Lecture 5 Semantic Classification of the English Lexicon

Lecture 5 Semantic Classification of the English Lexicon. Synonymy and Antonymy

Plan
1. Major types of semantic relations of lexical units (syntagmatic, paradigmatic).
2. Synonyms. Criteria of synonymy. Classification of synonyms. The dominant synonym. Euphemisms.
3. Antonyms. Classifications of antonyms.
4. Paradigmatic relations of inclusion (hierarchical relations): hyponymy, meronymy, serial relations.
5. Groups of words based on several types of semantic relations: conceptual (semantic or lexical) fields, lexical-semantic groups.

1. Major Types of Relations Between Language Units:
1. Syntagmatic relations (linear sequence relations of lexical or any other language units in speech that can be presented as a horizontal line)
e.g. He feels happy/uncomfortable/good. 2. Paradigmatic relations (non-linear relations of language units based on their common function and similar meaning in a language system). Lexical substitution in a phrase is possible due to paradigmatic relations of certain lexical units. The words that are in paradigmatic relations and may be substituted in a phrase can be presented in a vertical line:
The person became uncomfortable
The boy turned uneasy Paradigmatic relations are the most fundamental for the organization of the lexicon and they are very diverse.
Two Major Groups of Paradigmatic Relations of Words:
1. the relations of compatibility synonymy antonymy incompatibility
2. the relations of inclusion, or hierarchical relations hyponymy meronymy serial relations

2. Synonyms. Criteria of synonymy. Classification of synonyms. The dominant synonym. Euphemisms Synonymy is confined to semantic relations between words only. Similar relations between word-groups and sentences are described as semantic equivalence.
e.g. John is taller than Bill. Bill is shorter than John.
To win a victory – to gain a victory.
Synonyms are traditionally described as words