AntonymyinLanguageStructureandUse

Klaus-UwePanther&LindaL.Thornburg

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Na?onalWorkshoponCogni?veLinguis?csandLanguagesoftheNortheastTezpurUniversityFebruary4–5,2017

Oppositeness

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Areyoutheoppositesex,oramI?

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Contents1. Introduc?on 2. Theno?onofoppositeness(antonymy)3. Antonymyontheparadigma?caxis4. Antonymyonthesyntagma?caxis 5. Lexicaland“gramma?cal”oxymora6.Conclusion

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1.Introduc?on

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Lexicalmeanings:Networkofsenses

•  Synonymy• Hyponymy• Meronymy•  Antonymy

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Table1.Someexamplesforwordassocia?ons(adaptedfromClark&Clark1977)

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Graph1:S?mulus=‘man’

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767 65 31 18 17119

woman

boygirl

BinaryantonymMALE/FEMALE

Con?nuumADULT/NON-ADULT

MALE/FEMALEADULT/NONADULT

(N = 1,008)

Graph2:S?mulus=‘long’

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758 11 10 9 9211

shortPolarantonymSCALAR

fellowCOLLOCATION

2meCOLLOCATION

(N = 1,008)

Antonymyinlanguagestructureanduse

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AXIS LINGUISTIC PHENOMENON

Lexicogrammar Conceptual-pragmatic function

Paradigmatic Auto-antonymy in the lexicon Irony, sarcasm

Syntagmatic

Antonymous words in constructions

Oxymora

Clashes between lexical meaning and construction meaning (“grammatical oxymora”)

Performative paradoxes

2.Theno?onofoppositeness(antonymy)

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Antonymy:NarrowsenseI

1.  binaryopposites/contradictoriessame–differentsingle–married

dead–alive

Theyareneitherbothtruenorbothfalseofathing.

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Antonymy:NarrowsenseII

1.  binaryopposites/contradictoriessame–different,single–married,dead–alive

Theyareneitherbothtruenorbothfalseofathing.

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2.polaropposites/contraries

Theycannotbothbetrueofthesamething,

young–old,good–bad,wide–narrow

buttheymaybothbefalseofthesamething.

Antonymy:Broadsense

1.  binaryopposites/contradictories same–different,single–married,dead–alive

2.polaropposites/contraries young–old,good–bad,wide–narrow

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3.mul?pleincompa?bili?esspring–summer–fall–winter

4.converseoppositesbuy–sell,parent–child

5.reverse opposites push–pull

Workingdefini?onofantonymy

Twolexicalitemsareantonymsif–  theycorrespondtooneofthetypesofantonymyalreadymen?oned,and

–  theyareformallysubs?tutableforeachotherinaconstruc?on(some?meswithminoradjustments)withoutresul?nginungramma?cality.

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3.Antonymyontheparadigma?caxis

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3.1.Auto-antonymyinthelexicon(deletedforthelecture)

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3.2.Antonymyforrhetoricalpurposes

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Dogtomaster:“Howironic.Sinceyouhadmeneutered,you’remybestfriend.”

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Rhetoricaleffects

Irony,sarcasm•  Boy,thisfoodisterrific!(Akmajianetal.2001:378;italicsmine)

•  Thatargumentisarealwinner.(Akmajianetal.2001:378;italicsmine)

•  Youareafinefriend.→‘Youareabadfriend’

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Registerandsub-culture

•  bad ‘good’ •  wicked ‘excellent’ •  pretty, e.g. pretty ear ‘deformed ear, cauliflower

ear’ •  Voßhagen (1999) investigates such uses and

proposes treating them as metonymies.

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4.Antonymyonthesyntagma?caxis

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4.1.Antonymouslexemesinconstruc?ons

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Antonymsinsomeconstruc?ons(seee.g.Jones2002,2006;Jonesetal.2008;Murphy2006;Murphyetal.2008).

1.  XandY,e.g.richandpoor2.  bothXandY,e.g.bothRepublicansandDemocrats3.  XandYalike,e.g.youngandoldalike4.  whetherXorY,e.g.whethersingleormarried5.  XaswellasY,e.g.buyersaswellassellers6.  XbutnotY,e.g.menbutnotwomen

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COCAdata

TheXandYalikeconstruc;on:Favorslexicalitemsinantonymiccontrast

1.  ?sparrowsandbirdsalike(hyponym–hypernym)

2.  ?birdsandsparrowsalike(hypernym–hyponym)

3.  ?nosesandfacesalike(meronymy)

4.  *buyersandpurchasersalike(synonymy)

5.  *boysandboysalike(repe??on)

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Quan?fiers1

1.*allandnonealike2.*someandnonealike3.*everybodyandnobodyalike4.*fewandmanyalike

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Quan?fiers2

However,quan?fiersworkiftheyarenotusedbutmen;oned:‘Some’and‘none’alikearequan?fiers.

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TheXandYalikeconstruc?on:Meaning

•  X,Y:antonymic•  Construc?onneutralizesconceptualcontrast

•  Construc?onconveys:somepredicateappliesequallytoXandY(seealsoMurphy2006)

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rich poor

Whyareoppositequan?fiersnotpossibleintheXandYalikeconstruc?on?

Quan?fiersdonotworkintheXandYalikeconstruc?onbecauseitisconceptuallyimpossibletoneutralizethecontrastbetweene.g.allvs.noneorfewvs.many.

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Murphy’sgeneraliza?on

•  Murphy(2006:69)formulatesanimportantgeneraliza?onaboutconjoinedantonyms:

•  “[C]oordinatedantonymsareusedinordertoindicatethatwhatisbeingsaidistrueofboththeoppositestatesandallstatesinbetween.”

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4.2.Conceptualproper?esofcoordinatedbinaryopposites

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Binaryantonyms:XandYalike1.ThedeadandalivealikeofBrady’sAn?etambaule

picturesvisitusasghosts,whosehaun?ngimagesares?llcrisplypreservedforoureyesuponthesefinereproduc?onprints.

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Binaryantonyms:XandYalike1.ThedeadandalivealikeofBrady’sAn?etam

baulepicturesvisitusasghosts,whosehaun?ngimagesares?llcrisplypreservedforoureyesuponthesefinereproduc?onprints.

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Straighvorwardinterpreta?on:Somethingispredicatedofdeadandalivepar;cipantsinthebaulephotographs,namelythat“theyvisitusasghosts...”

Noaddi?onalpragma?cinferences!

4.2.Theinferen?alproper?esofcoordinatedpolaropposites

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Polarantonyms:XandYalike2.Therewassomethingforall,youngandoldalike.

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Polarantonyms:XandYalike

2.Therewassomethingforall,youngandoldalike.

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Pragma?cinference:

youngandoldalike ‘young,teen-aged,middle-aged,elderly,old’

Cf.Jones(2002);Murphy(2006:6):“[C]oordinatedantonymsareusedinordertoindicatethatwhatisbeingsaidistrueofboththeoppositestatesandallstatesinbetween.”

Figure3.Pragma?cinferencefrompolarantonymstoallvaluesonthescale

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Pragma?cinferencefrompolarantonymstoallvaluesonthescale

•  Metonymic:SUBCATEGORYFORCATEGORY•  〈ant+,ant-〉⇒〈ant+,sv1,...,svn,ant-〉•  PrincipleofInforma;veness:‘Saynomorethanyoumust’(Levinson2000,Huang2007):economicalcoding!

•  Cancelable

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Non-polarscalarvalues

3. Buildingonfounda?onslaidinthelate1970s[...]alargenumberofauthors,youngandmiddle-agedalike,inthepastdecadehaveproducedanoutpouringofresearchwithintheKeynesiantradi?on[...].[hup://www.jstor.org/pss/2727103]

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Non-polarscalarvalues

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Pragma?cinferencetowholescaleisnotdrawn:

youngandmiddle-agedalike

‘young,middle-aged,elderly,old’

4.4.Inferen?alproper?esofmul;pleincompa;bles

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Mul?pleIncompa?bili?es:XandYalike4.Acar-freefamilyresortofferingawarmwelcome,

summerandwinteralike.

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Mul?pleIncompa?bili?es:XandYalike

4.Acar-freefamilyresortofferingawarmwelcome,summerandwinteralike.

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Pragma?cinference:summerandwinteralike

‘summer,winter,fall,spring’

Pragma?cinferencefromtwocohyponymstoallcohyponyms

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Multiple incompatibles (e.g. four seasons)

COHYP1 COHYP4

COHYP2 COHYP4COHYP1 COHYP3

Pragmatic inference:COHYP1 & COHYP3 ALIKE →COHYP1 & COHYP2 & COHYP3 & COHYP4 ALIKE

cohyponymic relationCOHYP cohyponyms→ pragmatic inference (possibly metonymic)

COHYP2 COHYP3

Pragma?cinferencefromtwoco-hyponymstoallcohyponyms

•  Metonymic:SUBCATEGORYFORCATEGORY•  〈COHYP1,COHYPn〉⇒〈COHYP1,COHYP2,...,COHYPn〉•  PrincipleofInforma;veness:‘Saynomorethanyoumust’

•  Cancelable

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Cohyponyms:inferen?alpoten?alvaries

summerandwinteralike

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‘summer,winter,fall,spring’

fallandspringalike

‘summer,winter,fall,spring’

summerandwinteralike

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Cohyponyms:inferen?alpoten?alvaries

summerandwinteralike

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‘summer,winter,fall,spring’

• Summerandwintermaximallycontrast(incomparisontotheotherseasons),bothvisuallyandintermsoftemperature.

• Therefore,theycaneasilybeconceptualizedasoppositeendpointsonascale.

4.5.Contrastsinprototypicality

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Birdwatching

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Contrastsinprototypicality

ButI’mreasonabl[y]proudofit,becausemypointisthatthefuninwatchingbirdsandtheirbehaviour–sparrowsandshoebillsalike–istodiscovernewthingsandenjoynature,ratherthanthe?ckingspor?vecompe??on.Pragma?cinferencetoanopenlist,i.e.fromprototypicalmembers(sparrows)tomoreperipheralmembers(shoebills)

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Inferencefromprototypicalandperipheralmembertoallmembers

<PROTOTYPICALCLASSMEMBER&PERIPHERALCLASSMEMBER>

→<ALLCLASSMEMBERS>

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Pragma?callyconstruedantonymy

Iaspiretoafuturethats?llincludedstrongcohortsofBri?shacademics—returningArgonautsandhomebodiesalike![TheDistantFen:CambridgeintheWorld.AnnualAddresstotheRegentHouse,1October2007]Greekmythology:TheArgonautswereagroupofheroesinsearchoftheGoldenFleece.

Pragma?cinferencefromArgonautsandhomebodiestoallkindsofacademics.

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4.6.ThemeaningoftheXandYalikeconstruc?onrevisited

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TheXandYalikeconstruc?on:Meaning(ini?alproposal)

•  X,Y:antonymic•  Construc?onneutralizesconceptualcontrast

•  Construc?onconveys:somepredicateappliesequallytoXandY(seealsoMurphy2006)

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rich poor

TheXandYalikeconstruc?on:Revisedgeneraliza?on

•  X,Y:conceptuallydis?nct/dissimilar

•  Construc;on:neutralizesconceptualcontrast

•  Func;onofconstruc;on:tomakedissimilars(entrenchedorpragma?callyconstrued)similarinatleastonerespect(codedinthepredicate)

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sparrows shoebillsArgonautshomebodies

MeaninganduseoftheXandYalikeconstruc?on

•  XandYareconceptuallyconstruedasdissimilarwithinaconceptualdimension.

•  XandYalikeneutralizestheconceptualcontrastbetweenXandY.

•  XandYalikemakesdissimilars(entrenchedorpragma?callyconstrued)similarinatleastonerespect(codedinthepredicate).

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Inferen?alpoten?aloftheXandYalikeconstruc?on

•  IfXandYaremaximallycontrasted(e.g.intermsofpolarity,cohyponymy,prototypicality,etc.),anexhaus;ve/open-listinferenceistriggeredfromXandYtoclassmembers,forwhichthepredicateholds.

•  IfXandYarenotmaximallycontras;ve,theexhaus?ve/open-listinferenceisblocked.

•  IfXandYaregenuinebinaryantonyms,theXandYalikeconstruc?ondoesnotlicenseanexhaus?ve/open-listinference.

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Inferen?alstructureofXandYalikeconstruc?ons

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CLASS

MEMBER2MEMBER1

CLASS

MEMBER1 MEMBER2ALL OTHER MEMBERS

Metonymic inference

MEMBER1 & MEMBER2: maximally (non-binarily) contrastedmembers of a class→ : metonymic inference (implicature)

5.Lexicaland“gramma?cal”oxymora

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5.1.Lexicaloxymora

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What’sle|?

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Syntagma2caxis Antonymic“clashes”

-lexicalmeaningvs.construc;onmeaning

-oxymora

“WellIpersonallyfindtheword

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‘oxymoron’tobeanoxymoron.”

AnoxymoroninAssamese

prithbikhanghuraniāEARTH-FLATROUND

‘theflatEarthisround’=anoxymoron![Borah,Gautam.2012.ClassifiersinAssamese:Theirgrammarandmeaningchains.InHyslopetal.,Eds.,NortheastIndianLinguis;cs,vol.4,p.305.CambridgeUniversityPress.]

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Oxymora•  NN:love-haterela?onship•  AdjAdj:biKersweetlove•  AdjN:happyagony•  NPis/willbeNP:freedomisslavery,‘BoyswillbeGirls’(TVshow)

•  theNofNP:TheSoundofSilence

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“Deepdown,I’mpreFysuperficial”–AvaGardner(actress)

“Ac;ngishappyagony”-AlecGuinness,actorOxymora•  stereotypes•  experien?albasis

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Stereotypeofthe“sufferingar?st”

PHYSICAL & MENTAL PAIN

HARD WORK CREATIVE ARTISTIC WORK

ELATION & SATISFACTION

cause-effect relation

antonymic conflict

GOOD ACTING

“Youdisgustme,butIlikeit.”

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5.2.Clashesbetweenconstruc?onalandlexicalmeaning

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Antonymicclashbetweenwordmeaningandconstruc?onmeaning

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IGNORE THIS

SIGN!

Oxymora:Antonymicclashesbetweenwordsandconstruc?ons

1.  Ignorethissign!Anorderthatcannotbecompliedwith.2. Howtobespontaneous.3. Bespontaneousattheright;me...

Interpreta?onof(2)and(3)aseithernonsensicalormeaningfuldependsonH‘spsychologicalfolktheory(stereotype)

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Antonymicclash:construc?onalvs.lexicalmeaning, i.e.‘premeditated’vs.‘impulsive’

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‘SasksHtoactinaspontaneousmanner’

✸Bespontaneous

IMPULSIVEBEHAVIORH

PREMEDITATED

ACTIONH

Antonymicclash:construc?onalvs.lexicalmeaning, i.e.‘premeditated’vs.‘impulsive’

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‘SasksHtoactinaspontaneousmanner’

✔Bespontaneous

IMPULSIVEBEHAVIORH

PREMEDITATED

ACTIONH

RESULTANTIMPULSIVE

BEHAVIORH

Conclusion

Antonymy•  isnotjustasta?clexicalrela?on;•  dynamicallystructuresthelexicon,construc?ons,andspeechacts;

•  providesstrongevidenceagainthatcogni?velinguis?csshouldintegratearichtheoryofpragma?c–includingmetonymic–reasoning.

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ReferencesAkmajian,Adrian,RichardA.Demers,AnnK.Farmer,andRobertM.Harnish.2001.Linguis;cs:AnIntroduc;ontoLanguageandCommunica;on.Cambridge,MA,andLondon:TheMITPress.Clark,HerbertH.,andEveV.Clark.1977.PsychologyandLanguage:AnIntroduc;ontoPsycholinguis;cs.NewYork,etc.:HarcourtBraceJovanovich.Jones,Steven.2002.Antonymy:ACorpus-basedPerspec;ve.London:Routledge.Murphy,LynneM.2006.Antonymyaslexicalconstruc?ons:or,whyparadigma;cconstruc;onisnotanoxymoron.InConstruc;onsAllOver:CaseStudiesandTheore;calImplica;ons.Construc;onsSV1–8,ed.DorisSchönefeld.(availableat:www.construc?ons-online.de).Postman,Leo,andGeoffreyKeppel.1970.NormsofWordAssocia;on.NewYork:AcademicPress.Voßhagen,Chris?an.1999.Opposi?onasametonymicprinciple.InMetonymyinLanguageandThought(HumanCogni?veProcessing4),eds.Klaus-UwePantherandGünterRadden,289–308.AmsterdamandPhiladelphia:Benjamins.

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