Chapter 5
Lexical Relations
Haryana Cerah
Teguh Eko Setio
Nasrun Ahmad
5.1. Lexical Fields
• A lexeme is defined by telling what “set” it
belongs to and how it differs form other
members of the same set, such as in
sport, creative writing, manual
occupation, as well as in color.
• Some lexical sets involve part-whole
relationship (arm – hand – finger –
thumbs)
5.1. Lexical Fields (cont…)
• The set second-minute-hour-day is a part-
whole relationship that is also hierarchical.
• Some set are sequential (number, one,
two, three etc) or cyclical (January,
February, etc., Sunday, Monday, etc.,
spring, summer, etc.)
5.2. Kinship
• Kinship is universal since all humans are
related to other humans through blood ties
and through marriage, but kinship systems
differ from society to society.
• A relationship is a kind of predicate
- Harold is Alice’s father (Harold is father-of
Alice)
- Rose is Jerry’s sister (Rose is sister-of Jerry)
5.2. Kinship (cont…)
• Some of the predicate relations in all
kinship systems can be described with
four primitive features; (parent),
(offspring), (sibling), and (spouse).
• We also need the components (male = M)
and (female = F)
5.2. Kinship (cont…)
• Father = M parent
• Mother = F parent
• Brother = M sibling
• Sister = F sibling
• Son = M offspring
• Daughter = F offspring
5.3. Hyponymy
• Hyponymy is a word or a phrase which
has meaning in the general word/phrase
called hypeornym.
5.4 Synonymy
a. We learn semantics.
b. We study semantics.
ab&ba
(The truth of [a] entails the truth of [b], and vice versa.)
~a ~b & ~b ~a
(The falsity of [a] entails the falsity of [b], and vice versa.)
[a] = [b] = true, or
[a] = [b] = false
a. We learn semantics.
Both sentences are
paraphrases.
b. We study semantics.
The sentences have
synonymous words.
Connotation within synonymy
a. She is thin. neutral
b. She is skinny. pejorative
c. She is slender. flattering
They are synonymous, but they differ in connotation.
hard difficult
5.5 Antonymy
a. The television is on now.
b. The television is off now.
If one is true, the other must be false based on the fact.
5.6.1 Binary antonyms
a. The television is on now.
b. The television is off now.
on >< off : binary antonyms
male >< female
dead >< alive
asleep >< awake
legal >< illegal
There is no space / scale
pass >< fail
in between.
true >< false
5.6.2 Non-binary antonyms
a. This rope is long.
b. That rope is short. There is space / scale in
between.
short --------------s-c-a-l-e------------- long
0 ; 5 ; 10 ; 20 ; 100 meter
It’s too short. My rope is very long, and I still have another one much
longer if you need more.
More examples of non-binary antonyms:
cold >< hot
low >< high
cheap >< expensive
narrow >< wide
poor >< rich
small >< big
5.7 A comparison of four relations
Synonyms
p q ~p ~q
Hyponym
p q ~q ~p
Antonym
p ~q ~p q
Converse Antonym
Converse Predicate
20a. The map is above the chalkboard.
20b. The chalkboard is below the map.
X and Y
If [a] is the X of [b] , then [b] is Y of [a]
Converse Antonym
Common Converse Pairs
Husband of/ Wife of, employer of/employee of
Direct Opposite
Before/ after, left-of/right-of
Converse Antonym
There are pairs of converse 3-argument
predicates
Give-to/receive-from; Sell-to/buy-from;
lend-to/borrow from
Dany broke the window.
Window was broken (by Dany)
Another form of paraphrase.
a b a b
Symetry and reciprocity
A. This box is the same size as that basket.
B. Sean is married Eileen.
C. The greens are neighbor of the browns
Angle BAC is equal to Angle
ACB
Expression of Quantity
All dogs chase cats. - All collies chase cats
All collies chase cats. - All dogs chase cats.
All dogs chase cats. - All dogs chase angoras.
All dogs chase angoras. - All dogs chase cats.
