-bad,
c) converseness, e.g. to buy - to sell.
He does that in the following way. The denial of the one implies, the assertion of the other, and vice versa. John is not married implies that John is single. The type of oppositeness is based on yes / no decision. This concerns pairs of lexical units.
Antonyms are the second class of oppositeness. It is distinguished from complimentarity by being based on different logical relationships. For pairs of antonyms like good - bad, big - small only the second one of the above mentioned relations of implication holds. The assertion containing one member implies the negation of the other, but not vice versa. John is good implies that John is not bad, but John is not good does not imply that John is bad. The negation of one term does not necessarily implies the assertion of the other.
Converseness is mirror-image relations or functions, eg husband - wife, pupil - teacher, precede - follow, above - below, before - after etc. [80]
L. Lipka also describes the type which is called as:
· directional opposition, ex. up - down;
· consiquence opposition, ex. learn - know;
· antipodal opposition, ex. North - South, East - West, (it is based on contrary motion, in opposite directions.)
· oppositions, which involve motion in different directions, ex. come - go, arrive - depart. [80]
L. Lipka also points out non-binary contrast or many-member lexical sets. Here he points out serially ordered sets, such as:
· scales, ex. hot - warm, cool - cold;
· colour words, ex. black, grey, white;
· ranks, ex. marshal, general, colonel, major, captain etc.;
· gradable examination marks, ex. excellent, good, average, fair, poor;
· units of time, ex. spring, summer, autumn, winter. [80]
Thus, let's investigate the complementary, proper antonyms, and converseness differences in details.
1.3.1 Antonyms Proper
Some authors, J.Lyons among them, suggest a different terminology. They distinguish antonyms proper and complementary antonyms. The chief characteristic feature of antonyms proper is that they are regularly gradable. This kind of antonyms proper represents contrary notions. They say, that grading is based on the operation of comparison. The group of words, which name intensity of feeling, ex. love - attachment - liking - indifference - antipathy - hate, can be compared. [27]
Whenever a sentence contains an antonym or an antonymic pair, it contains comparison. J. Lyons discusses an interesting example of antonyms also dealing with elephants: A small elephant is a large animal. The size-norm for elephants is not the same as that for all animals in general: the elephant which is small in comparison with other elephants may be big in comparison with animals as a class.
This example may also serve to show the difference and parallelism between antonyms proper and complementarity (expressing contradictory notions). The semantic polarity in antonyms proper is relative, the oppos...
