Antonymy - Definition and Examples in English

The semantic qualities or sense relations that exist between words (lexemes) with opposite meanings in certain contexts (i.e., antonyms). Plural antonymies. Contrast with synonymy. The term antonymy was introduced by C.J. Smith in his book Synonyms and Antonyms (1867). Pronunciation:Â  an-TON-eh-me Observations Antonymy is a key feature of everyday life. Should further evidence be required, try visiting a public lavatory without checking which is the gents and which is the ladies. On your way out, ignore the instructions which tell you whether to push or pull the door. And once outside, pay no attention to whether traffic lights are telling you to stop or go. At best, you will end up looking very foolish; at worst, you will end up dead. Antonymy holds a place in society which other sense relations simply do not occupy. Whether or not there exists a general human tendency to categorize experience in terms of dichotomous contrast ([John] Lyons 1977: 277) is not easily gauged, but, either way, our exposure to antonymy is immeasurable: we memorise opposites in childhood, encounter them throughout our daily lives, and possibly even use antonymy as a cognitive device to organise human experience. (Steven Jones, Antonymy: A Corpus-Based Perspective. Routledge, 2002) Antonymy and Synonymy For the better-known European languages at least, there are a number of dictionaries of synonyms and antonyms available, which are frequently used by writers and students to extend their vocabulary and achieve a greater variety of style. The fact that such special dictionaries are found useful in practice is an indication that words can be more or less satisfactorily grouped into sets of synonyms and antonyms. There are two points that should be stressed, however, in this connexion. First, synonymy and antonymy are semantic relations of a very different logical nature: oppositeness of meaning (love:hate, hot:cold, etc.) is not simply the extreme case of difference of meaning. Second, a number of distinctions have to be drawn within the traditional concept of antonymy: dictionaries of antonyms are only successful in practice to the degree that their users draw these distinctions (for the most part unreflectingly). (John Lyons, Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics. Cambridge Univers ity Press, 1968) Antonymy and Word Classes Oppositeness . . . has an important role in structuring the vocabulary of English. This is especially so in the adjective word class, where a good many words occur in antonymous pairs: e.g. long-short, wide-narrow, new-old, rough-smooth, light-dark, straight-crooked, deep-shallow, fast-slow. While antonymy is typically found among adjectives it is not restricted to this word class: bring-take (verbs), death-life (nouns), noisily-quietly (adverbs), above-below (prepositions), after-before (conjunctions or prepositions). . . . English can also derive antonyms by means of prefixes and suffixes. Negative prefixes such as dis-, un- or in- may derive an antonym from the positive root, e.g. dishonest, unsympathetic, infertile. Compare also: encourage-discourage but entangle-disentangle, increase-decrease, include-exclude. (Howard Jackson and Etienne ZÃ © Amvela, Words, Meaning and Vocabulary: An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology. Continuum, 2000) Canonical Opposites [W]hile antonymy is variable (i.e., context dependent), particular antonym pairs are often canonical in that they are known without reference to context. . . . For example, the color senses of black and white are opposed and so are their racial senses and their good/evil senses as in white magic and black magic. Canonicity of antonym relations also plays a role in context-specific antonymy. As Lehrer (2002) notes, if a frequent or basic sense of a word is in a semantic relation with another word, that relation can be extended to other senses of the word. For example, the basic temperature sense of hot contrasts with cold. While cold does not usually mean legally acquired, it can have that meaning when contrasted (with enough context) with hot in its stolen sense, as in (9). He traded in his hot car for a cold one. (Lehrer 2002) For readers to understand the intended sense of cold in (9), they must know that cold is the usual antonym of hot. Next they must deduce that if cold is the antonym of hot, then no matter what hot is used to mean in this context, cold means the opposite thing. The stability of some such antonym pairs across senses and contexts is evidence that those antonymic pairings are canonical. (M. Lynne Murphy, Semantic Relations and the Lexicon. Cambridge University Press, 2003) Antonymy and Word-Association Testing If a stimulus has a common opposite (an antonym), it will always elicit that opposite more often than anything else. These responses are the most frequent found anywhere in word association. (H.H. Clark, Word Associations and Linguistic Theory. New Horizons in Linguistics, ed. by J. Lyons. Penguin, 1970) See Also AntithesisVocabulary Builder #1: AntonymsWriters on Writing: Ten Tips for Finding the Right Words

A Brief Note On Crime And Violent Crime - 982 Words

It may be argued that the media disproportionately exposes violent crime because is more serious, but with crime in Canada at an all time low, why is it that the media only advertises the numbers associated with violent crime to be at an all time low and not all crime. How does online news outlets cover the decrease in crime in relation to violent crime and non-violent crime? The variables that will be used are online news outlets stories and articles regarding the crime drop, and the reduction in crime (violent vs non violent). The sample will consist of popular online news outlets who s articles will be looked over in order to determine what they deem important in regards to the crime drop. It is predicted that mainly only violent crime statistics are written about because it comes off as the most exciting, regardless of the fact that it is less common. It is known that crime in Canada has gone down over the last few years, and that this is or has been advertised on just about every online news outlet in Canada. This is great! However, we still see stories about crime in the news quite often, and this is not surprising. What is though, is that the crime reported on the news is typically only violent crimes, regardless of the fact that crime statistics typically indicate that only 10 percent of crime committed in Canada is actually violent. Stats Canada (2014) indicates that there are approximately 340,000 violent crime violations (eg. homicide, sexual assault,Show MoreRelatedA Brief Note On Violent Crime, Taught By Professor Thad Clancy3087 Words   |  13 PagesThe arsonis The Profile of an Arsonist Janine Peter, Branon Ryals Florida Institute of Technology Author Note This paper was prepared for CR4820 – Violent Crime, taught by Professor Thad Clancy. Abstract In this paper we will discuss the profile of an arsonist. 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Growing Old Essay Example For Students

Growing Old Essay The notion of growing old has for many been visions of hopelessness, neglect and despair. And if you add to these the perceptions of inadequacy, lack of energy, social withdrawal, difficulty concentrating, and problems with memory, the realization that we are growing old can be traumatic. At no stage in life is it ever smooth sailing, every stage has its bumps and bruises. Our ideas and attitudes towards aging are very important in how well we cope with and enjoy the passing years. As I look forward to the later stage of my life I am now more aware of the physical, social and psychological problems of aging. Despite the fact that I might not be able to smell the roses, have less taste, have fingers that can’t make a fist because arthritis is preventing it, have eyes that don’t see clearly; glasses can help, ears that don’t hear so high; hearing aid won’t help, I see the last phase of my life as the most emotionally momentous stage of life. As an accomplished community social worker I would have foster a trend among many to participate in family and community activities. â€Å"There goes social isolation! † My life would be an example of love, faith, and perseverance. My condolences to the family of depression. † You might ask, where’s the vacations on the white sand beaches with a pina colada in hand? Where’s the frolicking in the clear blue water? Well, that would be a regular occurrence in my whole life, for my many outreach missions will allot me the chance to see many worlds and appreciate the beauty of nature and life. Getting o ld doesn’t have to mean you give up on living. At the later stage of your life you have grown into an experience, one that will be a teacher to many. Just like we plan for so many things in our younger years, we should now deliberately plan for the later years. Cherish your health. If it’s good preserve it. If it’s unstable improve it. If it’s beyond what you can improve, get help! Make physical activity a habit. Love hard, tell the people you love that you love them at every opportunity. Our family, friends, neighbors, and church family help to enrich our lives immeasurably by sharing their love as well. Keep only cheerful friends, the grouches will pull you down. Keep learning; never let your brain idle. An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s. Practice relaxation by laughing hard, long and loud. Aging can be difficult at times, we all go through it. Always remember that though our physical appearance changes, our spirit does not. It all comes down to our outlook on life. We are never too old to realize a new goal, to dream, or accomplish great things. As my friend Abraham Lincoln would say, â€Å"In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. †