Antonymy
Definition
Antonym
is
a
word
that
expresses a meaning opposed to
the meaning of another word, in
which case the two words are
antonyms
of
each
other.
Antonyms are words of the same
category of part of speech.
Definition
● Most
antonyms
are
adjectives which is only
natural because qualitative
characteristics are easily
compared and contrast:
fast - slow, wet intelligent - dimwit
dry,
Definition
● Verbs
takes
the
second
place,
so
as
far
as
antonymy is concerned. Yet,
verbal pairs are few in
number:
stand - sit, remember forget, repair - destroy
Definition
● Nouns
are
antonyms:
not
rich
in
heat - frost, peace - war,
north - south, toiler lounger
Definition
● Antonymic
adverbs
can
be
subdivided into two groups:
a)
adverbs
derived
from
adjectives: quickly - slowly,
heavily - weakly
b) proper adverbs: ahead behind,
above
below
Classification 1
Antonyms may be defined as two or more words of the same
language belonging to the same part of speech and to the same
semantic field, identical in style a nearly identical in
distribution, associated and often used together so that
their denotative meanings render contradictory or contrary
notions.
Classification 1
Two statements are contradictory if
one must be true and the other must
be false.
"The world is flat" and "the world
is not flat" are contradictory
because one has to be true and the
other must be false.
Contrary statements are similar, in
that both cannot be true. However
it is possible for both to be
false.
So "the earth is flat" and "the
world is spherical" cannot both be
true, but if the earth is
discovered to be another shape
(such as a squashed elliptoid),
both statements may be false,
making it a contrary argument.
Classification 2
Another classification of antonyms is
based on a morphological approach root
words
form
absolute
and
derivational antonyms.
Classification 2
Absolute antonyms:
bright - dark
The presence of negative affixes
creates derivational antonyms:
legal - illegal, comfortable uncomfortable
It must be noted that antonymy of two
words may be restricted by their valency:
hard cheese - soft cheese BUT hard person mild person
Classification 3 (according to V.N. Comissarov)
There are three main
types of antonymy:
gradable,
complementary and
converse
Classification 3 (according to V.N. Comissarov)
1) Gradable antonyms are typically pairs of adjectives that
can be qualified by adverbs such as very, quite, extremely,
etc. So for example, we can say the tickets were expensive or
the tickets were cheap. However, as expensive and cheap are
gradable antonyms, we can also qualify how expensive or cheap
they
were:
The tickets were surprisingly expensive. The tickets were
very
expensive.
The
tickets
were
quite
expensive.
The tickets were incredibly cheap. The tickets were rather
cheap.
The
tickets
were
undeniably
cheap.
Classification 3 (according to V.N. Comissarov)
2) Complementary antonyms are pairs of words that are
opposite in meaning, cannot be graded and are mutually
exclusive. That is, they can exist independently of each
other.
For example, there might be a daughter in a family but not
the complementary opposite of a son, as girls can exist
without
their
complementary
opposite
of
boys.
Classification 3 (according to V.N. Comissarov)
3)
Converse antonyms are pairs of
opposites where one cannot exist
without the other.
For example, to have a husband, you
must have a wife. Therefore, husband
and wife are complementary antonyms.
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