Antonymy

Antonymy is a standard technical term used for oppositeness of meaning between lexemes.

A) gradable opposites

( contraries)

a. They will show different degrees of a given quality.

poor rich

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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 between them.

poor rich

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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）

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 semantically narrower.

Unmarked ( long)

Marked(short) Unmarked (long)

Length of the scale

well, badlyA. 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 unity of opposites.

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;

2. Homophones: Words identical in sound but different in spelling and meaning are called homophones.

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

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.

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, cleverb) proper, fitting, decentc) beautiful with dignity

Concretes:a) easy to handleb) of fair sizec) beautiful with dignityd) proper, fitting ( of dress )

Action, speech:a) appropriate, apt, clever

Conduct:a) fitting, seemlyb) gallant, bravec) generous, magnanimous

Sizes, sums:a) fair, moderately largeb) 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.

C. Figurative language

Many inanimate objects are compared to the parts of the human body.

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 pig:a dirty, greedy 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 worthless disloyal man

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