Corpus methods for the investigation of antonyms across languages
Author
Editor
- Maria Koptjevskaja-Tamm
- Päivi Juvonen
Summary, in English
This chapter proposes an onomasiological research methodology for
cross-linguistic investigations of antonyms. The basic assumption is that there
is a number of strongly opposable lexical semantic pairings in all languages,
whose meanings are central to human existence, e.g. speed slow–fast, luminosity, dark–light, strength weak–strong, size small–large. There is also a large number of other pairings that are frequently used as antonyms in discourse, but for various different reasons they are not as strongly coupled as the canonical ones. The meaning dimensions of the canonical pairings, e.g. speed, luminosity, strength, size, are used as the point of departure for the typological research program to identify the use of the antonymic words in different combinations and in different semantic frames in a principled way across languages and cultures. Large scale studies carried out along the lines proposed will make it possible to produce a typological antonym atlas of the formal realization of antonym pairs and their usage patterns, at the same time as it will allow us to make statements about the role of binary opposition in language and cognition more generally.
cross-linguistic investigations of antonyms. The basic assumption is that there
is a number of strongly opposable lexical semantic pairings in all languages,
whose meanings are central to human existence, e.g. speed slow–fast, luminosity, dark–light, strength weak–strong, size small–large. There is also a large number of other pairings that are frequently used as antonyms in discourse, but for various different reasons they are not as strongly coupled as the canonical ones. The meaning dimensions of the canonical pairings, e.g. speed, luminosity, strength, size, are used as the point of departure for the typological research program to identify the use of the antonymic words in different combinations and in different semantic frames in a principled way across languages and cultures. Large scale studies carried out along the lines proposed will make it possible to produce a typological antonym atlas of the formal realization of antonym pairs and their usage patterns, at the same time as it will allow us to make statements about the role of binary opposition in language and cognition more generally.
Department/s
- English Studies
- Language, Cognition and Discourse@Lund (LCD@L)
Publishing year
2016
Language
English
Pages
131-156
Publication/Series
Cognitive linguistics research (CLR)
Volume
58
Document type
Book chapter
Publisher
Mouton de Gruyter
Topic
- General Language Studies and Linguistics
Status
Published
Project
- How the human mind makes use of contraries in everyday life: A new multidimensional approach to contraries in perception, language, reasoning and emotions
Research group
- Language, Cognition and Discourse@Lund (LCD@L)
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1861-4132
- ISBN: 978-3-11-037767-5
- ISBN: 978-3-11-039306-4
- ISBN: 978-3-11-037752-1