Tema 5 – Paradigmatic lexical relations I: Synonymy. Antonymy, Hyperonymy, (Co-)Hyponymy.
Paradigm; class/relation/category of something, entities
Words in paradigmatic relations belong to the same Word class and share some characteristics.
We are interested in semantic paradigms, which involve word senses that share many semantic properties, but differ in some.
Synonymy: words that mean the same as each other (=). Synonymy is something that everybody more or less know (lay person) but we have to be very specific and be very accurate.
It is rare for two words to have exactly the same meaning/use. Because that would make the mental lexicon extremely inefficient and the linguistic system inefficient as well, we need them to have slight connotations even if they mean roughly the same. In order to localize synonyms, we can do: Substitutability test. Words are substitutable if there is no change in the meaning of a sentence when one word is substituted for the other.
Person = human = person
Person ≠ man
Substitutability test:
(to know if two words are synonyms)
Words are substitutable if there is no change in the meaning of a sentence when one word is substituted for the other.
Words are absolute synonyms if they are substitutable in any possible context with no changes in denotation or other aspects of meaning (including connotation)
My tummy feels a bit funny (=peculiar, =/ comical) whenever I eat fish.
Anna told a hilariously funny (=/ peculiar, = comical) joke.
Depending on the sense of funny we have different kind of synonyms.
Funny is polysemous (Sense synonymy) (depends on the context activated when using it).
Candidates for perfect synonym: technical names for things like plants, animals, and chemicals.
- Furze= gorse = whin (aulaja, tojo)
- Groundhog = woodchuck (marmota de América)
Absolut synonyms are not very common for ordinary things but for specific elements.
Far more common is for words’ senses to overlap and be near-synonyms (=)
- Fake ≈ false
- Obtain ≈ acquire
- John ≈ lavatory ≈ powder room
Hyponymy / Hyperonymy (Subordinate term / superordinate term) (vertical relationship)
Hyponymy: ‘is a type of’ relationship
A ◊ Superordinate term
B C ◊ Subordinate terms, hyponyms, co-hyponyms
A-B / A-C ◊ Hyponomy
B-A / C-A ◊ Hyperonomy
Cheddar / cheese
- Cheddar is a type of cheese
- Cheese is a type of cheddar
- Cheese: superordinate
- Cheddar: hyponym
Transitive relationship: (not like syntax) logical relation, if something is a type of something and that something is a type of something else, they follow the same relation.
Cheddar is a type of cheese, and cheese is a type of food, then cheddar is a type of food.
Functional hyponymy: ‘is used as’, purpose of the object (transitivity does not works)
Checking verbs: Xing ‘is a way of Ying’
- Marching < walking < moving
Marching is a way of walking
Walking is a way of moving
Marching is a way of moving
[Hyponymy]
Checking for adjectives: Being X ‘is a way of’ being Y
- Nauseated < ill
Being nauseated is a way of being ill
Hyponymy is just a semantic relation (i.e., only denotational properties matter; connotational properties do not enter in hyponymy relations).
Antonymy is an incompatibility relationship involving two words (two co-hyponyms that share the same superordinate term). They belong to the same semantic field.
Binary: Antonymy is the only relation that is particularly binary.
Morphological process: ‘a-‘,’in-‘, ‘un-‘,’dis-‘ (asymmetrical, infrequent, unhappy, dissatisfied). It can happen by derivation.
[Antonymy]
Minimal difference: Antonymy is a relation between two lexemes that share all relevant properties except for one that causes them to be incompatible.
- Hot / cold / cool
- Black / white / grey
[Types of antonyms]
- Contrary (tall / short)
- Complementary (even / odd)
- Gradable complementaries (dishonest / honest)
Honesty can be quantified (more honest than him)
- Directional
- Converse (parent / child, come down/go down, bring/take)
- Reversive (tie / untie)