Synonymy and Antonymy of Semantics

SEMANTICS

What is “Semantics”?

                Semantics is the study of meaning that is used to understand human expression through language. Semantics is perhaps  the most difficult part of the grammar of a language to learn. The reason is because, basically, meanings in a language are indefinite/undetermined.

Synonymy and Antonymy of Semantics

SYNONYMY 

• Synonymy is the state or phenomenon in which the words that sound different (different in pronunciation) but have the same or identical meaning as another word or phrase.
• The concrete form of synonymy is called “synonym”

• Examples: small = little, big = large, mother and father = parents, politician = statesman

ANTONYMY

• Antonymy is the state or phenomenon in which the words have the sense relation which involve the opposite of meaning.
• The concrete form of antonymy is called “antonym” (opposite).

• The words pairs of antonymy can be divided into several types:
• Implicitly Gradable Pairs (Graded Antonym) refers to the words related to the words related to the object they modify. The words themselves do not provide an absolute scale.

          Examples: big = small, good = bad, fast = slow, young = old

• Complementary Pairs (Complementarity) refers to the existence of pairs that the denial of one, implies the assertion of the other.

 Examples: male = female, alive = dead, present = absent, awake = asleep

• Relation Pairs (Converseness) refers to the pair of words that display symmetry in their meaning.

       Examples: buy = sell, push = pull, command = serve, give = take, teach = learn

                         master = servant, teacher = pupil, doctor = patient, ect.




References : https://www.slideshare.net/Andriyanieka12/13-semantics-synonym-antonym-                     homonym-hyponym-polyseme-idioms-18509523