Sense%20relations

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

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SYNOMYMY

• 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.
• 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.

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• 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.
• Weve just bought a new HOUSE / APARTMENT.
• How do they differ? Which ones have dialectal,
  stylistic or social associations /differences?

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At least one meaning identical

• Deep/profound
• You have my deep / profound sympathy.
• The lake is deep / profound.
• Wide/broad
• She speaks with a very wide / broad Scottish
  accent.
• The river is very broad / wide at this point
• 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.

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Polysemy and conversion

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

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Paraphrase

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

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HYPONYMY

• Hyponymy is a sense relation between lexemes such
  that the meaning of one lexeme is included in the
  meaning of the other.
• hyperonym
• hyponym

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

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ANTONYMY

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

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Antonymy can be

• BINARY ANTONYMY
• CONVERSENESS
• GRADABLE ANTONYMS
• CONTRADICTION

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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.
  
• true false
• dead alive
• married unmarried
• same different

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

• complementarity
• complementary antonyms
• Multiple incompatibility

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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

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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

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EXERCISE

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