Sense Relations
Antonymy Synonymy & Hyponymy
Antonymy
Antonymy is a
s t a n d a r d
technical term
u s e d f o r
oppositeness of
m e a n i n g
between lexemes.
A) gradable opposites
( contraries)
a,They will show different
degrees of a given quality.
poor rich
0 25 50 75 100...
b,They can be qualified by
adverbials of degree.
C.Their meanings are
relative to each other,
One meaning is
determined in reference
to the meaning of the
other.
Since contraries
are gradable,the
semantic contrast
in a contrary pair
is relative; i.e,
there are often
intermediate
terms between
the two opposites.
Thus we have not just rich and poor,
but there are such gradations as
rich,well-to-do,well-off,moderately
wealthy,comfortably off,hard up,poor.
d,Since they show different degrees of
a given quality,they will allow a
middle ground betw een them.
poor rich
0 50 100...
e,The negation of one does not mean
the assertion of the other.
,He is not rich”
does not mean
“he is poor.”
They can be used in the structure
,neither…nor:
for example:
I am neither rich nor poor.
F,This kind of antonyms can be
analysed in terms of markedness ( 标记 ）
“markedness” is a term originally used to
analyse grammatical meaning,for example,
“book, is unmarked（ 无标记词 ） ；
,books” is a marked word（ 有标记词 ）
because it has a marker,s” to show the
grammatical meaning of p lurality.
Now the terms,marked” and
“unmarked” have been widely used
in the analysis of meaning,A word
is unmarked if it is semantically
inclusive,or broader in meaning
while a word is marked if it is
s e m a n t i c a l l y n a r r o w e r,
Unmarked ( long)
Marked(short) Unmarked (long)
Length of the scale
well,badly
A,How well do you speak English?
B,Very well
C,Very poorly
D,Like a native.
Very often this kind of antonyms
are not symmetric in meaning.
well,badly
A,How badly do you speak English?
B,Very well
C,Very poorly
D,Like a native.
old/young
heavy/light
Wide /narrow
deep/shallow
far/near
long/short
Complementarity
Antonyms which can not be compared to
determine whether they have the same
degree of a certain property are called
ungradable opposites,Complementarities
are very often ungradable opposites.
The negation of one is the
assertion of the other.
For example,alive/dead
,He is not alive” means, He is dead”.
They can not be used in the structure
,neither…nor” because they do not
allow possibilities between them:
for example:
I am neither alive nor dead.
More examples:
male/female
married/single
boy/girl
brother/sister
Relational opposites ( Conversives)
换位反义词
They express the reversal of
a relationship between items
or a contrast of directions.
Usually there is an independence
of meaning,One member of the
pair presupposes the other
member.Therefore they form a
u n i t y of o p p o s i t e s,
If A sells a watch to B,B buys a
watch from A.
If A gives a pen to B,B
receives a pen from A.
If A lends money to B,B
borrows money from A.
husband/wife
fiance/fiancee
parent/child
above/below
debtor/creditor
More examples?
Very often a word is polysemous in
nature,therefore,a word may have
different corresponding antonyms,
for example:
Fresh bread/stale bread
fresh air/stuffy air
fresh flowers/faded flowers
Polysemy and homonymy
Homonymy
In the English language,there are
many pairs or groups of words,which,
though different in meaning,are
pronounced alike or spelled alike,or
both,Such words are called homonyms
A,Types of homonyms
English homonyms are classified as
follows:
1,Perfect homonyms,words identical in
sound and spelling but different in
meaning are called perfect homonyms;
lie vi make a statement that one
knows to be untrue;
lie vi be,put oneself flat on a
horizontal surface or in a
resting position;
page n,one side of a leaf of paper in
a book,periodical,etc.;
page n,boy servant,usu,in uniform,
in a hotel,club,etc.;
base n,the thing or part on which
something rests;
base adj,having or showing little or no
honour,courage or decency;
meet vt,to come upon or encounter;
meet n,a meeting,gathering,or
assembling as for a sporting
event
2,Homophones:
Words identical
in s o u n d b u t
d i f f e r e n t in
s p e l l i n g a n d
m e a n i n g a r e
c a l l e d
h o m o p h o n e s,
air,
heir;
bear,
bare;
pair,
pear;
son,
sun;
compliment,
complement;
principal,
principle;
stationary,
stationery,
3,Homographs,Words identical in
spelling but different in sound and
meaning are called homographs,e.g.:
lead /li:d/ v,guide or take,esp,by
going in front,etc.
lead /led/ v,easily melted metal of a
dull bluish-grey colour
sow/s u/ v,put (seed) on or in the
ground or in soil;plant
(land with seed)
sow /sau/ n,a fully grown female
pig
tear /ti / n,drop of salty water
coming from the eye
tear / / v,pull sharply apart or to
pieces
Polysemy
The word Polysemy is of Greek
origin (GK polys,much + sema,
meaning),It has been defined as
"...A term used in semantic
analysis to refer to a lexical item
which has a range of different
meanings ( Crystal 1980:274)."
The ability of one word to denote
several senses is one of the basic
peculiarities of human speech,A
glance at any English dictionary
will give you an idea of how
frequent polysemy is,One -
meaning words (monosemic words)
are very rare,They are very often
scientific terms (e.g,oxygen,
moonwalk,and earthrise).
fair,(of attitude,behavior ) just and
honest
( of results ) average,quite good
( of the weather ) clear and sunny
( of amount ) satisfactory,abundant
( of the skin,hair ) pair; light in
colour
Sources of polysemy
A,Shifts in application
Words have a number of different
aspects according to the contexts
in which they are used.
Shifts in application are particularly
noticeable in the use of adjectives
since these are apt to change their
meaning according to the noun they
qualify,The adjective " handsome",
for example,has been used,in the
course of its history,in the following
sense,grouped according to the noun
to which they refer:
Persons:
a) apt,skilled,clever
b) proper,fitting,decent
c) beautiful with dignity
Concretes:
a) easy to handle
b) of fair size
c) beautiful with dignity
d) proper,fitting ( of dress )
Action,speech:
a) appropriate,apt,clever
Conduct:
a) fitting,seemly
b) gallant,brave
c) generous,magnanimous
Sizes,sums:
a) fair,moderately large
b) ample,liberal,munificent
B,Specialization in a social milieu
Polysemy often arises through a kind of
verbal shorthand,For a lawyer,"action"
will naturally mean legal action; for the
soldier it will mean a military operation,
without any need for a qualifying epithet.
In this way the same word may acquire a
number of specialized senses,only one of
which will be applicable in a given milieu.
C,Figurative language
Many inanimate
o b j e c t s a r e
compared to the
p a r t s of t h e
hu m a n b od y.
the eye of a needle 针眼
the eye of a potato马铃薯的芽眼
the eye of the hurricane 风眼
the eye of a flower 花心
the eye of a peacock’s tail孔雀翎斑
the eye of the revolution 革命中心
An ass,a stupid
foolish person
A p ig,a d ir t y,
g r e e d y or ill-
mannered person
A mouse,a person,esp,A woman,
who is quiet and timid
A goose,a
silly person,
esp,female
A cat,a nasty person
A rat,a low
w o r t h l e s s
disloyal man
A lion,a famous and important
person
A fox,a person who deceives
others by means of clever tricks
An ape,a person who copies the
behaviour of others
A monkey,a child who is full of
annoying playfulness and trick
A parrot,a person who repeats,
often without understanding,the
words or actions of another
Antonymy Synonymy & Hyponymy
Antonymy
Antonymy is a
s t a n d a r d
technical term
u s e d f o r
oppositeness of
m e a n i n g
between lexemes.
A) gradable opposites
( contraries)
a,They will show different
degrees of a given quality.
poor rich
0 25 50 75 100...
b,They can be qualified by
adverbials of degree.
C.Their meanings are
relative to each other,
One meaning is
determined in reference
to the meaning of the
other.
Since contraries
are gradable,the
semantic contrast
in a contrary pair
is relative; i.e,
there are often
intermediate
terms between
the two opposites.
Thus we have not just rich and poor,
but there are such gradations as
rich,well-to-do,well-off,moderately
wealthy,comfortably off,hard up,poor.
d,Since they show different degrees of
a given quality,they will allow a
middle ground betw een them.
poor rich
0 50 100...
e,The negation of one does not mean
the assertion of the other.
,He is not rich”
does not mean
“he is poor.”
They can be used in the structure
,neither…nor:
for example:
I am neither rich nor poor.
F,This kind of antonyms can be
analysed in terms of markedness ( 标记 ）
“markedness” is a term originally used to
analyse grammatical meaning,for example,
“book, is unmarked（ 无标记词 ） ；
,books” is a marked word（ 有标记词 ）
because it has a marker,s” to show the
grammatical meaning of p lurality.
Now the terms,marked” and
“unmarked” have been widely used
in the analysis of meaning,A word
is unmarked if it is semantically
inclusive,or broader in meaning
while a word is marked if it is
s e m a n t i c a l l y n a r r o w e r,
Unmarked ( long)
Marked(short) Unmarked (long)
Length of the scale
well,badly
A,How well do you speak English?
B,Very well
C,Very poorly
D,Like a native.
Very often this kind of antonyms
are not symmetric in meaning.
well,badly
A,How badly do you speak English?
B,Very well
C,Very poorly
D,Like a native.
old/young
heavy/light
Wide /narrow
deep/shallow
far/near
long/short
Complementarity
Antonyms which can not be compared to
determine whether they have the same
degree of a certain property are called
ungradable opposites,Complementarities
are very often ungradable opposites.
The negation of one is the
assertion of the other.
For example,alive/dead
,He is not alive” means, He is dead”.
They can not be used in the structure
,neither…nor” because they do not
allow possibilities between them:
for example:
I am neither alive nor dead.
More examples:
male/female
married/single
boy/girl
brother/sister
Relational opposites ( Conversives)
换位反义词
They express the reversal of
a relationship between items
or a contrast of directions.
Usually there is an independence
of meaning,One member of the
pair presupposes the other
member.Therefore they form a
u n i t y of o p p o s i t e s,
If A sells a watch to B,B buys a
watch from A.
If A gives a pen to B,B
receives a pen from A.
If A lends money to B,B
borrows money from A.
husband/wife
fiance/fiancee
parent/child
above/below
debtor/creditor
More examples?
Very often a word is polysemous in
nature,therefore,a word may have
different corresponding antonyms,
for example:
Fresh bread/stale bread
fresh air/stuffy air
fresh flowers/faded flowers
Polysemy and homonymy
Homonymy
In the English language,there are
many pairs or groups of words,which,
though different in meaning,are
pronounced alike or spelled alike,or
both,Such words are called homonyms
A,Types of homonyms
English homonyms are classified as
follows:
1,Perfect homonyms,words identical in
sound and spelling but different in
meaning are called perfect homonyms;
lie vi make a statement that one
knows to be untrue;
lie vi be,put oneself flat on a
horizontal surface or in a
resting position;
page n,one side of a leaf of paper in
a book,periodical,etc.;
page n,boy servant,usu,in uniform,
in a hotel,club,etc.;
base n,the thing or part on which
something rests;
base adj,having or showing little or no
honour,courage or decency;
meet vt,to come upon or encounter;
meet n,a meeting,gathering,or
assembling as for a sporting
event
2,Homophones:
Words identical
in s o u n d b u t
d i f f e r e n t in
s p e l l i n g a n d
m e a n i n g a r e
c a l l e d
h o m o p h o n e s,
air,
heir;
bear,
bare;
pair,
pear;
son,
sun;
compliment,
complement;
principal,
principle;
stationary,
stationery,
3,Homographs,Words identical in
spelling but different in sound and
meaning are called homographs,e.g.:
lead /li:d/ v,guide or take,esp,by
going in front,etc.
lead /led/ v,easily melted metal of a
dull bluish-grey colour
sow/s u/ v,put (seed) on or in the
ground or in soil;plant
(land with seed)
sow /sau/ n,a fully grown female
pig
tear /ti / n,drop of salty water
coming from the eye
tear / / v,pull sharply apart or to
pieces
Polysemy
The word Polysemy is of Greek
origin (GK polys,much + sema,
meaning),It has been defined as
"...A term used in semantic
analysis to refer to a lexical item
which has a range of different
meanings ( Crystal 1980:274)."
The ability of one word to denote
several senses is one of the basic
peculiarities of human speech,A
glance at any English dictionary
will give you an idea of how
frequent polysemy is,One -
meaning words (monosemic words)
are very rare,They are very often
scientific terms (e.g,oxygen,
moonwalk,and earthrise).
fair,(of attitude,behavior ) just and
honest
( of results ) average,quite good
( of the weather ) clear and sunny
( of amount ) satisfactory,abundant
( of the skin,hair ) pair; light in
colour
Sources of polysemy
A,Shifts in application
Words have a number of different
aspects according to the contexts
in which they are used.
Shifts in application are particularly
noticeable in the use of adjectives
since these are apt to change their
meaning according to the noun they
qualify,The adjective " handsome",
for example,has been used,in the
course of its history,in the following
sense,grouped according to the noun
to which they refer:
Persons:
a) apt,skilled,clever
b) proper,fitting,decent
c) beautiful with dignity
Concretes:
a) easy to handle
b) of fair size
c) beautiful with dignity
d) proper,fitting ( of dress )
Action,speech:
a) appropriate,apt,clever
Conduct:
a) fitting,seemly
b) gallant,brave
c) generous,magnanimous
Sizes,sums:
a) fair,moderately large
b) ample,liberal,munificent
B,Specialization in a social milieu
Polysemy often arises through a kind of
verbal shorthand,For a lawyer,"action"
will naturally mean legal action; for the
soldier it will mean a military operation,
without any need for a qualifying epithet.
In this way the same word may acquire a
number of specialized senses,only one of
which will be applicable in a given milieu.
C,Figurative language
Many inanimate
o b j e c t s a r e
compared to the
p a r t s of t h e
hu m a n b od y.
the eye of a needle 针眼
the eye of a potato马铃薯的芽眼
the eye of the hurricane 风眼
the eye of a flower 花心
the eye of a peacock’s tail孔雀翎斑
the eye of the revolution 革命中心
An ass,a stupid
foolish person
A p ig,a d ir t y,
g r e e d y or ill-
mannered person
A mouse,a person,esp,A woman,
who is quiet and timid
A goose,a
silly person,
esp,female
A cat,a nasty person
A rat,a low
w o r t h l e s s
disloyal man
A lion,a famous and important
person
A fox,a person who deceives
others by means of clever tricks
An ape,a person who copies the
behaviour of others
A monkey,a child who is full of
annoying playfulness and trick
A parrot,a person who repeats,
often without understanding,the
words or actions of another
