information mentioned above, we can see that antonyms can be classified differently in degrees Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38895030 - Looking at the second characteristic, it means that there is no absolute criterion by which we say one object is "large" and another is "small" Criteria are relative but not absolute As we all know, a small car is always bigger than a big apple This is why antonyms of this type are classified based on different criteria - For the third characteristic, one of the pairs of antonyms is the term cover, which is called "unmarked" "Unmarked" is more widely used than "marked" We can ask "how old are you" or "how tall is she" instead of "how young are you" or "how short is she" In which, "old" and "tall" are the overarching terms, "unmarked"; and "young" and "short" are marked The distinction between "unmarked" and "marked" reflects the potential value system that the speech community holds People want to be tall rather than short (2) Complementary Antonyms (Binary antonyms) Antonyms like awake/asleep, married/single, pass/fail, alive/dead, and male/female are of this type Complementary antonyms also have three characteristics: first, they divide up the whole of a semantic field completely; second, the norm in this type is absolute; third, there is no cover term for the two members of a pair (Hu, 2001) - Regarding the first feature, unlike classifiable antonyms, complementary antonyms share a common semantic field But between two complementary antonyms, there is no intermediate ground As Cruse (1986) described, the essence of a pair of complementary antonyms is that between them completely divides a certain conceptual domain into two mutually exclusive compartments so that what does not fall into this compartment necessarily must fall into the other compartment The members of these pairs of antonyms complement each other For example, "He's more female than male" He is male but not female He's male, but he's closer to being a female Male denial is female affirmation and female affirmation is male denial They don't have degrees of superlatives and superlatives And they have no degree of intermediate between these two words of a pair of antonyms - The second feature is that the norm in this type of antonym is absolute, i.e the norm is the same when it is used for all things to which it is applicable The standard to distinguish men from women is the same when we refer to humans and animals And the death of man is the same as the death of any animal - For the third feature, in the additional antonym, there is no inclusive or inclusive term We can't ask about someone's gender like age It means we can't say "how kind boy/male is it" like "how old are you" We should ask "Is it a boy or a girl" It's a normal question (3) Relational Antonyms (Conversives) Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38895030 In linguistics, converses or relational antonyms are pairs of words that refer to a relationship from opposite points of view, such as parent/child or borrow/lend The relationship between such words is called a converse relation Converses can be understood as a pair of words where one word implies a relationship between two objects, while the other implies the existence of the same relationship when the objects are reversed Converses are sometimes referred to as complementary antonyms because an "either/or" relationship is present between them One exists only because the other exists The antonym pairs like Husband/wife, Buy/sell, Front/back, Give/receive, Teach/learn, Servant/master, Borrow/lend, and Come/go are all converse antonymy They show a reversal relationship A is B’s husband means B is A’s wife If X sells something to Y, it means that Y buys something from X A gives B something means that B has received something from A C borrows money from D means d lends money It is also known as relational opposites Egan (1968) describes these antonyms as pairs that include a relationship that one of them cannot be used without suggesting the rest Therefore, we can see that there is a huge difference between the opposite word and the two sub-types of the other meaning, that is, one should assume the rest of the other as for the two members Participate in a pair of antonyms Some buyers have a seller We can't say he is a husband, we have to say whose husband is, because people cannot be a husband if he is not married Just like parents cannot be a parent if he has no children In this relationship, one cannot talk about A without B However, there is something special in the "child" Children and parents are a pair of antonyms if their children mean the son or daughter of the parents But when it refers to someone under eighteen years old, children are from the meaning of adults It is like the word "teacher" Master is a single word when it refers to a career Only when it means that only one teacher for his students can this word form a left-meaning briefcase for "students" -List of converse words Servant > < master East > < west Come > < go North > < south Toward > < away Seller > < buyer Divisor > < dividend Slave > < master Parent > < child Win > < lose Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38895030 Floor > < ceiling Behind > < ahead Front > < back Before > < after Up > < down On > < off Offense > < defense Trap > < release B Conventional classification (1) Root word antonyms ( antonyms proper): words that are of different forms and opposite meanings Antonyms are words that have opposite meanings about each other, they are phonetically different and reflect concepts There are many antonyms, for example: high – low, left- right, white – black, … Describing different things is to bring the clearest and sharpest comparisons to the readers and listeners Also known as converse antonyms, relational antonyms play opposite roles in a mutual relationship For example, teacher and student are relational antonyms: Neither can exist without the other and yet their roles are completely different For example : - Other commonly relational pairs are : Buy > < sell Push> < pull Command> < serve Give> < take Teach> < learn Master> < servant Teacher> < pupil Doctor> < patient - Antonyms are prefixed with non-: Entity > < nonentity Conformist > < nonconformist Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38895030 Payment > < nonpayment Sense > < nonsense - Antonyms using the prefix mis-: Behave > < misbehave Interpret > < misinterpret Lead > < mislead Trust > < mistrust - Add the prefix un- to create antonyms: Likely > < unlikely Able > < unable Fortunate > < unfortunate Forgiving > < unforgiving - Let's see a few examples of antonyms created by adding the prefix dis-: Agree > < disagree Appear > < disappear Belief > < disbelief Honest > < dishonest - Add the prefix in- to form the following antonym: Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38895030 Tolerant > < intolerant Decent > < indecent Discreet > < indiscreet Excusable > < inexcusable (2) Derivational antonyms: words of the same root, one of which has a negative affix In English, antonyms are often used with prefixes, and small suffixes of about one to three letters attached to the beginning of words to change their meaning There are a few prefixes and suffixes that reverse a word's meaning, making it the opposite — perfect for antonyms! A prefix in English is a character or group of characters that precedes a root word and governs the meaning of this root word Here are some common prefixes used with antonym pairs, along with their examples Each of these prefixes essentially changes the meaning of a word into its opposite meaning dis- Derived from Latin, dis- is a negative prefix When you see a word that goes with dis-, it most likely means to lack, not, to do wrong, or to stay away honest > < dishonest appear > < disappear agree > < disagree discomfort > < comfort disobedient > < obedient Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38895030 i- logical > < illogical legal > < illegal responsible > < irresponsible in-; im-; il-; ur- Derived from Latin, dis- is a negative prefix When you see a word that goes with dis-, it most likely means to lack, not, to do wrong, or to stay away possible > < impossible decent > < indecent discreet > < indiscreet legal > < illegal regular > < irregular injustice > < justice intolerance > < tolerance impatient > < patient non- Derived from Latin, dis- is a negative prefix When you see a word that goes with dis-, it most likely means to lack, not, to do wrong, or to stay away believer > < nonbeliever binary > < nonbinary Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38895030 linear > < nonlinear non-compliant > < compliant nonverbal > < verbal mis- usually has the meaning of doing something wrongly, such as misinforming someone about something However, most of the prefixes mean the same thing as each other, so it is just a case of learning which ones should be added to particular words lead > < mislead behave > < misbehave fortune > < misfortune misinformation > < information misconduct > < conduct misunderstand > < understand mal- function > < malfunction nutrition > < malnutrition adaptive > < maladaptive un- Used to negate the original adjective important > < unimportant Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38895030 necessary > < unnecessary likely > < unlikely uncertain > < certain unease > < ease A suffix (suffix) is a word or group of words that come at the end of the root word and governs the meaning of the word Here are some common suffixes used with antonym pairs, along with their examples Each of these suffix essentially changes the meaning of a word into its opposite meaning -ful > < -less- useful > < useless -ish- > < -ous selfish > < generous Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38895030 Part 3: CONCLUSION To summarize, the assignment is done with five main types: Antonyms proper (gradable antonyms), Complementary Antonymy, Relational antonyms (conversions), Root word antonyms ( antonym proper), Derivational antonyms First of all, the assignment gave an overview of the subject of Semantics as well as outlined the tasks of its members Secondly, in Part 2, students do some exercises with five main types Finally, in part 3, students write a summary of their assignment and give the implication In the examples given above, the types of antonyms are analyzed in detail, going into each of their functions Furthermore, each example is given Besides, we also have more scientific thinking after learning this lesson The role of linguistics in particular antonyms clearly shows their ability to better explain the meaning of the words in analogous or bilingual dictionaries So, the contribution to the field of lexicography is of particular importance In the field of linguistics, antonyms serve as a source of enrichment of the Albanian language through word- formation, Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38895030 specifically through the establishment of antonymic couples with the same root as the word grammar using prefixes and rarely, in cases of stylistic antonyms, through suffixes Antonyms play an important role in specific English texts Antonyms help tie English text together Antonyms have the effect of highlighting opposite things, events, activities, states, and colors The use of antonyms in the text shows exactly the opposite of things and creates a strong sense of comparison Studying the language of antonyms in English texts makes it much easier for readers to understand and appreciate the author's intentions Teachers who emphasize learning antonyms in class will find their students have higher reading abilities, making them more interested in the subject REFERENCES 1 Hu, Zhuanglin (2001) Linguistics A Course Book Beijing: Beijing University Press 2 Egan, R.F (1968) Survey of the History of English Synonymy Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster 3 Cruse, D.A (1986) Lexical Semantics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 4 https://learnfrenzy.com/verbal-ability/verbal-ability/antonyms/ 5 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/antonym 6 https://www.grammarly.com/blog/antonym/ Downloaded by BACH VAN (bachvan12@gmail.com)