SEMINAR 5

SENSE RELATIONS: SYNONYMY, ANTONYMY, HYPONYMY,

AND MERONYMY

1. What do we understand by sense relations? Reference relation

vs. sense relation
2. Synonymy
2.1. Strict (absolute) and loose synonymy
2.2. Criteria for absolute synonymy (according to John Lyons)
2.3. Points of distinction between synonyms
2.4. Reasons for extensive synonymy in English
3. Antonymy
3.1. Types of antonyms
3.2. How common is the relation of antonymy?
3.3. Co-occurrence of antonyms
4. Relations of taxonomy or hierarchical relations
4.1. Hyponymy as ‘the kind of’ relation
4.2. Meronymy as the ‘part of’ relation

Practical Tasks

1. What distinguishes each of the following pairs of synonyms?

1. insect – creepy-crawlie;
2. nose – schnozzle;
3. complaint – grievance;
4. crazy – bonkers;
5. unpleasant – revolting;
6. to control – to bring under control;
7. to retreat – to back out.

2. Suggest Ukrainian equivalents for various synonyms of the lexeme

mistake. Consider such criteria as frequency, collocational patterns,
distribution (formality – informality) and connotation of proposed
equivalents:

Buying the farm was the biggest mistake of her life.

The report concluded that the accident was caused by human error.
I'm sure it was just an oversight that your name wasn't on the list.
Mercifully, circumstances now allow me to rectify this faux pas.
Molly knew she could not afford to make a single slip.
But seldom has a military miscalculation been so gross and retribution so
immediate.
He didn't offer Darren a drink, and Marie did not appear to notice the
lapse.
I hope it was a slip-up rather than genuine ignorance.
Major management blunders have led the company into bankruptcy.
You made a boner that time.

You may want to choose from the following: хиба, помилка,

погрішність, недогляд, ляпсус, упущення, неточність, огріх,
прорахунок, описка, блуд, похибка та ін. You may not need to use all of
these, but you may have to think of some of your own.

3. Find any possible synonyms for the following items: smart, stupid,
intellectual, drunk, Australia, veracity, genteel. Explain the
differences between them.

4. Identify synonyms for each item within the pairs of “false friends”
below:

Ukrainian English
акуратний accurate
експертиза expertise
актуальний actual
інсульт insult
анекдотичний anecdotal
ангіна angina

5. Identify and comment on the contextual antonyms in the following

textual fragment (from Martin Luther King’s speech I Have a
Dream):

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic

shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to
millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of
withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long
night of their captivity.
 But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One
hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by
the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One
hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in
the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is

the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to
the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation
from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of
brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of
God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the

moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate
discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of
freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a
beginning.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state
sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of
oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and
justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by
the content of their character.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and
every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be
made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the
glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it
together."

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of

despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform
the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of
brotherhood.
Sense Relations: Synonymy, Antonymy, Hyponymy, and Meronymy
1. What do we understand by sense relations? Reference relation vs. sense
relation
Sense relations refer to the various ways in which word meanings can be related to one
another within a language. These relations exist at the level of senses or meanings,
rather than at the level of referents or real-world entities. In contrast, reference relations
deal with the connections between linguistic expressions and the objects, concepts, or
entities they refer to in the external world.

2. Synonymy
Synonymy is a sense relation in which two or more words have the same or very
similar meanings in a given context. Synonyms are words that can be substituted for
one another without significantly altering the meaning of the sentence or phrase.

2.1. Strict (absolute) and loose synonymy

Strict or absolute synonymy occurs when two words have exactly the same meaning
and can be used interchangeably in all contexts without any change in meaning or
nuance. However, such cases of absolute synonymy are rare in natural languages.
Loose synonymy, on the other hand, is more common. It involves words that share a
core meaning but may differ in connotations, register, or specific shades of meaning.
For example, "big" and "large" are loose synonyms, but "big" may have a more
informal or colloquial connotation.

2.2. Criteria for absolute synonymy (according to John Lyons)

John Lyons, a renowned linguist, proposed four criteria for determining absolute
synonymy:
 Descriptive synonymy: The words must have the same descriptive or cognitive
meaning.
  Propositional synonymy: The words must be able to substitute for each other in
all contexts without changing the truth conditions of the proposition.
 Synonymy in syntactic contexts: The words must be able to substitute for each
other in all syntactic contexts without causing ungrammaticality or anomaly.
 Synonymy in anomalous contexts: The words must be able to substitute for each
other in all contexts, even in anomalous or self-contradictory statements, without
causing a change in meaning.

2.3. Points of distinction between synonyms

Even though synonyms share a core meaning, they may differ in various ways, such as:
 Register or formality: One word may be more formal or informal than the other
(e.g., "commence" vs. "start").
 Connotation or emotional overtones: One word may carry positive or negative
connotations (e.g., "thin" vs. "slender").
 Specificity or generality: One word may be more specific or general than the
other (e.g., "vehicle" vs. "car").
 Collocational restrictions: Synonyms may have different collocational patterns or
preferred word combinations (e.g., "heavy rain" vs. "intense rain").

2.4. Reasons for extensive synonymy in English

English has a rich vocabulary with a large number of synonyms due to various
historical and linguistic factors, including:
 Borrowings from different languages, such as French, Latin, and Greek, which
introduced synonymous words into the English lexicon.
 Productive word-formation processes, such as compounding, affixation, and
conversion, which allow for the creation of new synonyms.
 Language change and semantic shift, where words acquire new meanings over
time, leading to synonymy.
 Regional and dialectal variations, where different dialects may use different
words for the same concept.
 3. Antonymy
Antonymy is a sense relation in which two words have opposite or contrasting
meanings. Antonyms are words that express a semantic incompatibility or a logical
negation of each other.

3.1. Types of antonyms

Antonyms can be classified into different types, including:
 Complementary antonyms: These are binary opposites with no intermediate
states, such as "alive" and "dead," or "true" and "false."
 Gradable antonyms: These are opposites that can have intermediate degrees or
values, such as "hot" and "cold," or "large" and "small."
 Converses: These are pairs of words that express a reversible relationship, such
as "buy" and "sell," or "above" and "below."
 Reverse antonyms: These are pairs of words that express a direct opposition,
such as "ascend" and "descend," or "increase" and "decrease."

3.2. How common is the relation of antonymy?

Antonymy is a relatively common sense relation in natural languages, as it helps to
structure and organize conceptual oppositions and contrasts. However, not all words
have clear antonyms, and some words may have multiple potential antonyms depending
on the context or domain.

3.3. Co-occurrence of antonyms

Antonyms often co-occur in language use, particularly in idiomatic expressions,
proverbs, and rhetorical devices. For example, "the pros and cons," "hot and cold," or
"love and hate." This co-occurrence highlights the contrastive nature of antonyms and
their ability to express opposing concepts or poles of a semantic continuum.
 4. Relations of taxonomy or hierarchical relations
Taxonomic or hierarchical relations involve the organization of words or concepts into
hierarchical structures based on their semantic relationships.

4.1. Hyponymy as 'the kind of' relation

Hyponymy is a sense relation in which a more specific word or concept is included
within the meaning of a more general word or concept. It is a "kind of" relationship,
where the hyponym (the more specific term) is a type or instance of the hypernym (the
more general term). For example, "rose" is a hyponym of the hypernym "flower," and
"chair" is a hyponym of the hypernym "furniture."
Hyponymy allows for the hierarchical organization of concepts and enables the
inheritance of properties from the superordinate (hypernym) to the subordinate
(hyponym) levels.

4.2. Meronymy as the 'part of' relation

Meronymy is a sense relation in which one word or concept denotes a part or
component of another word or concept. It is a "part of" relationship, where the
meronym (the part) is a constituent or member of the holonym (the whole). For
example, "wheel" is a meronym of the holonym "car," and "chapter" is a meronym of
the holonym "book."
Meronymic relations can be further subdivided into different types, such as part-whole
(e.g., "handle" is part of a "cup"), substance-object (e.g., "wood" is a substance of a
"table"), and member-collection (e.g., "player" is a member of a "team").
These sense relations play a crucial role in organizing and structuring the lexical
semantics of a language, and understanding them is essential for effective
communication, comprehension, and lexical analysis.
Practical tasks
1.Distinguishing Pairs of Synonyms:
1. insect – creepy-crawlie: "Insect" is the formal, scientific term, while "creepy-
crawlie" is an informal, colloquial term with a more playful or whimsical
connotation.
2. nose – schnozzle: "Nose" is the standard term, while "schnozzle" is a slang or
humorous term, often used to refer to a large or prominent nose.
3. complaint – grievance: "Complaint" is a more general term for expressing
dissatisfaction, while "grievance" often carries a more formal or legal
connotation, referring to a formal statement of injustice or wrongdoing.
4. crazy – bonkers: Both terms mean "insane" or "mentally unstable," but "crazy"
is more standard, while "bonkers" is more informal and colloquial.
5. unpleasant – revolting: Both words describe something disagreeable or
distasteful, but "revolting" is stronger and suggests a more intense feeling of
disgust or repulsion.
6. to control – to bring under control: "To control" is a more general term, while
"to bring under control" implies a specific action of gaining control over
something that was previously out of control.
7. to retreat – to back out: "To retreat" typically refers to withdrawing from a
physical position or situation, while "to back out" often implies withdrawing
from a commitment or agreement.

2. Ukrainian Equivalents for Synonyms of "mistake":

Buying the farm was the biggest помилка of her life.
The report concluded that the accident was caused by human недогляд.
I'm sure it was just an упущення that your name wasn't on the list.
Mercifully, circumstances now allow me to rectify this ляпсус.
Molly knew she could not afford to make a single огріх.
But seldom has a military прорахунок been so gross and retribution so immediate.
He didn't offer Darren a drink, and Marie did not appear to notice the похибка.
I hope it was a хиба rather than genuine ignorance.
Major management блуди have led the company into bankruptcy.
You made a погрішність that time.

3. Synonyms for the Given Words:

smart: intelligent, bright, clever, sharp, quick-witted
stupid: dull, foolish, unintelligent, dim-witted, dense
intellectual: scholarly, academic, cerebral, erudite, learned
drunk: intoxicated, inebriated, tipsy, under the influence
Australia: Down Under, the Land Down Under, the Antipodes
veracity: truthfulness, accuracy, correctness, authenticity
genteel: refined, elegant, cultured, sophisticated, well-bred
The synonyms may differ in their connotations, formality, or specific shades of
meaning.

4. Identifying Synonyms for "False Friends":

Ukrainian English Synonyms
акуратний accurate precise, exact, meticulous
експертиза expertise proficiency, skill, knowledge
актуальний actual current, present, topical
інсульт insult offense, affront, slight
анекдотичний anecdotal illustrative, incidental, casual
ангіна angina chest pain, heart pain, cardiac pain
5. Contextual Antonyms in Martin Luther King's Speech:
The speech employs various pairs of contextual antonyms to highlight the contrasting
conditions and experiences of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement.
Some examples include:
 "daybreak" and "night" (to represent freedom and captivity)
 "free" and "captivity"
  "sunlit path" and "dark and desolate valley" (to represent racial justice and
segregation)
 "quicksands" and "solid rock" (to represent racial injustice and brotherhood)
 "sweltering summer" and "invigorating autumn" (to represent discontent and
freedom)
 "heat of injustice" and "oasis of freedom and justice"
 "mountain of despair" and "stone of hope"
 "jangling discords" and "beautiful symphony" (to represent division and unity)
These antonyms effectively convey the stark contrasts between the oppression and
injustice faced by African Americans and the dream of equality and freedom that King
envisioned.