Lexical relations

Lexical relations

1. The meaning relations that hold within the vocabulary of a language between words themselves

   • Synonymy
     • Syn= same, nymy= name.Is used to mean ‘sameness of meaning’. English is rich in synonyms. Synonyms generally come from these languages: Anglo-Saxon, French, Latin and Greek
       • origin
         • help/aid kingdom/realm
       • from technical vocabulary or jargon
         • cut/incisión
       • emotive
         • words differing in emotive or evaluative meanings (connotation): statesman (respectful) / politician (derogatory); hide (general) / conceal (formal, with intention)
       • near
         • mature/adult discover/find or collocation synonyms: rotten food (eggs, meat, etc); addled eggs; rancid bacon or butter; sour milk
       • dialectal
         • lift/elevator; football /soccer.
   • Antonymy
     • The word ‘antonymy’ is a standard technical term used for ‘opposite of meaning between lexemes.
       • gradable opposites
         • Two words may be seen in terms of degrees of the quality involved. E.g. wide/narrow, old/young, big/small.
       • complementarity
         • One member of the set is complementary to the other. E.g. single/married, alive/dead.
       • relational opposites
         • There is a relation indicating a contrast of direction in such a type binary opposition. E.g. win/lose, parent/child, in front of/behind.