Lecture notes
Sense and sense relations
The sense (meaning) of a word is its statable meaning ‘out of context’
- i.e. a meaning that can apply across many contexts in which the
word is used. Senses are what we find when we look up words in the
dictionary and, as we have seen, words often have more than one
sense - they are polysemous.
The senses of words are also a matter of their relations to other
words. In this session, we will look at three major sense relations:
synonymy (similarity), antonymy (opposition), and hyponomy
(inclusion). Before we begin, note that we are concerned with relations
among the senses of words more than relations among words
themselves. For example, bottom means:
1. the lowest part of something
2. the part of the body we sit on
Top is an antonym of bottom, but only for sense 1. Buttocks is a
synonym of bottom, but only for sense 2.
Synonyms
Synonyms are words with the same or similar senses. English tends
to have more synonyms than many other languages because of the
large number of borrowed words. Here are some examples of
synonyms derived from Old English and Norman French:
English-French synonym pairs:
Old
English
king
ox
sheep
folk
help
begin
end
hinder
Norman
French
sovereign
beef
mutton
people
aid
commence
terminate
prevent
feed
nourish
Germanic-based phrasal verbs also often make synonym pairs with
Latin-based verbs:
Germanic
catch up with
come back
give up
hold back
let down
make out
pick up
point out
put up with
Latin
reach
return
surrender
retain
disappoint
distinguish
collect
indicate
tolerate
Synonyms and near-synonyms (or polysynonym)
In principle, it should be possible to substitute synonyms for each
other in all or most contexts of use (the principle of substitutability).
Because this is rarely possible in practice, we tend to use the term
synonym for words that cover a similar range of meaning or
application. For clarity, the term near-synonym (or polysynonym)
can also be used.
·
synonyms sometimes cover different aspects of a thing or idea
(e.g., ox and beef).
·
synonyms often overlap only partially (e.g. pick up is a synonym
of collect when we are talking about going somewhere to bring
somebody or something back, but not when we are talking about
picking up something from the ground or collecting stamps).
·
verb synonyms often have different grammatical properties (e.g.,
feed is used intransitively and transitively - babies feed and we
also feed babies- while nourish is used only transitively).
·
synonyms may differ in levels of generality (e.g. make has a
number of synonyms with more restricted senses: produce,
manufacture, create, put together, construct, craft, build,
compose).
·
synonyms may have different levels of formality or be more
frequent in particular contexts of use (e.g., kids, children,
offspring, progeny).
Tip. Do you know how to find synonyms for words using Microsoft
Word? Type and select a word, then right-click and select ‘Synonyms’.
Antonyms
Antonyms are basically ‘opposites’. Linguists recognise several kinds
of opposition.
Gradable vs. non-gradable (or ungradable) antonyms
This distinction applies mostly to adjectives and adverbs
Gradable antonyms represent points on a scale that are roughly
equal in distance from the middle of the scale.
Non-gradable (or ungradable) antonyms represent opposed
states that cannot be measured on a scale.
Gradable antonyms
Let's take the scale of temperature as an example. Hot is an antonym
of cold. This means that hot and cold are roughly the same distance
from the middle of the scale (where it is neither hot nor cold). Warm
and cool are also gradable antonyms because they are roughly the
same distance from the middle of the scale (but a shorter distance
than hot and cold).
Gradable antonyms have a few interesting properties:
·
Exactly how ‘hot’ is hot? This depends on what you are
talking about: a hot day, a hot cup of tea, hot noodles, a hot
shower, hot oil, hot air, etc. A hot cup of tea is likely to be
much hotter than a hot day, for example.
·
Gradable antonyms are often modified by adverbs to
express higher and lower points on the scale: e.g. extremely
hot, very hot, too hot, so hot, quite hot.
·
There are often other adjectives expressing extreme and
intermediate points on the scale: e.g. warm, tepid, lukewarm,
cool, chilly, freezing.
Non-gradable (or ungradable) antonyms
Dead and alive are good examples of non-gradable antonyms:
·
They are not points on a scale. They are opposed states.
This means that if you are dead, you are not alive. If you are
alive, you are not dead.
·
Non-gradable antonyms are not usually modified by adverbs.
In colloquial English, we do say almost dead (=about to die),
half-dead (=very tired), so alive (=feeling very well), stone
dead and dead as a doornail (emphatic/hyperbolic), but these
expressions do not represent points on a scale.
·
There are usually no adjectives representing intermediate
states between non-gradable antonyms.
Tips for learning and teaching
It is often a good idea to learn and teach antonyms at the same time.
For example, if you are learning hot, you may as well learn cold at the
same time. Similarly with non-gradable pairs like alive and dead.
Gradable antonyms need special attention. Students need to notice
how they are modified and the use of other adjectives to express
intermediate and extreme points on the scale. But they cannot learn
this all at once. By gradually building up a set of adjectives and
expressions to express, for example, different degrees of temperature,
students can also enrich their writing.
Here are some more examples of gradable and non-gradable antonym
pairs:
Gradable antonyms
wet – dry
young – old
easy – difficult
happy – sad
big – small
long – short
Non-gradable antonyms
male - female
true - false
north - south
single - married
full - empty
before - after
Reciprocal (conversive) vs. reversive antonyms
This distinction applies mainly to nouns, verbs and adverbs
·
Reciprocal (or conversive) antonyms are pairs in which
each member depends upon the other. We can say that ‘you
can’t have one without the other’.
·
Reversive antonyms are pairs in which each member
expresses the reverse of the other. In this case, you can
have one without the other.
Reciprocal (or conversiv) antonyms
Nouns: An example is husband and wife. If I am your husband, you
must be my wife.
Verbs: An example is buy and sell. If I buy something from you, you
must sell it to me.
Reversive antonyms
Verbs: An example is rise and fall. Note the difference here with buy
and sell. If the temperature rises, this does not mean that something
else falls!
Adverbs: An example is backwards and forwards. Again, if I am going
backwards, this doesn’t mean that you or anyone else is going
forwards!
Here are some more examples of reciprocal and reversive antonym
pairs:
Reciprocal antonyms
teacher - student
boyfriend - girlfriend
give - take
borrow - lend
inside - outside
above - below
Reversive antonyms
enter - exit
bring - take
arrive - depart
come - go
towards - away from
up - down
Tips for teaching and learning
Again, it is often a good idea to learn and teach reciprocal (or
conversive) and reversive antonyms together. The distinction between
these two kinds of adjectives can also be helpful with some difficult
pairs. For example, borrow and lend are reciprocal antonyms - if I
borrow something from you, you lend it to me. Bring and take are
reversive antonyms - you bring something towards you and take
something away from you.
Hyponyms
Hyponyms are senses that are related to each other through
inclusion. These relationships of inclusion are often represented by
tree diagrams:
The items making up trees of this kind are sometimes called lexical
fields or semantic fields. In the example above:
·
animal is the superordinate (or a hypernym of pet and wild
animal) item (or the item that determines the field)
·
the other items are all hyponyms of animal and any other items
higher up in the hierarchy (hypo- means ‘under’)
·
items under one branch and on the same level (e.g. dog, cat,
hamster) are called co-hyponyms.
Tips for teaching and learning
The use of a set of words within a lexical field often identifies the topic
of a piece of writing. For example, a piece on the topic of ‘dogs’ is
likely to include words on the left side of the tree diagram above.
Huskies, schnauzers and chihuahuas may be mentioned as examples
of dogs, comparisons between dogs, cats and hamsters may be
made, and pet and animal may be used as synonyms of dog. It can be
a good idea to draw students’ attention to these kinds of patterns, for
example, by identifying the topic of a text and asking the students to
search for as many words connected to the topic as they can find.
Students can also begin a piece of writing by constructing a lexical
field tree diagram for their own topic.
Reading
Yule, G. (1996). The study of language (2nd ed.). UK: Cambridge
University Press. (Chapter 11)
Thornbury, S. (2002). How to teach vocabulary. London: Longman.
Activities
Language note
When you are talking about the activities, please keep the following
in mind.
Words containing the root -onym- tend to follow a similar
derivational pattern
Synonomy is a noun referring to the concept of ‘having the same
sense’. (But note that having no name is anonymity).
Synonym is a noun referring to a word that has the same sense
as another. A word can be a synonym of another word or two
words can be synonyms.
Synonomous is an adjective. A word can be synonymous with
another word or two words can be synonymous.
The same is true of antonym and hyponym.
Task 1 - Synonymy
1. In which sentences can you use both words and in which can you
use only one? Explain your choices:
begin / start
As soon as they went to bed the baby __________ to cry.
I was late for work because I couldn't ___________ my car.
There could be no life before the world ____________ .
leave / depart
We had to ________ the party early because the last MTR
_________ at 12.20.
3. Can you suggest synonyms for fair and light in the following
phrases. Do these synonyms match the principle of substitutability?
fair hair
a fair decision
a fair performance
a light bag
light blue
a light wind
Task 2 - Antonymy
What kinds of antonyms are the following?
male and female
buy and sell
agree and disagree
grateful and ungrateful
old and new
right and wrong
above and below
toxic and non-toxic
wet and dry
backwards and forwards
Can you suggest antonyms for fair and light in the following
phrases. Are they also antonyms of the words you came up with as
synonyms?
fair hair
a fair decision
a fair performance
a light bag
light blue
a light wind
Task 3 - Hyponomy
What is the topic of the passage below?
Combining an old concept, existing equipment and new ideas,
NASA gave shape on Monday to President Bush’s promise to send
humans back to the Moon by the end of the next decade. Michael
D. Griffin, the agency’s new administrator, detailed a $104
billion plan that he said would get astronauts to the Moon by
2018, serve as a steppingstone to Mars and beyond, and stay
within NASA’s existing budget. The plan would use a new
spacecraft similar to the Apollo command capsule of the
original Moon program, and new rockets made up largely of
components from the space shuttle program. “It is very Apollolike,” Dr. Griffin said, “but bigger. Think of it as Apollo on
steroids.”
Now make a list of words from the passage related to this topic and
arrange them into a tree diagram. Add words that you think might
come up as the passage continues.
http://engres.ied.edu.hk/vocabulary/vocabulary2-8.html