Group 3 : Tsania Padhila
· Kurniati
· Dicky Nurhuda Winata
LEXICAL RELATIONS
“Lexical relations are relationship of the
meanings of the words to other words” (Bolinger, 1968:11).
A lexeme is a
minimal unit that can take part in referring or predicating. All the lexemes of
a language constitute the lexicon of the language, and all the lexemes that you
know make up your personal lexicon. Lexical relation means two or more things
are connected with the words of language. Kind of lexical relations :
A. Lexical Field
the lexical
field refers to words that belong to the same group according to lexemes.Example
:neighboor, neighbourhood.
An important
organizational principle in the lexicon (word). This is a group of lexemes
which belong to a particular activity or area of specialist knowledge. Example
: The differences using of the terms in cooking
or sailing; or the vocabularly used
by doctors, coal miners, or mountain
climbers.
To some extent
we can ‘define’ a lexeme by telling what ‘set’ it belongs to and how it differs
from other members of the same set. It is not difficult to say what the members
of each set have in common. It may be more troublesome to say just how much is included
in the set and to find the truly essential characteristics that differentiate
each lexeme in a set from all the others in the same set, to establish the most
economical system of features that explains how the members of the set are
related to one another.
The words man,
woman, boy and girl, all denoting humans, are interrelated this way:
|
Human
|
Male
|
Female
|
|
Adult
|
man
|
woman
|
|
Child
|
boy
|
girl
|
[Human] is the
semantic feature shared by all members of the set and through which tiger, tree
and numerous other lexemes are excluded from the set. Using square brackets to
indicate such semantic features, [male/female], and [adult/child] are the
features, or components, that differentiate the members of the set from one
another. The determination of such features has been called componential
analysis. The paradigm provides definitions (man=[adult male human], and so on)
and analogies (man is to woman as boy is to girl, boy is to man as girl is to
woman); in other words, a paradigm shows that lexemes are systematically
related. Definitions can be made somewhat more sophisticated through binary
features; instead of [male] and [female] the labels can be [+male] and [-male]
(or [-female] and [+female]), and instead of [adult] and [child] we may have
[+adult] and [-adult] (or [-child] and [+child]).
B.Kinship
|
Theme
|
Predicate
|
Associate
|
|
Harold
|
Father-of
|
Alice
|
|
Rose
|
Sister-of
|
Jery
|
Kinship systems
make an interesting area for componential analysis. Kinship is universal since
all humans are related to other humansthrough blood ties and through marriage,
but kinship systems differfrom society to society. A relationship is a kind of
predicate. Sentencessuch as Harold is Alice’s father and Rose is Jerry’s sister
have apropositional content that we represent this way :
Some of the
predicate relations in all kinship systems can be described with four primitive
features: [parent], [offspring], [sibling] and [spouse]. We also need the components
[male] and [female], of course, which we will indicate as M and F,
respectively. Combining M and F with the four basic features gives definitions
of eight predicates: father=M parent, mother=F parent, brother=M sibling, sister=F
sibling, son=M offspring, daughter=F offspring, husband =M spouse, wife=F
spouse. Other relations are defined by combinations of features: grandmother=parent’s
F parent, grandfather=parent’s M parent, granddaughter=offspring’s F offspring,
grandson=offspring’s M offspring.
Some kinship
system have ‘cross-siblings’. Tokpisin, the national language of Papua New
Guinea, the way the vocabulary is used often reflects a different cultural
outlook.
|
|
Male
sibling
|
Female
sibling
|
|
Male
speaker
|
borata
|
sesta
|
|
Female
speaker
|
sesta
|
borata
|
The word ‘borata’, from
English ‘brother’, means sibling of the same sex as oneself, and ‘sesta’, from
‘sister’, is a sibling of the opposite.
C. Hyponymy
Hyponymy is a
relation of inclusion. A hyponym includes the meaning of a more general word,
e.g.
1a.
My necktie is maroon.
1b.
My necktie is red.
2a.
There are tulips in the vase.
2b.
There are flowers in the vase.
The term maroon is a hyponym of red and tulip is a hyponym of flower. Red and flower are the supordinates
or hypernym of maroon and tulips.
hyponym are
words whose semantic range is included within another word. For example :
scarlet, vermilion, carmine and crimson are all hyponyms of red which in turn
is a hyponym of colour.
D. Synonymy
6a Jack is a seaman
6b Jack is a sailor
Assuming that Jack refers to the same person in the two sentences, then if 6a is
true, 6b is true; if 6b is true, 6a is true; and if either is false, the other
is false. This is our basis for establishing that seaman and sailor are
synonyms: when used predications with the same reffering expression, the
predications have the same truth value. The lexemes seaman and sailor are
synonyms; sentences 6a and 6b are paraphrases of each other.
Synonyms can be nouns, as in 6a and 6b, or
adjectives, adverbs, or verbs.
7a The rock is large.
7b The rock is big.
8a The train traveled fast.
8b The train traveled rapidly.
9a The bus left promptly at 10.
9b The bus departed promptly at 10.
E. Antonymy
16a
Alvin is watching television now.
16b
Alvin isn’t watching television now.
Two sentences that differ in
polarity like these are mutually contradictory. If one is true, the other must
be false. Two sentences that have the same subject and have predicates which
are antonyms are also mutually
contradictory.
17a The television is on now.
17b The
television is off now.
18a Mr
Adams is an old man.
18b Mr
Adams is a young man.
19a The
road is wide here.
19b The
road is narrow here.
Lexemes like on and off, old and young, wide and narrow are pairs of antonyms. Antonym
are opposite in meaning, and when they occur as predicates of the same subject
the predications are contradictory. Antonyms may be nouns like Communist and non-Communist or verbs such as advance
and retreat, but antonymous pairs of
adjectives are especially numerous.
F. Binary and non-binary antonyms
There are different kind of
antonymous relationships. On and off are binary antonyms: an electric light or
radio or a television set is either on or off; there is two middle ground.
Other binary pairs are open/shut, dead/alive, a sleep/a wake. The terms old and
young are non-binary antonyms and so are wide and narrow. They are opposite
ends of a scale that includes various intermediate terms: Mr Adams may be
neither old nor young, the road may be something between wide and narrow.
(No-binary antonyms are also called polar antonyms; like the North and South
Poles, they are at opposite ends with
territory between them. Analogously, binary antonyms might be called
hemispheric antonyms; as with the Northern and Southern hemispheres [or the
Eastern and Western hemispheres], there is no space in between, only a line of
demarcation. Some semanticists use the term ‘complementary antonyms’ in place
of ‘binary antonyms’ and ‘contrary’ instead of ‘non-binary.’)
G.
A Comparision of four relation
Synonyms Hyponym and
Superordinate
(p) Jack is a seaman. (p) Rover is
a collie,
(q) Jack is a sailor. (q) Rover is a dog.
p Û q <=> p Û <=> q p Û
q <=>q Û <=>p
(The symbol Û indicates double entailment:
the truth of [p] entails the truth of [q], and the truth of [q] entails the
truth of [p].)
Non-binary antonyms
Binary antonyms
(p) Luke is rich. (p) The window is
open,
(q) Luke is poor. (q) The window is
closed,
p ® <=>q q ® <=>p p Û
<=>q <=>p ® q
We
see from this table that synonyms and binary antonyms are mirror images of each
other: if one of two sentences containing synonyms is true, the other is true;
if one is false, the other is false. Of two sentences with binary antonyms, if
one is true, the other is false, and if
one is false, the other is true. Non-binaries are like bïnaries in that the
truth of either member of the pair entails the falsity of the other member, but
unlike binary antonyms, both members of a non-binary pair can be false. Hyponym
and superordinate form a still different pair: the truth of the hyponym entails
the truth of the super ordinate, and the falsity of the superordinate entails
the falsity of the hyponym.
H.
Converse antonyms
To illustrate
synonymy, hyponymy and antonymy in the previous sections we presented pairs of
sentences; each sentence of a pair had the same subject and different
predicates; each predicate had a valency
of one—there was only a subject and no other referring expression. The next
paired sentences contain converse predicates, which necessarily have a
valency of 2 or more.
20a
The map is above the chalkboard.
20b The
chalkboard is below the map.
21a
Sally is Jerry’s wife. (Sally is the wife of Jerry)
21b Jerry is Sally’s husband. (Jerry is the husband of Sally)
Converseness is a kind of antonymy between two
terms. For any two converse relational terms X and Y, if [a] is the X of [b],
then [b] is the Y of [a]. In 20a map has the role of Theme and chalkboard
the role of Associate; in 20b the roles are reversed. The same applies to Sally
and Jerry in 21a and 21b.
The features [parent] and [offspring], introduced in
section 5.2, are converse features: if A is the parent of B, B is the
offspring of A (represented symbolically: A parent-of B ? B offspring-of
A). Common converse pairs include kinship and social roles (husband-of/
wifeof, employer-of/employee-of) and directional opposites (above/
below, in front of/behind; left-of/right-of; before/after,
north-of/south-of; outside/inside). There are a few pairs of converse
3-argument predicates: giveto/receive-from; sell-to/buy-from;
lend-to/borrow-from.
22a
Dad lent me a little money.
22b
I borrowed a little money from Dad.
If
A gives X to B, B receives X from A. All three of these pairs of predicates are
built around the relationship of source and goal, which we
examine in Chapter 6.
23a Danny broke a
window.
23b A window was broken (by Danny).
24a Olga wrote a marvelous essay.
24b A marvelous essay was written (by Olga).
25a Simon climbed the wall.
25b The wall was climbed
(by Simon).
26a
This package weighs two kilos.
26b
*Two kilos is/are weighed by this package.
If a predicate consists of a verb and its object and the
object has the role of Affected (23), Effect (24), or Theme (25), there is a
converse sentence in which the original object becomes subject, the verb is passive,
and the agent may be deleted. Of course there is no such passive converse when
the object of the verb, or apparent object, has the role of Associate (26a). Some
conjunctions, or clause connectors, like before and after form
converse pairs. 27a Herbert left the party before Jean (left the party). 27b
Jean left the party after Herbert (left the party). We see that in all these
examples of sentences with converse pairs, [a] and [b] are paraphrases. Since above
and below are converse antonyms sentences [a] and [b] have the same
truth value.Thus,
a Û b ~a Û ~b
Consider
these paraphrastic sentences:
28a The dictionary is heavier than the novel.
28b The novel is lighter than the dictionary.
Although
heavy and light are non-binary antonyms, the comparative forms
are converse: more heavy=less light; more light=less heavy.
29a
The dictionary is more expensive than the novel.
29b
The novel is less expensive than the dictionary.
I.
Symmetry and reciprocity
A special kind of converseness is the use of a single
term in a symmetrical relationship, seen in these examples:
30a Line AB is parallel to Line
CD.
30b Line CD is parallel to Line
AB.
This relationship can also be
expressed as:
30c Line AB and Line CD are
parallel to each other.
or simply as:
30d Line AB and Line CD are paral
To generalize, if X is a
symmetrical predicate, the relationship a X b can also be expressed as b
X a and as a and b X (each other). Here ‘a’ and ‘b’ interchange the
roles of Theme and Associate. The features [sibling] and [spouse] are each
symmetrical (C sibling-of D ® D sibling-of C; E spouse-of F ® F spouse-of E).
Other examples of symmetrical predicates appear in these
sentences:
31 The truck is similar to the bus.
32 Line AB intersects Line CD.
33 Hampton Road converges with Broad Street.
34 Oil doesn’t mix with water.
The following sentences have predicates that appear to be
symmetrical
but are not.
35a The truck collided with the bus.
36a Tom agreed with Ann.
37a Prescott corresponds with Dudley.
38a The market research department communicates with the
sales department.
If the truck collided with the bus, it is not necessarily
true that the bus collided with the truck (35a), and analogous observations can
be made about 36a–38 On the other hand, in
35b The truck and the bus collided.
36b Tom and Ann agreed.
37b Prescott and Dudley correspond.
38b The market research department and the sales
department communicate.
we
are informed that the truck collides with the bus and the bus with the truck,
and the action is likewise symmetrical in 35b–37b. (34b–37b are ambiguous as
they stand, of course, since these sentences may be the result of ellipsis: The
truck and the bus collided with a taxi, Tom and Ann agreed with me, and so on.)
The verbs in these sentences are reciprocal predicates, not symmetrical
predicators. If X is a reciprocal predicate, the relationship a X b does
not entail bX a but a and b X does entail a X b and b X
a (leaving aside the possible ambiguity).
Reciprocal
predicates are mostly verbs like those in sentences 35–8 and the following:
argue-with
concur-with conflict-with co-operate-with correlate-with intersect-with
merge-with overlap-with embrace fight (with) hug
Symmetrical
predicates are adjectives combined with a preposition with, from, or to:
1 A and B are congruent (with each
other)
=A is congruent with B and B is congruent with A (where
‘=’
is the sign for semantic identity)
commensurate concentric congruent contemporary identical
intimate simultaneous synonymous
2 A and B are different (from each
other)
=A is different from B and B is different from A
different
3 A and B are equivalent (to each
other)
=A is equivalent to B and B is equivalent to A
equal equivalent related
Symmetrical
predicates may also be participles formed from causative
verbs:
If I connect X and Y, X and Y are connected with each other.
Other
such causative verbs are:
1 A combines X and Y=A combines X with
Y and Y with X
compare confuse group mix reconcile
2 A disconnects X and Y=A disconnects
X from Y and Y
from X
disconnect distinguish separate
3 A
connects X and Y=A
connects X to Y and Y to X
connect join relate tie
J.
Expression of quantity
The difference between binary and
non-binary antonyms can be shown this way:
Dead old
alive young
adjectives that are non-binary
antonyms can easily be modified: very
old, rather young, quite wide, extremely narrow, and the like. Logically it
would seen that binary antonyms do not accepts modifies an organism is either
dead or alive, a door is either open or shut, a floor is either clean or dirty,
one is either a sleep or awake. But language is not logic. Quite dead, very
much alive, wide open, slightly dirty are meaningful expressions.
