英语词汇学_Unit_06_Sense_relations

EnglishLexicologyUnit6SenseRelationsContentsSynonymy同义关系synonym同义词Antonymy反义关系antonym反义词Polysemy多义关系polyseme多义词Homonymy同音(同形)异义关系homonym同音同形异义词，homograph同形异义词，homophone同音异义词Hyponymy上下义关系superordinate上义词,hyponym下义词Taxonymy分类关系superordinate上类词,taxonym分类词Meronymy部分整体关系superordinate总项词,meronym分项词SynonymySynonymyisarelationshipof‘samenessofmeaning’thatmayholdbetweentwowords.Synonym:awordthatmeansthesameasanother.Linguistsmakeadistinctionbetween‘strict’or‘absolute’synonymyand‘loose’or‘relative’synonymy.StrictsynonymyStrictsynonymsrefertotwowordswhichareidenticalinmeaninginallitsaspects.Theyareinterchangeableinallcontexts.Strictsynonymsareveryrare,andsomelinguistsevenarguethatstrictsynonymsdonotexist.Strictsynonymyisuneconomical;itcreatesunnecessaryredundancyinalanguage.LoosesynonymyWhenwespeakofsynonymy,wemean‘loose’or‘relative’synonymy,wherewefindnotonlyasignificantoverlapinmeaningbetweentwowords,butalsosomecontextswheretheycannotbeusedinterchangeably.Johnfound/discoveredthebasketballinthegrass.MariaCuriediscoveredradiumin1898.*MariaCuriefoundradiumin1898.discover:bethefirstonetocomeacrosssomethingfind:experiencesomethinginsomewayDistinguishingsynonymsWeoftentakethefollowingthingsintoconsiderationwhenwetrytofindthedifferencesbetweensynonyms.DifferentEnglishdialectsDifferentstylisticmeaningsDifferentconnotativemeaningsSynonymsfromdifferentdialectsSomesynonympairsdifferinthattheybelongtodifferentdialectsofEnglish.HerearesomeexamplesofsynonymsfromBritishandAmericanEnglish:BrEAmEBrEAmEliftelevatorfarmranchlawyerattorneybiscuitcookierubbishgarbagepavementsidewalkSynonymswithdifferentstylisticmeaningsOneofapairofsynonymsmaybeusedinamoreformalcontextthantheother.Herearesomeexamplesofsynonympairs.InformalFormalInformalFormaldiedeceasedaddyfatherblamechideguymanwestoccidentalpraiseeulogySynonymswithdifferentconnotativemeaningsSynonymsmayhavedifferentemotiveassociations(connotativemeanings).famousnotorious(disreputably)misuseabuse(ofprivilegeorpower)ambiguousequivocal(deliberately)newnovel(strikingly)hateloathe(withdisgust)obtainprocure(witheffort)SourceofsynonymsWhyaretheresomanysynonymsinEnglish?Theprimaryreasonforthishastodowiththeheavyborrowingfromotherlanguages,especiallyfromFrenchandLatin.EnglishFrenchLatinaskquestioninterrogatetimeageepochbegincommencebuypurchaseAntonymy(反义关系)Antonymyisarelationshipof‘meaningopposition’thatmayholdbetweentwowords.Antonymscanbedefinedaswordswhichareoppositeinmeaning.Majortypesofantonyms：GradableantonymsContradictoryorcomplementaryantonymsConverseantonymsGradableantonymsGradableantonymsincludepairslikethefollowing:beautifuluglyexpensivecheapfastslowhotcoldlongshortrichpoorwidenarrowThesepairsarecalledgradableantonymsbecausetheydonotrepresentamore/lessrelation.Thewordscanbetheend-pointsofacontinuum(连续体).Sincetheyaregradable,theyallowcomparison.Contradictory(complementary)antonymsContradictoryantonymsincludepairslikethefollowing:asleepawakedeadaliveonoffrememberforgetwinlosetruefalseThesepairsarecalledcontradictoryantonymsbecausetheyrepresentaneither/orrelation.Ifyoupermitsomebehavior,thenitisnotforbidden.Sincetheyarenotgradable,theydonotallowcomparison.Converseantonyms(逆行)Thefollowingareexamplesofconverseantonyms：lendborrowhusbandwifeabovebelowbeforeafterbehindinfrontofbuysellgivereceiveparentchildspeaklistenLendistheconverseofborrowandviceversa;i.e.thesubstitutionofonememberfortheotherdoesnotchangethemeaningofasentenceifitisaccompaniedbythechangeofsubjectandobject.JohnlentMaryfivedollars.MaryborrowedfivedollarsfromJohn.Thebridgeisabovetheriver.Theriverisbelowthebridge.Thisbehaviorisallowed.Thisbehaviorisnotprohibited.Contradictoryantonymsvs.ConverseantonymsConverseantonymsarerelationalantonyms.Contradictoryantonymsareeither/orantonyms.PolysemyWhenawordisfirstcoined,itisalwaysthecase(true)thatithasonlyonemeaning(monosemic).Butinthecourseofdevelopment,thesamesymbolmaybeusedtoexpressnewmeanings.Theresultispolysemy.Polysemyshowstheeconomyandefficiencyofhumanlanguages.TwoprocessesleadingtopolysemyTherearetwoimportantprocessesinthedevelopmentofmeaning:Radiation(发散)Concatenation(串联)RadiationRadiationisaprocessinwhichtheprimarymeaningstandsinthecenter,andthederivedmeaningsradiatefromitineverydirectionlikerays.Allthederivedmeaningscanbetracedbacktotheprimarymeaning.1657243RadiationExample:facethefrontofthehead(PrimaryMeaning)outwardappearance(DerivedMeaning)aperson(DerivedMeaning)self-respect(DerivedMeaning)thesurfaceofathing(DerivedMeaning)countenance(DerivedMeaning)Wecangetthederivedmeaningsbyextension,narrowing,analogy,transfer,etc.ConcatenationConcatenationisaprocessinwhichthemeaningofawordmovesgraduallyfromitsprimarymeaningbysuccessiveshifts,likethelinksofachain,untilthereisnoconnectionbetweenthemeaningthatisfinallydevelopedandtheprimarymeaning.Unlikeradiationwhereeachofthederivedmeaningisdirectlyrelatedtotheprimarymeaning,concatenationisaprocesswhereeachofthelatermeaningisrelatedonlytotheprecedingone.165243ConcatenationExample:candidateAape