Binary Antonyms in Language
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Questions and Answers

What is the primary characteristic of binary antonyms?

  • They are used to describe similar senses.
  • They are always graded.
  • They can be used to explain the concept of similarity.
  • They exclude and negate each other. (correct)

    • Which of the following is an example of binary antonyms?

  • Happy and slightly happy
  • Large and somewhat large
  • Male and female (correct)
  • Bright and dim

    • What is the term used by some linguists to describe the relationship between binary antonyms?

  • Extreme similarity
  • Gradable antonymy
  • Complementary antonymy
  • Real antonymy (correct)

    • Can binary antonyms be used to describe a sense of similarity?

    <p>No, they can only be used to describe opposite senses.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the implication of using binary antonyms?

    <p>They exclude and negate each other.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Can binary antonyms be used with intensifiers or degree words?

    <p>No, they cannot be used with intensifiers or degree words.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the relationship between 'male' and 'female'?

    <p>They are binary antonyms, also known as real antonyms or extreme antonyms.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the correct way to describe the relationship between 'male' and 'female'?

    <p>Male means not female, and female means not male.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    A word having two senses is an example of polysemy.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Homonymy involves two different words with the same sense.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Semantic ambiguity occurs when a sentence can be interpreted in multiple ways due to grammar.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Lexical ambiguity occurs when a sentence can be interpreted in multiple ways due to word choice.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Homonymy is a case of two different words having the same sense.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Word sense disambiguation is the process of determining the correct meaning of a word in a sentence.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Polysemy is a case of a word having two unrelated senses.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Homonymy can be defined using the concept of synonymy.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The word 'bank' has only one sense.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    All words have only one meaning or sense.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The sentence 'The chicken is ready to eat' contains a word with lexical ambiguity.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The words 'pen' and 'file' are examples of polysemy.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Word Ambiguity (WA) always causes Sentence Ambiguity (SA).

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Ambiguity refers to the presence of only one sense in a word or sentence.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Grammatical Ambiguity can occur due to verb voice.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The sentence 'He saw a man with a telescope' is an example of lexical ambiguity.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The word 'moment' is an example of polysemy.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The word 'chair' is an example of homonymy.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The possessive form 'John's paintings' can be ambiguous.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Ambiguous words always make ambiguous sentences.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Lexical ambiguity refers to the ambiguity of a sentence or phrase.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Word sense disambiguation is the process of determining the meaning of a sentence or phrase.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    Binary Antonymy

    • Binary antonyms are words that exclude and negate each other, such as "male" and "female".
    • A person cannot possess both characteristics simultaneously, e.g., a person cannot be both "alive" and "dead" at the same time.
    • Binary antonyms are ungradable, meaning they do not allow the use of intensifiers or degree words like "very" or "somewhat".
    • Some semanticists refer to the relationship between binary antonyms as "real antonymy" because the words are extremely opposite.

    Characteristics of Binary Antonyms

    • The relationship between binary antonyms can be referred to as "complementary antonymy", "real antonymy", or "extreme antonymy".
    • Binary antonyms explain the concept of dissimilarity of senses clearly.
    • Examples of binary antonyms include "male" and "female", and "bachelor" and "married".

    Key Features

    • Binary antonyms are mutually exclusive, meaning that one implies the absence of the other.
    • "Male" means "not female", and "female" means "not male", illustrating the binary relationship between them.
    • Binary antonyms do not allow for nuanced expressions, such as "very married" or "very dead".

    Homonymy and Synonymy

    • Homonymy: a case of sense ambiguity caused by a word having two or more senses.
    • Synonymy: a case where two different words have the same sense.
    • Homonymy involves one word, but synonymy involves two words.
    • Homonymy is a case of a word having two non-synonymous synonyms or senses.

    Accounting for Polysemy and Homonymy

    • Reasons why words have more than one sense:
      • Economy
      • Coincidence
      • Noun-verb function
      • Transitive-Intransitive

    Sentence Ambiguity

    • Types of sentence ambiguity:
      • Lexical ambiguity: due to ambiguous words
      • Grammatical ambiguity: due to sentence structure

    Examples of Ambiguity

    • Word ambiguity:
      • Bank (land alongside the river or financial establishment)
      • Fight (to fight or a fight)
      • File (to file or a file)
      • Fill (to fill a glass, fill a job, or the fill of a hole)
      • Will (he has enough will or he wrote his wills)
      • Fire (to set fire, to fire a gun, under fire, or to fire questions at him)
      • Firm (strong, strict, or company)
      • Pupil (pupil at school or pupil of the eye)
      • Honeymoon (to honeymoon or a honeymoon)
      • Side (to side with or the two sides of the river)
    • Homonymy:
      • Pen (he wrote with a pen or the sheep are in the pen)
      • File (he kept the documents in the file or he sharpened the knife with a file)
      • Term (the first school term was over or what is the meaning of this term)
      • Steer (this steer was born one month ago or the captain is to steer the ship)
      • Moment (this is a great moment in your life or the moment of force is a physics-term)
      • Craft (he treated them with craft and deceit or this craft can carry ten passengers only)
      • Kind (he is a kind person or this is a new kind)
      • Type (she will type the letter or the suffix is one type of affixes)
    • Polysemy:
      • Chair (he sat on the chair or he will chair the meeting)
      • Father (he is Ali's father or he will father this child)
      • Fat (avoid fat food or the chicken is ready to eat)

    Relation between Word Ambiguity and Sentence Ambiguity

    • Word ambiguity may sometimes cause sentence ambiguity
    • Word ambiguity may not cause sentence ambiguity
    • Sentence ambiguity may exist without word ambiguity
    • Ambiguous words do not always make ambiguous sentences

    Grammatical Ambiguity

    • Examples of grammatical ambiguity:
      • And structure: He saw three boys and girls
      • Prepositional phrase structure: He saw a man with a telescope
      • Verb voice: The bird is ready to eat
      • The (ing form): flying planes can be dangerous
      • Possessive form: John's paintings
      • Or structure: This can be A or B
      • Premodification structure: acquired language output

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    Test your understanding of binary antonyms in language with this true/false quiz. Learn how to identify and understand binary antonyms with these questions.

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