1、1AntonymsAntonyms (反義字) are traditionally defined as words that possess contrasting meanings. Like synonyms they may be interchangeable in the context, they have the same functions and grammatical meaning and are mostly found within one word-class. Unlike synonyms they do not differ in style, dialec
2、t and emotional coloring. Most of the antonyms have unrelated morphological forms, such as good or bad, big or small, tall or short, etc. But there also exist words that form morphologically related pairs produced by means of negative or opposable prefixes and suffixes, cf.: pleasant and unpleasant,
3、 logical and illogical, rational and irrational, hopeful and hopeless, etc. The classification of antonyms, or opposites, was developed in works of Palmer (1976), Lyons, (1977), Lehrer and Lehrer (1982) and Cruse (1986).All the antonyms are generally divided into 4 types:1. gradable (程度上漸進式 ) (形容詞)
4、有比較級和最高級的;可以用 very, almost 等詞修飾的) antonyms are predominantly adjectives that denote qualities subject to classification (narrow narrower narrowest): high low, hot - cold;2. complementary (可互補的) (contradictory) antonyms appear when the denial, negation of one of the members of the pair applies the as
5、sessment (are equivalent(相等的) of the other one: male female, dead alive, aunt uncle;3. conversive (相反的) antonyms appear in a set of words when one member of the pair is referred to the other member: to send - to receive, to take to give, to buy to sell.4. directional (相對的) antonyms, generally adverb
6、s and prepositions, that indicate opposite spatial (空間的) directions: up down, in out. A subtype of directional opposites is called “reversive (非 A 即 B 二分法 )?” opposites words that describe two phenomena indicated by opposite directions of development: marry divorce, enter leave, appear disappear. Gr
7、adable antonyms usually describe properties in comparison to other properties: short tall (in comparison to other people).2Complementary antonyms do not allow middle values, any logical middle term. Some gradable adjectives are sometimes treated as complementary antonyms as there can not appear any
8、midpoints on the scale: clean dirty, dry wet.Conversives (converses; relational opposites) represent opposite perspectives of the same relations, they play a reversed role: husband wife, aunt niece, nephew, father - son. These pairs indicate relationships in such a way that one of them cannot be use
9、d without suggesting the other. In most of the cases they express social roles (teacher student) or kinship(親屬關係) relations (father mother).A polysemantic word (一字多義) may have several antonyms for each of its meanings: dull interesting, dull - clever, dull active; light heavy, light - strong, light
10、dark.Different parts of speech have different abilities to build pairs of words of opposite meanings. Antonymy is very typical of adjectives because qualitative characteristics are easily compared, while verbs and nouns are not rich in antonyms.3Antonyms NoteAntonyms have(1) unrelated morphological
11、forms, such as good or bad, big or small, tall or short, strong- weak.(2) exist words that form morphologically related pairs produced by means of negative or opposable prefixes and suffixes, cf.: pleasant and unpleasant, logical and illogical, rational and irrational, hopeful and hopeless, real-unr
12、eal, helpful-helpless.All the antonyms are generally divided into 4 types:1. gradable: (adjectives) denote qualities, subject to qualification, i.e., low-lower-lowest(程度上漸進式) (形容詞) 有比較級和最高級的;可以用 very, almost 等詞修飾的) antonyms are predominantly adjectives that denote qualities subject to classification
13、 (narrow narrower narrowest): high low, hot - cold;2. complementary: absolute opposition, one member denies the other, i.e., moral- immoral.(可互補的) (contradictory) antonyms appear when the denial, negation of one of the members of the pair applies the assessment (are equivalent(相等的) of the other one:
14、 male female, dead alive, aunt uncle, boy-girl.3. conversive: opposite perspective of the same (social) relation. (prefix or suffix), i.e., buy-sell, teacher-student, enter-exit.(相反的) antonyms appear in a set of words when one member of the pair is referred to the other member: to send - to receive,
15、 to take to give, to buy to sell.4. directional: (prep, adverbs), i.e., up-down. (相對的) antonyms, generally adverbs and prepositions, that indicate opposite spatial (空間的) directions: up down, in out. A subtype of directional opposites is called “reversive (非 A 即 B 二分法)?” opposites words that describe
16、 two phenomena indicated by opposite directions of development: marry divorce, enter leave, appear disappear. 4gradable: (adjectives) complementary:Conversive:(may be reversed )Directional(prep, adverbs)Beautiful- ugly Dead- alive bequeath inherit Behind-in frontBright- dusky Wet-dry Aunt-niece, nep
17、hew Behind-in front ofWet-dry Clean-dirty Like-dislike Clockwise-anticlockwiseFat-skinny Husband-wife Day- night In-outWarm-cold Innocent-guilty Doctor-patient Above-belowFast-slow Right-wrong Parent-child up-downShallow-deep Feminine-masculine Husband-wifeGood-bad Women- men Receive-giveWise- narro
18、w boy-girl Uncle-nephewOld-young Pass-fail Innocent-guiltyClever-stupid moral- immoral Enter-leaveMerry- sad male female Love-hateSoft-hard aunt uncle Old-younghigh low Enemy-friendhot - cold Optimist- pessimistOpen-closeMarry-divorceVegetarian-carnivorousPass-failObey-disobeyHonest-dishonestsend -
19、receivetake giveteacher-studententer-exitfather - sonfather motherSenior-junior5補充：(1) Gradable antonyms 分級反義詞(a matter of degree), i.e.,Oldmiddle-agedyoung; hot-warm-cold(2) Complementary antonyms 互補反義詞a matter of degree between 分類 two extremes, i.e., Alivedead; malefemale; (3) Relational opposites
20、 關係反義詞(中間可以加成分，如上、中、下), i.e.,father-son; teacher-pupil; doctor-patient; buy-sell; above-below 同義反義關係。同義詞當然大家已相當熟悉，不另多說。反義詞在語意關係上的地位，倒是值得討論。一般人通常以為反義詞是意義相差距離最遠的兩個詞。其實，從語言學的觀點來講，反義詞是語意距離最近的兩個詞。打個比方，通常與最親密的人吵架是最激烈的；比如巴勒斯坦和以色列打得你死我活，他們同是閃族人（Semite），民族血緣其實是最近的。共同的生活環境與資源需求造成利益的競爭與衝突；在需求相同後造成競爭，特性上些微的不同便造
21、成對立。在詞語中，反義詞根據語意學的定義是，兩個詞除了對比的語意特徵外，其他所有語意特徵完全一樣。也就是說，反義詞的功能是在某個概念關係上的對比，而要建立這個對比，其他（語意）條件必須相同。另一個說法，對這個關係也許有幫助的，就是我們常說的蘋果怎麼跟橘子比？反義的對比，是建立在其他語意特質相同的條件上。以下以幾個例子說明討論。比如買跟賣是一對反義詞，所牽涉的動作一樣，只是方向不一樣而已。胖與瘦，講體重，一個體重的數量大，一個數量小，只有一個特質不一樣。所以，從觀念來講，比如從搜尋，或其他從知識的處理來講，會不會想到用反義詞去搜尋，是成功的關鍵之一。假設說你要找紅的東西，你會想到綠；紅跟綠根據定義是反義詞，因為它只是描述顏色的色譜不一樣而已。因此，當你去搜尋紅的時候，人是會有時候，一個詞想不出來，一個概念想不出來，會用類似的概念，會用反義詞。如找叔叔，找不到，會找伯伯、或找姪子，這樣的關係反義詞。但是，通常的搜尋介面裡是不會提供這樣的功能的，因為它誤認為反義詞代表著完全不同的概念，忽視了反義詞才是詞義距離最近的。這是一個反義詞的概念。
