A Basic Course in Anthropological Linguistics (Studies in Linguistic ...

MEANINGS 115
~~
Evil Good Appropriate?
an evil tyrant
the evil effects of a poor diet
evil omens
an evil temper
evil news
an evil exterior paint
an evil joke
an evil drink
evil taste
an evil table
a good tyrant
the good effects of a poor diet
good omens
a good temper
good news
a good exterior paint
a good joke
a good drink
good taste
a good table
As the above examples show, the two concepts do not always relate to
each other antonymically-a good table means “a bountiful table,” whereas
an evil table implies that “evil people are at the table.” Some expressions-
such as Good Heavens! Good grie$f, the common good, the evil eye, etc.-have
frozen the meanings of each word, thus excluding any antonymic analysis of
the pair.
Another way to determine word meaning is through horrwnymy. Homonyms
are words with the same pronunciation and/or spelling, but with different
meanings. If the homonymy is purely phonetic then the items are known as
homophones (e.g., aunt vs. [as pronounced in American English] and bore vs.
boar). If the homonymy is orthographic, then the words are known as
homographs (play as in Shakespeare’s play vs. play as in He likes to play). It
is not the case that all homographs are homophones: e.g., the form learned
has two pronunciations in (1) He learned to play the violin vs. (2) He is a
learned man. Homonyms force us to focus on what each item means by
comparison and contrast and, thus, what makes each one unique.
A fourth type of relation that words have with each other is known as
hyponymy, the process by which the meaning of one sign is included in that of
another: e.g., the meaning of scarlet is included in the meaning of red, the
meaning of tulip is included in that offlower, etc. This allows us to relate
word meanings to the overall meaning of lexical fields and, thus, to focus on
those specific features that keep words within the field distinct.