Antonymy

Antonymy------BriefintroducetheAntonymy’sthreefeaturesanditsuse.BriefIntroductionAntonymyisconcernedwithsemanticopposition.Antonymscanbedefinedaswordswhichareoppositeinmeaning.Thereareavarietyof“oppositeness”.Theycanbeclassifiedintothreemajorgroups:I.GradableAntonymy(级别性反义词）II.ComplementaryAntonymy(互补反义)III.Converses(Relativeterms换位反义词).i.e.weoftensay:buttherearealso…..cold—hot---------chilly,cool,warm…old—young---------middle-aged….beautiful—ugly---------plain,good-looking…rich—poor---------well-to-do小康….big—small---------tiny…Open—close---------ajar半开的…I.GradableAntonymy(级别性反义词）thecommonesttypeofantonymy.threecharacteristics:1.Gradable.Thatis,themembersofapairdifferintermsofdegree.Thedenialofoneisnotnecessarilytheassertionoftheother.Andtheymayhavecomparativeandsuperlativedegrees:I.GradableAntonymy(级别性反义词）i.e.Big--bigger--biggestsmall--smaller--smallestOld--older--oldestyoung--younger--youngest2.beinggradedagainstdifferentnorms标准.noabsolutecriterionbywhichwemaysaysomethingisgoodorbad,longorshort,bigorsmall.Thecriterionvarieswiththeobjectdescribed:I.GradableAntonymy(级别性反义词）.i.e.(1)Abigcarisinfactmuchsmallerthanasmallplane.(2)Amicrocomputerisgiantbythestandardofmicroorganism.I.GradableAntonymy(级别性反义词）3.Onememberofapair,usuallythetermforthehigherdegree,servesasthecoverterm.Thatmeans,ingeneral,itisthecovertermthatismoreoftenused.Ifthecoveredisused,thenitsuggeststhatthereissomethingodd,unusualhere.WeasksomebodyHowoldareyou?andthepersonaskedmaynotbeoldinanysense.Hemaybeasyoungastwentyorthree.Thewordoldisusedheretocoverbotholdandyoung.ThesentencemeansthesameasWhatisyourage?i.e.Howoldareyou?“sameasWhatisyourage?II.ComplementaryAntonymy(互补反义)Meansthemembersofapairinthistypearecomplemtarytoeachother.Thatistheydivideupthewholeofasemanticfieldcompletely.e.g.Alive—deadmale—femalepresent—absentinnocent—guiltyodd—even(奇--偶)pass—fail(atest)hit—miss(atarget)boy—girlsame—different…Caracteristics…II.ComplementaryAntonymy(互补反义)1.Theseantonymstrulyrepresentoppositenessofmeaning.Theyaresoopposedtoeachotherthattheyaremutuallyexclusiveandadmitnopossibilitybetweenthem.e.g.Alive—deadHeisalive=HeisnotdeadHeisdead=Heisnotalive•nointermediategroundbetweenthetwo•Ifheisreallynotalive,thenheisdeadcompletely,notjusthalf-dead•Chineseexpression半死不活canonlybeusedforsomebodywhoisstillaliveII.ComplementaryAntonymy(互补反义)2.Theadjectivesinthistypecannotbemodifiedbyveryi.e.verydeadorveryalive3.Donothavecomparativeorsuperlativedegreesi.e.1.Heismoredeadthanalive.Thisisnotatruecomparative.=“Itismorecorrecttosaythatheisdeadthantosayheisalive”Donotsay“JohnismoredeadthanPeter”2.Johnismoremadthanstupid(麻木)=“ItismorecorrecttosayJohnismadthantosayJohnisstupid”II.ComplementaryAntonymy(互补反义)4.Thenorminthistypeisabsolute.•Thesamenormisusedforallthethingsitisapplicableto.•Itnotvarywiththethingawordisappliedto.e.g.ofamanthedeathofanelephantofatree…thedeathof….isamatterofkindnotofdegreeII.ComplementaryAntonymy(互补反义)5.nocovertermforthetwomembersofapair(代替)e.g.”Isitaboyoragirl?”not“Hoemaleisit?”thewordmalecanonlybeusedforboys,itcannotcoverthemeaningofgirlsasamatteroffact,noadjectiveinthistypecanbemodifiedbyhowandsolikevery例外Butthereisacoverterm----trueWecansay“Howtrueisthestory?”这故事有多少准确性？truthrelatedtothiscovertermWecanuseverytomodifytrueItalsohascomparativeandsuperlativedegreestruertruestButfalsecannotbeusedinthisway•DifferencebetweenthegradableandthecomplementaryGradableInlogic(distinction)e.g.Thecoffeeishot.Thecoffeeiscold.Youcannotdistinguishhowhot/coldthecoffeeisgradableThisisamalecat.ThisisafemalecatYoucaneasilydistinguishwithoutanyconfusioncomplementaryComplementaryIII.Converses(Relativeterms换位反义词).Knownasrelationaloppositesi.e.parent—childhusband—wifepredecessor—successoremployer—employeeabove—belowguest—host…1)relational相关性:Thepairsofwordsindicatesuchareciprocalsocialrelationshipthatoneofthemcannotbeusedwithoutsuggestingtheother.2)spatial空间性i.e.above-belowhere-thereright-leftIII.Converses(Relativeterms换位反义词).Thistypealsoincludesreverseterms,whichcompriseadj.andadv.signifyingaqualityorverbsandnounssignifyinganactorstatethatreversethequality,actionorstateoftheother.i.e.Sell—buygive—receiveborrow-lendAsellssth.toB=BbuysitfromA.Bbuyssth.fromA=AsellsittoBAgivesagifttoB=BreceivesitfromABreceivesagiftfromA=AgivesittoB.…twowordsofeachpairareinterdependent.3)reciprocal交互性III.Converses(Relativeterms换位反义词).Distinguish:Converses---gradable&contradictory1.Gradable/contradictory:i.e.Xisgood/malewithoutpresupposinghasnothingtodowithYconversesi.e.XisY’shusband.=YisX’swife.notXisahusband.therearealwaystwosides2.moreexamples:child—parentamanisalwaysachildtohisparents.Relativechild—adultamanabove18isanadultContradictoryUseofantonymsAntonymshavevariouspraticalusesandhavelongprovedhelpfulandvaluableindefiningthemeaningofwordsi.e.freshfreshbread,freshair,freshflower,freshlook,.Thedifferentshadesofmeaningareclearlybroughtoutbyreplacingthemwithantonyms:statebread,stuffyair,fadedflowers,tiredlook.Antonymsareusefulinenablingustoexpresseconomicallytheoppositeofaparticularthough