Lexical Relation

Definition
• A lexeme is a minimal unit that can take part in referring or
predicating. All the lexemes of a language constitute the
lexicon of the language, and all the lexemes that you know
make up your personal lexicon.
• Lexeme: a pairing of meaning and form
• Lexical relation means two or more things are connected
with the words of language. In this chapter, we are going to
learn what kind of lexical relations in this world and how
they can be made up.
• The branch of semantics that deals with word meanings is
called lexical semantics. (George Yule,).
• The lexical relation is used to indicate any paradigmatic
relation among words.
• It is not just a semantic relation; so, it includes phonetic
relations such as rhyme and alliteration, morphological
relations such as inflectional variations and
morpho-syntactic relations such as co-membership in a
grammatical category.
• The term lexical relation is ambiguous in that it could
refer to relations among words or to relations among
lexical items within the mental lexical. (M.Lynne
Murphy, 2003
• Murphy (2003) stated that most lexical semantic
relations have some kinds of similarity and contrast
elements e.g. synonyms are similar in meanings but
different in lexical forms and antonyms have
contrasting position on the same dimensions.
 Types of lexical relation:
• “Lexical relations are relationships of the meanings of the words to
other words ” (Bolinger, 1968:11). “Meaning property is one of
several features or component which together can be said to make up
the meanings of a word or utterance” (Lyons, 1977:57). All of lexical
relations and meaning properties can be differentiated by looking all
the words or sentences. There are many kinds of semantic/lexical
relations which can be distinguished by its use in any text or context.
The kinds of lexical relations are Synonymy, Antonymy,
Homonymy, Polysemy, Hyponymy, Metonymy, Prototype and
Collocation.
• Kinds:
:

• Paradigmatic Lexical Relation

• Syntagmatic Lexical Relation
 Paradigmatic Lexical Relation
Definition:
• A paradigmatic lexical relation is a culturally
determined pattern of association between lexical
units that share one or more core semantic components
belong to the same lexical category fill the same
syntactic position in a syntactic construction, and have
the same semantic function.
• showing some common paradigmatic lexical relations

in English with example sets and underlying structure:

• Synonym

• A "happy" synonym set: {happy, joyful, glad}

• A temperature set: {cold, cool, lukewarm, warm, hot}

• A social relation set: {(student, teacher), (patient,

doctor)}

• Animal-Dog –collie, terrier, Cat-Persian, Siamese

 Syntagmatic Lexical Relation
Definition:
• A syntagmatic lexical relation is a culturally determined pattern of
association between pairs of lexical units (A1-B1, A2-B2,
A3-B3…) where the two members of each pair (A1 and B1)
– have compatible semantic components
– are in a fixed syntactic and semantic relationship to each other,
and
– are typically associated with each other, and
• corresponding members of each pair (A1, A2, A3…)
– belong to the same lexical category
– fill the same syntactic position in a syntactic construction, and
– have the same semantic function.
• Structure Syntagmatic lexical relations are structured in sets of
pairs.
• Structure- Syntagmatic lexical relations are
structured in sets of pairs.
• Examples:
• Actor
• Undergoer
• Location
• Instrument
• Goal
• Feel
• Sound
 Synonymy
• Synonymy is the relationship between synonyms. Synonyms are
words which sound different, but have the same or nearly the same
meanings and therefore may often be used interchangeably.

• one of two or more words or expressions of the same language

that have the same or nearly the same meaning in some or all
senses.

• More examples -Beautiful Attractive, ‘Pretty, Lovely, Stunning,

• big = gigantic, huge, enormous, titanic

• small = tiny, microscopic, little, miniature

• There are two types of synonymy:

• 1. Dimensional synonymy (similarity)

• 2. Attributive synonymy (similarity)

• Dimensional similarity:

• It involves denotative agreement that is not

sufficient for synonymy but that occur at adjacent

points on a common dimensional. E.g. laugh-smile.

(Flavell & Flavell, 1958).

• Attributive similarity:

• The term in which salient attributes of one term reasonable of

another is called attributive similarity. E.g. rake-fork. (Perfetti,
1967). George Yule (1996), stated that synonyms are different
phonological words which have the same or very similar
meanings. As Couch/sofa, boy/lad, lawyer/attorney,
toilet/lavatory, large/big. Lyons (1995) said that absolute
synonymy is very rare and he defined synonymy as,” two
expressions are absolutely synonymous if all their meanings
are identical in all linguistic contexts.”
 ANTONYMS

• ANTONYMS: A word of opposite meaning.

• bad = good
• pretty = ugly
• tall = short
• There are three types:
• 1.Graded antonyms deal with levels of the
meaning of the words, like if something is not
“good”, it may still not be “bad.”
• Examples are :
• 1) Fat and skinny
• 2) Young and old
• 3) Happy and sad
• 4) Hard and soft
• 2. Complementary antonyms have a relationship
where there is no middle ground. There are only
two possibilities, either one or the other.
• Examples are :

• 1) Man and woman

• 2) Push and pull

• 3) Dead and alive

• 4) Day and night

• 3. Relational antonyms are sometimes considered
a subcategory of complementary antonyms. With
these pairs, for there to be a relationship, both must
exist.
• Examples are:
• 1) Husband and wife
• 2) Doctor and patient
• 3) Buy and sell
• 4) Servant and master
 HYPONYM
• Hyponym is a word or phrase whose semantic field is included
within that of another word, its hyperonym or hypernym.
Hyponymy is the more specific concept and the more general
concept is known as the hypernym. In other word, A hyponym is
a word or phrase whose semantic field is more specific than its
hypernym.

• In simpler terms, a hyponym shares a type-of relationship with its

hypernym. For example : pigeon, crow, eagle and seagull are all
hyponyms of bird (their hyperonym); which, in turn, is a
hyponym of animal.
• Other Examples are :
• Mango- fruit ; Car- vehicles ; table- furniture ; Hen - animal.
• The verb ‘colour’ has many hyponyms
• Word: colour (hypernym)
• Hyponyms: blue, red, yellow, green, white, black, purple and
pink.
• The verb ‘cook’ has many hyponyms.
• Word: Cook (hypernym)
• Hyponyms: Roast ,boil , fry , grill , bake .
 Prototypes
• A prototype is a cognitive reference point, i.e the proto-image of all

representatives of the meaning of a word or of a category. Thus, a robin or a

sparrow can be regarded as a prototype or a "good example" of the

category bird, whereas a penguin or an ostrich is a rather "bad example" of

this category.

• Accordingly, the members of a category can be graded according to

their typicality. A "good" example is only rated as such by virtue of its

features. Defining a prototype as the bundle of typical features of a category,

we can thus imagine birds as 'creatures that are covered with feathers, have

two wings and two legs, and the majority of which can fly'.
• Therefore, a penguin is a less "good" bird, as it lacks
some of the typical features, such as the ability to fly.
Features themselves can also be more or less typical, for
example 'twittering' is less typical and specific to birds
than 'flying'.
Source of the picture: wikipedia.org
• If an item shares at least some central features with the
category prototype, we consider it as an example of this
category. As a consequence, word meanings contain all
the properties of cognitive categories:
• We can distinguish between central and more peripheral
meanings of a lexeme, and word meanings are not rigid, but
there are often gradual transitions and fuzzy boundaries
between them. Thus, prototype semantics is a
'more-or-less semantics', as opposed to the 'all-or-nothing'
approach of structure-oriented feature semantics. However, this
does not weaken the usefulness of a feature-based
classification .The features belonging to a prototype of a
category are the one that are relevant for categorization.
 What are Homonyms?
• The word “homonym” comes from the prefix “homo”, meaning
“the same”, and the suffix “-nym,” means “the name”.

• Hence, Homonyms are words that sound alike and have

different meanings. They either sound the same or are spelt the
same, but their meanings are different but unrelated meanings

• Two or more words with the same spellings but different

pronunciation and meaning are called heteronyms.
• Examples:
• Address – location/ to speak
• Bark – the sound of dogs/ tree’s outer layer
• Band – a ring/ a musical group
• bat (wooden stick thing) vs bat (flying scary mammal)
• bank (financial institution) vs bank (riverside)
• To understand the concept of English Root Words
Homonyms are words that have separate histories and
meanings, but have accidentally come to have exactly the
same form
 What are Homophones?
• Homophones sound the same but have different meanings and have different
spellings too.
• Homophones Examples:
• Altar/ Alter
• Berth/ Birth
• Cast/ Caste
• Days/ Daze
• write and right
• piece and peace
We aren’t allowed to read aloud in the library.
We have already eaten breakfast; now we are all ready for school.
 Homophone Examples
• Blew vs. Blue
• Accept vs. Except
• Allowed vs. Aloud • Board vs. Bored

• Already vs. All Ready • Brake vs. Break

• Ant vs. Aunt • By, Buy, vs. Bye
• Ascent vs. Assent • Capital vs. Capitol
• Bare vs. Bear
• Cell vs. Sell
• Beat vs. Beet
• Cent, Sent, vs. Scent
• Billed vs. Build
• Dear vs. Deer
 • Way vs. Weigh
• Than vs. Then
• Weather vs. Whether
• Their, There, vs.
They’re • Week vs. Weak

• Threw vs. Through • Which vs. Witch

• To, Too, vs. Two • Sight, Cite, vs. Site
• Vary vs. Very • Sole vs. Soul
• Waist vs. Waste • Some vs. Sum
• Ware, Wear, vs. Where
 • What are Homographs?
• Homographs are words that They’re spelled the same (like
homographs) and pronounced the same (like homophones), but have
different meanings. “Graph” has to do with writing or drawing, So
“homograph” means “same picture” or “same writing.”

• Homographs Examples:

• Entrance – the way in/ to delight

• Bow – to incline/ type of knot

• Bat – an animal/sports equipment

• The words “bow” for a part of a ship and “bow” for a weapon that
shoots arrows are homographs.
• "Advocate" can be pronounced with a long "a" sound and mean “to
speak or write in support of”
• "Advocate" can also be pronounced with a short "a" sound and refer
to a person who supports or pleads the cause of another.
• evening - late afternoon/making more even
• fine - very good/sharp or keen/delicate or subtle/a sum of money paid
to settle a matter
• frequent - occurring regularly/to visit a place with regularity

• tear - to rip/a drop of water from the eye

• wind - to turn/moving air

• wound - turned/an injury

 Homograph Examples
• Close = to shut • Suspect = to question

• Close = near by • Suspect = someone in

• Convict = to accuse question

• Convict = a criminal • Wind = blowing air

• Minute = 60 seconds • Wind = to wrap or roll

up
• Minute = small; tiny
 What is polysemy?
• A polysemy is a word or symbol that has more than one meaning.
In order to be considered a polysemy, a word has to have separate
meanings that can be different, but related to one another. The
meanings and the words must have the same spelling and
pronunciation and they must have the same origin.

• The term polysemy is used in linguistics as a means of

categorizing and studying various aspects of languages. Like many
words used to categorize languages, polysemy is a mixture of
Latin and Greek and means literally ‘many meanings.’ The
opposite of a polysemy is a heterosemy, which means the word
has only a single meaning.
• Perhaps the word in English with the most meanings is ‘set.’
Dictionaries give ‘set’ around 120 meanings. English is filled with
polysemic words with two, three or more meanings, including
‘wood,’ which means both part of a tree and a group of trees.
• In order to be considered a polysemy, the word has to retain the same
sound and the same spelling, but with distinct meanings. The
difference between a polysemy and a homonym is difficult to
determine. Homonyms also have the same spelling and the same
pronunciation with different meanings. While the differences
between homonyms and polysemes are subjective at best, however, it
appears homonyms are words where the meanings have separate
origins from one another.
• Polysemy: when a single word has multiple related
meanings . When a symbol, word, or phrase means many
different things, that's called polysemy. The verb "get" is a
good example of polysemy — it can mean "procure,"
"become," or "understand."

• (bank the building,

• bank the financial institution,
• bank the biological repository)
• 1. The bank was constructed in 1875 out of local red brick.
• 2. I withdrew the money from the bank.
 Metonymy
• Metonymy is a figure of speech in which one object or idea
takes the place of another with which it has a close
association. In fact, metonymy means “change of name.” As a
literary device, it is a way of replacing an object or idea with
something related to it instead of stating what is actually
meant. Metonymy enables writers to express a word or
thought in a different way by using a closely related word or
thought. Therefore, this is a method for writers to vary their
expression and produce an effect for the reader.
• Examples

• Hollywood (represents associations with the movie industry)

• As noted above, “Hollywood” can act as a metonym for

celebrity culture

• Turf (represents associations with area of residence or expertise)

• Feds (represents associations with government law enforcement)

• Press (represents associations with news organizations)
• Breeze (represents associations with something that is simple,
straightforward, or easy)
• Coast (represents associations with seaside, ocean area, regions of land near
water)
• Booze (represents associations with alcohol or liquor)
• Academics (represents associations with school, college, university, classes,
or studying)

• Management (represents associations with administration, leadership, or

person in charge of something)

• The big house—Refers to prison

• The pen—Can refer to prison or to the act of writing
• Stuffed shirts—People in positions of authority, especially in a
business setting
• The crown—a royal person
 Collocation
• A collocation is made up of two or more words that are
commonly used together in English. Think of collocations as
words that usually go together. There are different kinds of
collocations in English. Strong collocations are word pairings
that are expected to come together, such as combinations
with 'make' and 'do': You make a cup of tea, but you do your
homework. Collocations are very common in business settings
when certain nouns are routinely combined with certain verbs
or adjectives.
 Types of collocation
• There are several different types of collocation made from
combinations of verb, noun, adjective etc. Some of the most common
types are:
• adverb + adjective: completely satisfied (NOT downright satisfied)
• adjective + noun: excruciating pain (NOT excruciating joy)
• noun + noun: a surge of anger (NOT a rush of anger)
• noun + verb: lions roar (NOT lions shout)
• verb + noun: commit suicide (NOT undertake suicide)
• verb + expression with preposition: burst into tears (NOT blow up
in tears)
• verb + adverb: wave frantically (NOT wave feverishly
 Why learn collocations?
• Your language will be more natural and more
easily understood.
• You will have alternative and richer ways of
expressing yourself.
• It is easier for our brains to remember and use
language in chunks or blocks rather than as
single words.
 The Significance of Lexical Relations
• Mainly, the importance of lexical relations can be clearly seen in various
communicative events and situations especially when the meaning of a word is unclear
or it is to be explained thoroughly. Sometimes, when using words in everyday
conversation or in any other situation, speakers may explain them according to their
relationships. For instance, when speakers are required to explain the meaning of the
word ‘conceal’, they may simply say ‘it means hide’. Another instance could be
considered when explaining the meaning of the word ‘shallow’ as being the opposite of
‘deep’ and so on. In doing so, the explanations of the meanings of words are
understood not according to what they mean (their features) but in terms of their
relationships with other words. This way of describing the meanings of words is used in
semantics and is called the analysis of lexical relations (Yule, 2006
• Knowledge of vocabulary items is not enough for the development of
learners’ lexical competence. It also requires understanding of the different
relations between words. Trask (1999) likewise puts a general statement that
the meaning of a word is related to the meaning of other word in ways that
may be simple or complex. The word young, for example is more closely
related to old than it is to lazy. Also rose is related in one way to flower, in
another way to lilac, and in a third way to red. The meaning of a word could
be characterized not in terms of its component features , but in terms of its
relationship to other words , in other words according to its lexical relations.
Thus, the importance of such relations arise from the fact that they explain the
meanings of words in terms of their relations to others at various levels and by
doing so, there would be much exposure to language and much augmentation
as far as the knowledge of the vocabulary used in language is concerned.
 Conclusion
• Lexical relations are a type of semantic relations which have a significant role
in the explanation, analysis and use of the meanings of words within sentences.
They approach the meanings of words on the basis of their relation with each
other as far as similarity, differences and inclusion are concerned. The way a
word might be related to the other word or words is a matter of the specific
nature of the relation of this word as having the same or different meaning. In
fact, lexical relations might be considered an efficient way in understanding the
exact meaning of the word and how it is related to other words within the
English sentences. In communication, lexical relations are considered an
effective way of explaining the meanings of words in various ways and thus, a
better communication might be achieved.