反义词的特点

Antonymy组员：何梦娟杨光秀刘丽娜陈华芳令狐婷余茜ContentsExplanationTypesofantonymsCharacteristicsofantonymsWhatisAntonymy?Antonymysarewordswithoppsiteornearlyoppsitemeanings.TypesofantonymsTherearetwotypesofantonymsaccordingtomorphologyandsemantics:(1)Morphologocalclassification1)Rootantonymsclear——vaguelarge——small2)Derivativeantonymspleasant——unpleasantpolite——impoliteformal——informalTypesofantonymsSemanticclassification1)Contraries2)Complementaries3)ConversivesCharacteristicsofantonymsRelativity（相对性）Oneofthemiscomparedwiththeothersothattheycanexist.Thesetwooppositescannotbeestablishedwithouttherespectivecomparison.Eg:bigvssmallJohn’shouseisbigandMary’shouseissmall.John’shouseis

biggerthanMary’s.Theyhavecomparativeclassandsuperlativeclassandbemodifiedbytheadverb“very”.CharacteristicsofantonymsGradability（渐进性）Intermediatepolaroppositescanbeinsertedwordsrepresentdifferentdegreesofnature,reflectingthelevelofoppositionWordswhichrepresentdifferentdegreesofnaturecanbeinsertedintothepolaropposites.ItreflectsthelevelofoppositionEg:beautiful-pretty-good-looking-plain-ugly

love-attachment-liking-indifference-antipathy-hateCharacteristicsofantonymsComplementary(互补性)Thecharacteristicsofthecomplementaryonlyexistsincomplementariesantonyms,whichproposedbyJohnLyons.Thiskindofantonymsareusuallyonlycomposedoftwowordswithmutuallyexclusivemeaning,andeachgroupofantonymsanditsmeaningislimitedtotwo.Anditalsocannotbecompare,norismodifiedbydegreeadverbs(very).Thecharacteristicofitisthatthedenialofonemeanstheassertionoftheotherorviceversa.Oronanaffirmation,meansnotoanother.Justlikegoodandbad:Ifwesay:Johnisgood.Itmeans:Johnisnotbad.But,ifwesay:Johnisnotgood.itdoesnotmean:Johnisbad.Itjustcouldexplainbytheseconddefinition.Undernormalcircumstances,adenialofcomplementaryantonymsisanotherpositivemeaning,andacertainmeaningintheanothernegativesense.CharacteristicsofantonymsContrary(opposition)（对立性）Antonymswithoppositionalfeaturesmostlyinvolvesocialrelationsandspatialrelationships,itiscalledrelationshipantonymsEg:guestvshostsellvsbuyteachervsstudenthusbandvswifemanvswomanparentvschildThetwosidesformedaunityofopposites(aunityofopposite)CharacteristicsofantonymsSemanticcircumscriptionofantonyms（反义词的语义包孕性）Inasetofopposites,oneisourcommonlyused,calledunmarked.Anotheroneisnotcommonlyused,wecalledmarked.Forexample:“tall,old,big”aremarkedwords,“short,young,small”areunmarked.Soweoftenuse“Howoldareyou?”insteadof“Howyoungareyou?”(五)成对的相对性反义词分别被看作有标记项和无标记项。Lyons指出,标记是语言学中一个“极为重要的概念”。过去对有标记和无标记的概念有不一致的说法。但大多数人认为,每一组反义词中,必定有一个词是常用的,具有标准性的,语言学家称之为无标记(unmarked)词,而另一个词是不常用的,非标准性的,语言学家称之为有标记(marked)词。例如,tall,old,big等为无标记项;short,young,small等为有标记项。有标记项的意义更为具体,通常被包含于无标记项的意义之中,而且,有标记项比无标记项在使用上更受限制。试比较:[例1]Howtallishisbrother?(他兄弟多高?)[例2]Howshortishisbrother?(他兄弟多矮?)[3](P123)就意义而言,第一句包含了第二句的意义。Tall的使用并不排除其兄弟矮的可能性。但第二句的意义更受限制,且在语义上被认为是反常的,除非言者对其兄弟的“矮小”特别感兴趣,或觉得十分好奇,想弄清楚其兄弟到底有多矮。有些互补反义词也具有同样的特点。例如,Therehasbeennomanontheisland(岛上一直没有人。).在这个句子中,man表示“人”,自然包括woman(女人),而不是相反。CharacteristicsofantonymsAmbiguity（模糊性）ExtensionoftheconceptofthewordreferstoexpressednoclearboundariesTheambiguityofthewordmeansthatextensionoftheconceptofthewordhavenoclearboundariesEg:youngvsold,dawnvsmorning,afternoonvseveningbigandsmall,highandlow,farandnear,wideandnarrow,lightandheavy模糊语言学研究的主要对象是词的模糊性,词的模糊性指词所表达的概念的外延没有明确的界限。有一类模糊词是其概念没有相对性,其界限不明确。如young和old,dawn和morning,afternoon和evening等。另一类模糊词是其所表示的概念完全没有确定的范围,即情况可以上下移动的相对概念。如big和small,high和low,far和near,wide和narrow,light和heavy等。在一些有等级性不明确的反义词的句子中,一个否定意义的句子并不等于另一个肯定意义的句子。如Ourhouseisnotbig.不等于Ourhouseissmall.虽然Ourhouseisbig.的确相当于Ourhouseisnotsmall.在“无标记”的疑问句中,相对性反义词也体现出其模糊性。例如,Howbigisit?这个句子并没有预先假定所问的对象是“大的”还是“小的”,所以预期回答是不受限制的,或“无标记”的。这个句子的意思相当于:Isitbigorsmall?[2]Characteristicsofantonymsflexibility（灵活性）Antonymscorrespondingrelationshipisrelative,notabsolute。Forexample,dull.Whenthemeaningofitasaboring,itsantonymisinteresting.Inagloomyweather,thedullistheoppositeofsunny.由于客观事物的矛盾对立现象是千变万化、错综复杂的,又由于英语中一词多义现象比较普遍,所以各种反义词对应关系也是相对的,而不是绝对的。“dull”就是一个很好的例子。当它作“枯燥的”意思时,其反义词就是“interesting”(有趣的)。在Shebecamedullandsilentduringthelastpartofthejourney.句子中,其反义词是lively(活泼的)。在dullweather(阴沉的天气)中,dull的反义词是sunny(阳光灿烂的)。dullnoise(沉闷的噪声)和dullpain(慢性病)分别以sharp(尖锐的)和acute(急性的)为其反义词。在句子Thesefactorsaffectbothintelligentanddullchildren中,dull(愚笨的)的反义词便是intelligent(聪明的)。[2](P122)由此可见,反义词的对立关系不是机械地、简单地一对一的关系,而是有着一定的灵活性。CharacteristicsofantonymsDifferency（差异性）Everyrelativeantonymhavetheircorrespondingantonym,andvarieswiththedegreeofintensityEg:hotandwarmareSynonyms,buttheintensityisdifferent.Thus,theyhaveadifferentantonyms.hotvscold,andwarmvscool.Wecannotbeseenashottocoolantonym,poorvs-richanddestitutevs-opulentTheirpositioncannotbeexchanged每一个相对性反义词有其自身相对应的反义词,并依据强度程度而变化。例如,hot(炎热的)和

warm(温暖的)是同义词,其差异在于其强度。因而,它们各有一个不同的反义词。hot(炎热的)的反义词是cold(寒冷的),而warm(温暖的)的反义词是cool(凉爽的)。我们不能把cool看作是hot的反义词,或将cold认作是warm的反义词。poor(贫穷的)-rich(富裕的)和destitute(贫困的)-opulent(富足的)的情况亦是如此。它们的位置不可能是交换的。CharacteristicsofantonymsConditionalityincontext(反义词的语境制约性)Somewordsappearinsomeoccasionsisoppositetoeachother,andonanotheroccasion,itisnotantonyms.Forexample:Itisadifficultjobtobringhimroundtoourwayofthinking.Inthissituation,difficult‘santonymsiseasy.Ifwesay:Heisbeingdifficulttous.theoppositeisobliging.反义词的构成还受到语境的制约。有些词出现在某种场合彼此是反义词,而在另外场合就不是反义词。如:Itisadifficultjobtobringhimroundtoourwayofthinking.在这种场合下,difficult的反义词无疑是easy。而如果说Heisbeingdifficulttous.则其反义词是obliging,如:Heisbeingobligingtous.在一般场合下,rise和decline可构成反义词,如theriseanddeclineofacountry,Thepricesaredeclin-ing.Thepricesarerising.如果将price这个词改用health,rise就不能成为decline的反义词,而improve可成为decline的反义词,如:Hishealthisdeclining.Hishealthisimproving.CharacteristicsofantonymsVacancy(空位性)ThoughEnglishvocabularyisveryrich,butsomevocabularyhavetheantonymyrelationshipalsonotbetheantonyms,whichformsthevacancyofantonyms.Freehasmanymeans,mostofthewordmeaningarehavetheantonyms.Butwhenfreeasmeaningfor免费,therewasnoneantonyms,英语词汇尽管十分丰富,但有的反义关系却没有反义词来表示,形成反义词的空位。例如,free的词义很多,大多数词义都有反义词来表示,我们可以问“Aretheworkersfreeorenslaved?”(工人们是自由的还是受奴役的?)“Isthetranslationfreeorliteral?”(译文是意译还是直译的?)但是free用作“免费的”意思时,却没有一个反义词,我们只好说:“Aretheticketsfree?Or:Doyouhavetopayforthem?”更有意思的是free在作“免费的”解时,同义词却不少:gratuitous,gratis,complimentary,costless。有的词看起来似乎跟英语词汇尽管十分丰富,但有的反义关系却没有反义词来表示,形成反义词的空位。例如,free的词义很多,大多数词义都有反义词来表示,我们可以问“Aretheworkersfreeorenslaved?”(工人们是自由的还是受奴役的?)“Isthetranslationfreeorliteral?”(译文是意译还是直译的?)但是free用作“免费的”意思时,却没有一个反义词,我们只好说:“Aretheticketsfree?Or:Doyouhavetopayforthem?”更有意思的是free在作“免费的”解时,同义词却不少:gratuitous,gratis,complimentary,costless。有的词