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LEXICAL RELATIONS

Ilma Sagita

Meaning and lexemes (lexical items)


Lexicon = repository of unpredictable information.
Pronunciation Meaning Grammatical category (Linked to) encyclopedic knowledge, register, frequency.

We may think of this in terms of lexemes, insofar as kick, kicked, kicks, kicking have a predictable part and an unpredictable part to their meaning. The dictionary/lexicon need list only (to) kick.

One word several lexemes


bank1 : side of a river. bank2 : financial institution One word, (at least) two senses, two lexemes.

The word bank is ambiguousit could mean bank1, it could mean bank2. This is different from vagueness, for example with large, small (Mickey is large, Willy is a small), or student (John, Mary) with respect to gender.

Lexical Relation is a culturally recognize pattern of association that exist between lexical unit in language. It categorizes the relationship between words

Types of Lexical Relationship

Homonymy Polysemy Hyponymy Synonymy Antonymy Meronymy

HOMONYMY
In linguistics, homonym is one of a group of words
that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings, usually as a result of the two words having different origins. The word bank in river bank and Lloyds bank are classified as two different words with separate meanings even though they have the same form.

Homophone Identical pronunciation e.g to with too too


with

Homograph Identical spelling e.g bear tire

with

bear
tire

two

with

But both homophone and homograph absolutely have different meaning

POLYSEMY
one word with two different meanings Eye is classified as one word with two different meanings. This happens when the difference in meaning is predictable or regular. There is a core meaning from which the other meanings (eye of a needle, eye of a tornado) can be predicted.

HYPONYMY
Hyponymy is the relation of inclusion. A hyponym includes the meaning of a more general words or we might know it as its hypernym (superordinate).

The significance of hyponym is included in its hypernym, also the meaning of the hypernym is included in the meaning of the hyponym.

HYPONYMY
Flower (hypernym)

Rose

Orchid

Jasmine

Rose, Orchid and Jasmine are the hyponyms

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)

Do these pairs mean the same thing?


Salt and Sodium Chloride Deep and profound Freedom and liberty Govern and direct

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)

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)

Are these pairs the same kind of opposite?


alive dead big little buy sell clumsy dexterous

dry
wet large small

first
last married single

happy
sad over under

husband
wife hot cold

MERONYMY
It is a term used to describe a partwhole relationship between lexical items (single or group of words that convey a single meaning).

How to identify meronymy?


X is a meronym of Y if X is a part of Y, or Y has X
Meronymy reflects hierarchical classifications in the lexicon The lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. In other words, it is a language's inventory of lexemes.

Examples:
Cover and page are parts of book, thus they are meronyms of book A finger is a part of a hand, thus finger is a meronym of hand Nose is a meronym of face (necessary) Collar is a meronym of shirt (usual but not

obligatory)

Meronymy Vs hyponymy
Hyponymy is always transitive, meaning that if an item is a part of a part, then that first item is part of the larger whole. Examples: hawk is a hyponym of bird, and bird is a hyponym of animal, so hawk is a hyponym of animal Meronymy may or may not be transitive. transitive example: nail is a meronym of finger, and finger of hand, we can say that nail is a meronym of hand, for we can say hand has nails. Intransitive example: hole is a meronym of button, and button of shirt, but we cant say that hole is a meronym of shirt, for we can not say shirt has holes. Formula to distinguish meronymy and hyponymy: Meronymy: oxygen is a part of air Hyponymy: Cheetah is a kind/a type of cat

REFERENCES
Farmer, Ann K., & Demers, Richard A. (2001). A Linguistics Workbook. London: MIT Press. Crystal, David. (2008). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. Yule, George. (2006). The Study of Language. New York: Cambridge University Press.

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