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LEXICAL RELATIONS
Lesson 2
1
PARADIGMATIC &
SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONS
2
Lexical relations - Hyponymy
Flower
Sheep
4
Lexical relations -
SYNONYMY
Synonyms are lexemes which have the same
meaning
English has a lot of synonyms because its
vocabulary comes from different sources
(Anglo-Saxon, Latin, Greek, French)
But is it possible to have true synonyms, i.e.
words with exactly the same meaning?
5
Distinguishing meanings
Some words only occur in particular contexts
(e.g. dialect words, autumn-fall)
Some words only occur in certain styles (salt
and sodium chloride)
Some words only occur in certain collocations
(deep water but not profound water)
Some words are emotionally stronger (e.g.
freedom, not liberty)
Some words overlap in meaning but are not
identical (e.g. govern and direct)
6
Why is synonymy important
for language students?
Because students often need to know
“why do you say “x and not y” when x
and y are very similar.
7
Are these pairs the same kind
of opposite?
alive big buy clumsy
dead little sell dexterous
8
Lexical relations - Antonymy
Gradable antonyms - these are capable of
comparison (e.g. wetter, very wet)
Complementary (either-or) antonyms - if one
applies the other does not (e.g. alive/dead)
Converse antonyms - these are mutually
dependent; you cannot have one without the
other (e.g. wife/husband)
9
How do we know antonyms?
By intuition.
10
Lexical relations - polysemy
Eye
“Eye” is classified as one word Quic k Ti me™ e un
dec om pres s ore T IFF (Non c ompres s o)
with two different meanings. s ono nec es s ari per vi s ual izz are ques t'im magi ne.
14
A word is easier to understand
when …
It is a cognate
The morphology is recognised
The context is understood (so you can make
a good guess at the meaning)