ANTONYMS

definition of antonymsV.N. Komissarov’s theory on

antonyms classification of antonyms conversives

Antonyms belong to the same part speech belong to the same semantic field identical in style nearly identical in distribution denotational meanings render

contradictory or contrary notions do not differ stylistically, in emotional

colouring

Contradictory or Contrary Notions

contradictory notions – mutually opposed and denying one another

e.g. alive – ‘not dead’ impatient – ‘not patient’

contrary notions – mutually opposed but they are gradable

e.g. old – middle-aged – young hot - warm – cool - cold

Antonyms (Ginzburg R.S.)

words different in sound-form characterized by semantic

polarity of denotational meaning characterized by

interchangeability in some contexts

Semantic Polarity

presence of some common presence of some common semantic components in the semantic components in the denotational meaningdenotational meaning

e.g. ashamed – ‘feeling unhappy or troubled’

proud – ‘feeling of happiness or assurance’

Antonyms usually appear in pairs – antonymic

pair a polysemantic word may have an

antonym for each of its meaningse.g. dull – interesting, amusing, entertaining

dull – clever, bright, capable

dull - active

Distribution of antonyms among parts of speech

adjectives

e.g. wide – narrow, strong – weak verbs

e.g. to lose – to find nouns

e.g. friend - enemy

Distribution of antonyms among parts of speech

adverbs

1. adverbs derived from adjectives

e.g. warmly – coldly, loudly – softly

2. adverbs proper

e.g. now – then, here – there set expressions

e.g. by accident - on purpose

V. N. Kommissarov’s theory on antonyms

two words shall be considered antonymous if they are regularly contrasted in actual speech

if the contrast in their meanings is proved by definite types of contextual co-occurrence (typical contexts)

Typical Contexts A and (or) B = all

e.g. If you have obeyed all the rules good or bad

not A but (on the contrary) B

e.g. He was alive, not dead.

Typical Contexts A or B

e.g. You will see if you were right or wrong.

X is is A, and , and Y, on the contrary , on the contrary B

e.g. The whole was big, oneself was little

Criteria for distinguishing antonyms (by V.N. Komissarov)

1. regular and frequent co-occurrence in typical contexts

2. the possibility of substitution and identical lexical valency

Identical Contexts e.g.

There is so much good in the worst of us,

and so much bad in the best of us. e.g.

Where most I Iost, there most I won.

Identical Lexical Valency valency – power to combine with

different wordse.g. hot ‘angry, exited’ anger,

resentment, cold scorn

(unpleasant emotions)

Classification of Antonyms

1. absolute or root antonyms (contrary notions)

e.g. to love – to hate

Classification of Antonyms

2. derivational antonyms (express contradictory notions)

formed with negative prefixes (un-, non-, dis-)

e.g. to please – to displease antonymous suffixes –ful and –less

e.g. painful - painless

R.S. Ginzburg’s Classification

contradictories – to use one of the words of this pair is to contradict the other. To use NOT before one of them means to make them semantically equivalent

e.g. single - married

R.S. Ginzburg’s Classification

contraries – admit the possibility of some intermediate members which are also antonymic

e.g. cold - hot

cool - warm

I.V. Arnold’s Classification

antonyms proper – the semantic polarity is relative, the opposition is gradual, it may have several elements characterized by different degrees of the same properties. They always imply comparison

e.g. large - small

I.V. Arnold’s Classification

complementarity antonyms – form binory opposition. The denial of one member implies the assertion of the other

e.g. male - female

Conversives

denote one and the same referent viewed from different viewpoints: a) viewpoint of a subject b) viewpoint of an object

e.g. to sell – to buy, left – right, husband – wife

Conversives

the substitution of a conversive does not change the meaning of a sentence if it is combined with morphological and syntactical changes

e.g. He gives her flowers.

She receives flowers from him