lexical and semantie relations

s black/white,
.bility.) When
st set or a set
We pay more
perties.
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I (e.g./Llrze =
), but we tend
ense. In some
loby default
re 6.2. In this
antonym pairs
arise through
ating prefi xes
ent, unhappy,
ise in cases in
) the larger set
t with angry,
happy/sad as
mt to contrast
:hi raises the
gre)', and why
r that black is
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Lexical and semantic relations 119
the meanings of antonyms are minimally different (Clark 1970). Hotlcold fits
this definition better than hot/cool, since hot and cold have in cornrnon that they
are both perception of temperature, and both are extremes on the temperature
scale. They are different in that they are on oppo ite ends of the temperature
scale. Hot and cool are both temperatures, but differ in both which side of the
temperarure cale they are on and whether or not they are extreme. A the basie
componential analysi in (IS) how, hot and cool are less similar to each other
than hot and cold are.
(15) hot cold cool
+ temperature]
+ high
[
+ extreme
+ temperature]
- high
[
+ extreme
+ temperature]
- high
[
- extreme
Similarly, white and black are antonyms because they are alike in that they denote
extremes in the range of achromatic colors, but different in that they are at the
opposite extremities of the color range, while grey is both a different color from
white and black and not at an extreme point on the scale. And while happy
contrasts with sad and angry and surprised and afraid, it seems to have the most
in cornmon with sad, since (arnong other reasons) happy and sad reftect states
with reversed facial expressions (smile/frown) and postu res (up/down). While
these facial exp re ion and postures are different, since they are reversals of
each other, they are similar (as opposed to expressions of anger and surprise,
which are much more different expressions). In all these cases the principIe of
rninimal difference allows for binary antonym pairs within a larger contrast set
when two members within the et are perceived to be more similar to one another
than to other members of the set.
Types of antonyms
There are several subtypes of antonyrn relation:
Contrary antonyms are th ose, like short/tall and old/young, in which the
assertion of one entails the negation of the other, but the negation of one does not
entail the as ertion of the other. as illustrated in (16):
(16) a. Gladys is tall. ~ Gladys is not short.
b. Gordon is not tall. -+> Gordon is short.
Not talf does not entaiI short because tall and short do not describe all the heights
that a thing or person could be. We can say that these contraryantonym are seaIar
in that they describe the two extremes of a cale, as illustrated in figure 6.3.
(A more ophisticated ver ion of thi cale is presented in the di cussion of
adjectives in chapter ll.) Each point on the line designates a height, which can
be measured (e.g, l centimeter, 2 cm, 3 cm, ... ). The left and right extremes
of the scale include short and tall height , but the middle area includes height
mea urements that are neither tall nor short. So, Gordon is not tall does not entaii