Antonymy, Synonymy and Hyponymy

Introduction

The aim of the paper is to examine antonymy, synonymy and hyponymy in semantics. Semantics is traditionally defined as the study of meaning. Semantics is also defined as the systematic study of meaning. As a theory of meaning and a branch of modern linguistics, semantics is not only of interest to linguistics but to psychologists and philosophers.

Psychologists are interested in how the human mind seeks meanings and works with the meanings. Philosophers of language are concerned with the meanings of words and sentences (Ludwig Wittgenstein 1969:39). Linguists are concerned with the structure of language in relation to the meanings of words and sentences through which communication and intended messages are expressed (Kreidler Charles 1998:3).

Semanticists are interested in meaning because of the ambiguous nature of words and sentences used in human language. The interest in meaning is also influenced by the need to show the connection between a word and what the word refers to. For instance, there is no natural relation between the word ‘television' and the specific object it designates (Kreidler Charles 1998:5). Semantics is not only theoretical but also descriptive. It describes the structures of propositions or sentences in order to bring out their contextual or universal meanings. Semanticists are not only theoretical analysts of propositions or sentences; they are also interested in how meanings are formulated in specific societies.

If semantics is the study of meaning, the question is, who determines the meaning of words or sentences? Are ‘meanings' natural, divine or manmade? The first book of Moses, Genesis, gives a divine account of naming. Adam was commissioned by God to name each thing He (God) has created. According to the account, Adam carried out the assignment to the satisfaction of Almighty God. However, the account does not show the connection between the word chosen by Adam for a particular named thing, on the one hand, and the thing such word designates, on the other hand. Though language is natural, the naturalness of language does not explain the nature of meaning. There is no general agreement about the nature of meaning among linguists and semanticists (Palmer F. R. 1996:1). There are different aspects of semantics. The paper discusses the inter-lexical sense relations in semantics. The inter-lexical sense relations in semantics are discussed under the three headings – Synonymy, Antonymy and Hyponymy. What are inter-lexical sense relations? The notion of inter-lexical sense relation suggests that the meaning of a word may depend on its associations with other words. Therefore, a word or lexeme has no meaning on its own except in associations with other words or lexemes in a sentence. The meaning shared by a word as a result of this relationship is the ‘sense' of that word (Kreidler Charles 1998:46).

The expressions, John wrote and The Cock crowed are collocationally acceptable. It would be semantically odd to say: John crowed or The Cock wrote. The word ‘wrote' derives its meaning from its association with the word ‘John' and the word ‘crowed' derives its meaning from its association with the word ‘Cock'. The fact, in case it is a fact, that only human beings ‘write' and only cocks ‘crow' provide some clues about what the word ‘wrote' and what the word ‘crow' mean.

On the other hand, the meaning of a word may be independent of its association with other words. If the referential theory of meaning is true, then the meaning of a word needs not depend on its association with other words. The referential theory of meaning defines the meaning of a word in terms of the referent of the word. The meaning of the word; ‘table' is the object it refers to. However, the inter-lexical sense relations can be explained better in Synonymy, Antonymy and Hyponymy.

Antonymy

The term antonymy is used to describe oppositeness of meaning (Palmer, 1996: 94–95). It is the most useful tool of inter-lexical sense relations. Antonymy is an example of inter-lexical sense relations in the sense that, it expresses a kind of relation that exists between words or sentences that are mutually contradictory (Kreidler Charles 1998:100). For example,

Words Opposites

On Off

Old Young

Wide Narrow

Big Small

Male