Antonym1

5.3 Wording Meaning The Third Week Key Points: • Componential analysis • Homonymy • Synonymy • Antonymy • Hyponymy Difficulties: • Homonymy • Synonymy • Antonymy • Hyponymy • Meronymy 5.3.3 Semantic Field • Semantic or lexical field is a set of words with an identifiable semantic connection Lexical gap • The absence of a word in a particular place in a semantic field of a language is called lexical gap • horse -stallion and mare uncle - 叔叔 , 舅舅 , 姑父，表叔 Marked and Unmarked Item • A marked item is a member word in a semantic field that its conceptual meaning is specific and limited compared to its synonym with a more general meaning • An unmarked item is a member word in a semantic field that its conceptual meaning is more general and inclusive 5.3.4 Componential analysis • All lexical items can be analyzed into a set of semantic features or semantic components which may be universal This semantic theory is called Componential Analysis (CA) Samples: • • • • • • How How How How How How old are you? big is the picture? big the picture is! old the grandpa is! powerful are your glasses? powerful the cannon is! • old/young • big/small • powerful/weak • tall/short 5.3.5.2 Polysemy （多异异系） • When a word has two or more meanings that are related conceptually or historically, it is said to be a polysemous or polysemic word The phenomenon is termed as polysemy The distinction between homonymy and polysemy: • One indication of the distinction can be found in the typical dictionary entry for words If a word has two or more meanings (polysemic), then there will be a single entry, with a numbered list of the different meanings of the word If two words are treated as homonyms, they will typically have two separate entries 5.3.5.4 Synonymy • Words that sound different but have the same meaning are called synonyms, and the sense relation of “sameness of meaning” is called synonymy • Ex answer/reply big/large liberty/freedom • Synonyms may be different in dialect, style, emotion and collocation • elevator/lift • start/commence • did/offspring • economical/ stingy • accuse of/charge with 5.3.5.5 Antonymy • Words that are opposite in meaning are often called antonyms The oppositeness of meaning is called antonymy • They can be grouped into types: gradable, complementary, and relational antonyms • (1) Gradable antonyms • The members of a pair differ in terms of degree The denial of one is not necessarily the assertion of the other Ex Rich -poor; high low; wide -narrow; heavy -light; good -bad (2) Complementary antonyms • The members of a pair in this type are complementary to each other Not only the assertion of one means the denial of the other, the denial of one also means the assertion of the other Ex male/female alive/dead married/single (3) Relational antonyms • They show the reversal of a relationship between two entities • Ex Husband/wife father/son teacher/pupil doctor/patient buy/sell let/rent above/below of markedness In certain pairs of gradable antonyms, one word is marked and the other unmarked That is, usually the term for the higher degree serves as the cover term • Ex a “How old are you?” is instead of “How young are you?”, the word old is used here to cover both old (unmarked) and young(unmarked) • b “How heavy is it?”(unmarked) -light (marked) • c “How tall are you?”(unmarked) -short (marked) • d “How hot is it?”(unmarked) -cold (marked) 5.3.5.6 Hyponymy （上、下义义系） • Hyponymy is a matter of class membership which indicates a category to which the words all belong • The upper term in this sense relation, i.e the class name, is called SUPERORDINATE, and the lover terms, the members, HYPONYMS A superordinate usually has several hyponyms, these members of the same class are CO-HYPONYMS For example • • potato Vegetable cabbage carrot 5.3.5.7 Meronymy （整义部分义系） • Meronymy refers to the phenomenon that a word means a part of another • Samples: body/neck drawer/desk A small section of the system of body-part terms in English is given body • • Head neck trunk leg arm Distinction between meronymy and hyponymy • Meronymy can be expressed by the pattern “X is a part of Y”, whereas hyponymy is by the pattern “X is a kind of Y” For example, head is a part of body, but not a kind of body, while potato is a kind of vegetable, but not a part of vegetable