Lecture 4 Semantic Classification of the English Lexicon

Lecture 4 Semantic Classification of the English Lexicon. Synonymy and Antonymy

Plan: 1. Major types of semantic relations of lexical units (syntagmatic, paradigmatic). 2. Synonyms. Criteria of synonymy. Classification of synonyms. The dominant synonym. Euphemisms. 3. Antonyms. Classifications of antonyms. 4. Paradigmatic relations of inclusion (hierarchical relations): hyponymy, meronymy, serial relations. 5. Groups of words based on several types of semantic relations: conceptual (semantic or lexical) fields, lexical-semantic groups.

List of Terms • • • syntagmatic relations paradigmatic relations synonymy synonyms absolute synonyms ideographic synonyms stylistic synonyms dominant synonym euphemisms antonyms • • • contradictory antonyms contrary antonyms conversive antonyms hyponymy hyponym hyperonym (classifier) meronymy conceptual (semantic) field lexical-semantic group

1. Major types of semantic relations of lexical units (syntagmatic, paradigmatic)

Major Types of Relations Between Language Units: 1. Syntagmatic relations (linear sequence relations of lexical or any other language units in speech that can be presented as a horizontal line) • e. g. He feels happy/uncomfortable/good.

2. Paradigmatic relations (non-linear relations of language units based on their common function and similar meaning in a language system). Lexical substitution in a phrase is possible due to paradigmatic relations of certain lexical units.

The words that are in paradigmatic relations and may be substituted in a phrase can be presented in a vertical line: • The person became uncomfortable • The boy turned uneasy

Paradigmatic relations are the most fundamental for the organization of the lexicon and they are very diverse.

Two Major Groups of Paradigmatic Relations of Words: 1. the relations of compatibility synonymy antonymy incompatibility 2. the relations of inclusion, or hierarchical relations hyponymy meronymy serial relations

2. Synonyms. Criteria of synonymy. Classification of synonyms. The dominant synonym. Euphemisms

Synonymy is confined to semantic relations between words only. Similar relations between wordgroups and sentences are described as semantic equivalence. • e. g. John is taller than Bill is shorter than John. • To win a victory – to gain a victory.

Synonyms are traditionally described as words different in sound -form but identical or similar in meaning.

Critical Points of This Definition: 1. It cannot be applied to polysemantic words as they cannot be synonymous in all their meanings. • to look at smb – see, watch, observe; • to look pale – seem, appear.

2. It is impossible to speak of identity or similarity of lexical meaning as a whole as it is only the denotational component that may be described as identical.

• to die, to pass away – the connotative component is quite different; • to die, to walk, to smile – identical in their stylistic reference, but they are not synonyms.

3. Cases of complete synonymy are rather rare and can be found only in terms (e. g. spirant – fricative).

Attempts have been made to introduce the criterion of interchangeability in linguistic contexts, i. e. the words are synonymous if either of them can occur in the same context.

There are no complete synonyms. • buy, purchase – similar in meaning, but different in their stylistic reference and are not completely interchangeable: purchasing department (not buying department), to buy (and not to purchase) a pound of butter.

Synonyms: words different in their soundform, but similar in their denotational meaning or meanings and interchangeable at least in some contexts.

The only existing classification of synonyms was established by academician V. V. Vinogradov: • ideographic (words differ in their denotational meaning); e. g. to walk, to pace, to stroll, to stride • stylistic (words differ in the connotational meaning); e. g. hearty, cordial; post, mail

Types of synonyms: 1. absolute synonyms – have exactly the same meaning and belong to the same style • to moan, to groan; • homeland, motherland.

2. semantic synonyms – they appear due to desynonymization, when one of the absolute synonyms can specialize in its meaning. • city (French borrowing) – specialized in its meaning – a large important town; • town (native) – smaller than a city, larger than a village.

3. stylistic – appear when one of the absolute synonyms is specialized in its usage. • to begin (native) – to commence (French, rather formal).

4. slang synonyms • head – attic, nut, upper storey; • mad – daft, potty, loony, touched, nutty.

5. phraseological synonyms – words identical in their meaning and style, but different in their combinability with other words in the sentence. • to be late for the lecture but to miss the train; • to attend lectures but to visit museums.

6. contextual synonyms – similar in meaning only under some specific distributional conditions. • to bear, to stand, to suffer – are not synonyms and cannot substitute each other, except when used in the negative form: I can’t stand = I can’t bear.

Dominant Synonym: a word whose meaning is equal to the denotation common to the entire synonymic group • to surprise – to astonish, to amaze, to puzzle, to strike; • to shout – to yell, to roar; • to shine – to flash, to sparkle.

Features of the Dominant Synonym: • high frequency of usage; • broad combinability, i. e. the ability to be used in combinations with various classes of words; • broad general meaning; • lack of connotations.

Euphemisms: are substitutes for words which are considered to be indecent, rude, and too direct.

Euphemisms: 1. social taboos. • lavatory – powder room, washroom, restroom, retiring room, comfort station, ladies’ or gentlemen’s room. • pregnancy – in an interesting position, in a delicate condition, in the family way, with a baby coming.

2. Superstitious taboos – people believed that there was a supernatural link between a name and the object it represented. • a dangerous animal – the one-lurking -in-the-wood; • a mortal disease – the black death.

The Christian religion also made certain words taboo. • devil – the Prince of Darkness, the black one, the evil one, dickens, old Nick. • god – Good Lord! By Heavens! My Goodness!

A mad man: – insane, mentally unstable, unbalanced, not quite right (formal); – wrong in the upper storey, crazy as a bedbug, off one’s nut (slang).

3. Antonyms. Classifications of antonyms

Antonyms: are words characterized by semantic polarity or opposite meaning.

The term “opposite meaning” is rather vague: • kind – gentle, showing love, sympathy for others; • cruel – taking pleasure in giving pain to others.

Antonyms: words different in sound-form and characterized by different types of semantic contrast of denotational meaning and interchangeability at least in some contexts

V. N. Comissarov: • absolute or root antonyms – have different roots (late – early); • derivational – have the same roots, but different affixes (to please – to displease, honest – dishonest).

Classification of Antonyms: 1. Contradictories. To use one of the words is to contradict the other and to use “not” before one of them is to make it semantically equivalent to the other. • not dead=alive, not single=married.

Among contradictories we find a subgroup of words of the type young – old, big – small: to say “not young” is not necessarily “old”. They are generic terms for the common quality: size, age, etc.

2. Contraries. Differ from the contradictories: contradictories admit no possibility between them. One is either single or married, but contraries admit such possibilities. • cold – hot, cool and warm are intermediate members.

Contraries may be opposed to each other by the absence or presence of one of the components of meaning like sex or age. • man – woman, man – boy.

3. Conversives – name a situation from different, opposing points of view • to buy – to sell; • to win – to lose.

4. Paradigmatic relations of inclusion (hierarchical relations): hyponymy, meronymy, serial relations

Hyponymy: a semantic relation of inclusion. • car, bus, taxi – vehicle; • oak, pine – tree; • horse, cow – animal.

The hyponymic relationship: the hierarchical relationship between the meaning of the general and individual terms.

Plant grass bush tree shrub flower pine oak ash white pine yellow pine

The more specific term is called the hyponym. The more general term is called the hyperonym, or the classifier.

Meronymy: the relations of parts to the whole

The division of the human body into parts: Body Arm Hand Finger

Serial relations: • graded (open-ended series) e. g. military ranks; an open number system as in one, two, three. . . • cyclical series (not open-ended series) e. g. seasons of the year; days of the week

5. Groups of words based on several types of semantic relations: conceptual (semantic or lexical) fields, lexical-semantic groups

Words may be classified according to the concepts underlying their meaning.

Semantic Fields: closely knit sectors of vocabulary each characterized by a common concept.

• blue, red, yellow, black – colour; • mother, father, brother – kinship terms.

We cannot possibly know the meaning of the word if we do not know the structure of the semantic field to which the word belongs.

The meaning of captain • the semantic field in which this term operates – the navy, the army or merchant service: we know what captain means only if we know if his subordinate is called mate or first officer (merchant service), commander (navy), lieutenant (army).

Words making up semantic fields may belong to different parts of speech. • space – nouns: expanse, extent, surface; verbs: extend, spread, span; adjectives: roomy, vast, broad.

There may be comparatively small lexical groups of words belonging to the same part of speech and linked by a common concept. • concept of food – bread, cheese, milk.

Lexical-semantic Groups: smaller lexical groups consisting of words of the same part of speech.

Polysemantic words: the same word may refer to different lexico-semantic groups. • to make (to construct) – produce, manufacture. • to make (to compel) – to force, to induce.