Morphology – eleventh lecture
Sense relations
Strictly speaking, today’s lecture does not fall under the cap of morphology, since
morphology deals with the study of word forms. However, words, as was pointed out
earlier, are an intersection of linguistic analysis, and therefore we will consider their
meaning, too. Obviously, words would not exist without their meanings. The specific
field of linguistics that studies meanings is semantics.
We will consider the following relations: synonymy, hyponymy and antonymy.
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.
In most dialects of English, stubborn and obstinate, are synonyms. In many dialects of
English, brigand and bandit, are synonyms. In many dialects of English, mercury and
quicksilver, are synonyms.
There are very few examples of perfect synonymy, because of the language economy
(signs that are unnecessary will be lost). The perfect synonymy would mean that each of
the pair can be equally well used in every environment, that is, that they are invariably
interchangeable. This occurrence is really rare.
EXERCISE: Do the following pairs have the same sense:
1. The thief tried to CONCEAL / HIDE the evidence.
2. I am going to PURCHASE / BUY a new coat.
3. These tomatoes and LARGE / RIPE.
4. This is a very LOOSE / SHORT definition.
5. You have my PROFOUND / DEEP sympathy.
6. It is a very WIDE / BROAD street.
Having the same referential (cognitive or conceptual) meaning (pointing to the same
extralinguistic item or concept: mother and mom both point to a human, female, parent)
makes pairs of words synonymous. What differentiates them, and ensures their survival
are their dialectal or stylistic characteristics:
They took part in the competition. They participated in the competition.
The children played on the see-saw. The children played on the teeter-totter.
EXERCISE: Are these sets of words synonymous:
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1.
2.
3.
4.
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.
We’ve just bought a new HOUSE / APARTMENT.
How do they differ? Which ones have dialectal, stylistic or social associations
/differences?
Remember the synonymous pairs of adjectives of Latin origin and their Germanic
relatives:
motherly – maternal
nightly – nocturnal, etc.
We have already pointed it out that the choice of one member of the pair will depend on
the context, specifically here, the usage is dictated by register. These specific demands
ensure that these lexemes remain a part of language, otherwise, one of the pair would
sooner or later become obsolete.
At least one meaning identical
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.
Consider:
Deep/profound
1. You have my deep / profound sympathy.
2. The lake is deep / profound.
Wide/broad
1. She speaks with a very wide / broad Scottish accent.
2. The river is very broad / wide at this point.
Exercise: Make similar sets of sentences to illustrate synonymy or the loss of it for the
following pairs:
1. earth / soil
2. side / edge
3. ripe / mature
Polysemy and conversion
The meanings of words can change to a smaller or greater degree depending on their
surroundings, or the context. If these meanings are closely related to each other, we have
polysemy. Polysemic meanings of one word-form will most likely have different
synonyms for each of the specific meanings. Conversion (using freely a lexeme of one
word-class as a different word-class) obviously also interferes:
My head hurts.
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He is the head of the family.
Let’s head out.
Keep you head on your shoulders.
Lets hide from mommy!
The thief hid the money upon leaving the crime scene.
Obviously this one and the same word-form cannot be “replaced” by one synonym (if at
all you can find a synonym for our precious organ head – possibly capita?).
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.
So, a paraphrase is to a sentence what a synonym is to a lexeme.
HYPONYMY
Hyponymy is a sense relation between lexemes (or sometimes longer phrases) such
that the meaning of one lexeme (or phrase) is included in the meaning of the other.
The meaning of red is included in the meaning of scarlet. Red is a super-ordinate term a hyperonym, while scarlet is a hyponym of red.
Rose is a kind of flower. The meaning of flower is necessarily included in the meaning of
rose, while the meaning of rose is not included in the more general term flower. Flower
is a hyperonym, while rose is a hyponym. Obviously, daisy, carnation, lily, are all
hyponyms of flower, but also of plant. We can have more than one hyponym and more
hyperonyms as well, but they are in a direct or indirect relationship then, that is, a
hierarchy can be seen:
plants
flowers
rose
trees
weeds
carnation
Exercise:
For the given hyperonym try to thing of as many hyponyms:
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Pig: sow, boar, piglet
Virtue: honesty, loyalty, trustworthiness
Tree: birch, maple, pine
Emotion: fear, love, anger, sorrow
Family: mother, father, children
Institutions: school, court, hospital
Furniture: chair, table, carpet
Color: red, blue, purple, yellow
When the more specific vocabulary is used, we are probably choosing a hyponym (He
gave me a perfume for birthday. He gave me a present.), while hyperonyms are more
general terms. This should be born in mind when writing – the more specific vocabulary
is used, the better your style is, and a greater overall maturity is shown.
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
Comment:
Hot is not opposite of cold in the same way as borrow is opposite of lend. Thin is not the
opposite of thick in the same way as dead is the opposite of alive.
Words can have many different kids of opposite meanings, and some actually do not even
have a real “opposite”. This is why we have four basic types of antonymy:
1.
2.
3.
4.
BINARY ANTONYMY
CONVERSENESS
GRADABLE ANTONYMS
CONTRADICTION (we will not discuss it since it is basically covered with
binary antonyms, with an emphasis on predication and extensive discussions on
logic – well beyond the scope of our enquiry of sense relations)
BINARY ANTONYMY
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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
Sometimes, two different binary antonyms can combine in a set of semantic field to
produce a four-way contrast:
Adult
Non-adult
Male
MAN
BOY
Female
WOMAN
GIRL
EXERCISE: What about: bachelor, spinster, husband and wife? Make a grid on the
white-board. (the column and row headings should be married/unmarried, and
male/female!)
In these pairs, there is a lack of comparability if we are talking about adjectives. You
cannot be more or less dead, or married. Since these pairs constitute a whole, and since
the mention of one implies the existence of the other, they are also called
complementary antonyms, and the relationship is the one of complementarity.
Multiple incompatibility
In the case of a group of lexemes which constitute a semantic field in which all member
actually exclude each other, we have multiple incompatibility. This means that if there is
X, to which an antonym is Y, but in the same way the antonym is Z, we have a more
complex system than binary antonymy. For example, if you say you don’t have a cat, that
does not imply that you must have a dog, but any other animal (pet) also can come to
consideration (if at all you do have a pet).
Also notice in terms of hyponymy, that in binary antonymy we have a hyperonym and
two hyponyms, while in the case of multiple incompatibility, the hyponyms are
numerous.
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. Examples are:
Parent and child are converses, because X is the parent of Y (one order) describes the
same situation (relationship) as Y is the child of X (opposite order).
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Exercise: Are the following pairs of expressions converses?
1. below – above (yes) (if X is above Y, then Y is below X)
2. grandparent – grandchild (yes)
3. love – hate (no)
4. conceal – reveal (no)
5. greater than – less than (yes)
6. own – belong to (yes)
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).
Hot and cold are gradable antonyms. Between hot and cold is a continuous scale of
values, which may be given names such as warm, cool or tepid. Also, what is hot in one
context could well be classed as cold in another context (oven temperatures vs.
temperatures of stars).
EXERCISE: Are the following gradable antonyms:
tall –short
long – short
clever – stupid
top – bottom
love – hate
A test for checking whether words are gradable is combining them with intensifiers and
modifies such as very, very much etc. If something can be more or less X, or very X, it
belongs to gradable antonyms. If not, they belong to a different group of antonyms (if
you do say that somebody is very pregnant, or not very married, you are probably trying
to make your listeners laugh!)
EXERCISE: Classify the following pairs as binary antonyms, multiple incompatibles,
converses or gradable antonyms:
1. cat – dog
-M
2. easy – difficult
-G
3. good – bad
-G
4. better than – worse than
C
5. deciduous – evergreen
B
6. pass – fail
B
7. urban – rural
B or C
Explanation for 4. better and worse themselves are gradable, but the phrases are in the
relationship of conversness – if x is better than y, than y is worse than x.
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