Linguistics - Introduction to Semantics

Introduction to semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It can be applied to entire texts or to single words.

POLYSEMY
Polysemy : is the study of phenomenon of words that have many meanings. This phenomenon is not restricted only in word, but also can be found in morphemes and phrases.
EX : Morphemes “un”
-When it prefixes a verb, it usually means ‘reverse the action of verb’ : undo, unzip, unfold, etc
-When it precedes a noun to form a verb, it can mean ‘deprive of this noun’ : unhorse, unman, unduke, unlord, unbishop, etc.
-When it precedes an adjective, it can mean ‘the opposite’ : unfair, unkind, untrue, etc.

SYNONYMY
Synonymy : most people think of synonymy as implying ‘ having the same meaning’ but it is easy to show that synonymy is always partial, never complete.’tall’ and ‘high’ are usually given as synonyms but whilst we can have both :
A tall building    ANDa high building
We cannot have both :
A tall boy ANDA high boy
From we can define ‘synonymy’ by saying that it is th relationship in whic two or moree words are in free variation in all or most contexts.

HYPONYMY
Hyponymy : is relationship of words where a word is a word whose meaning contains the entire meaning of another word.
For example : a rose is flower but flower is not necessarily a rose.
Another example : flowers : rose, orchid, daisy

ANTONYMY
Anyonymy : is relation between words indicating oppositeness of meaning.There are three  tpes of oppositeness in English. They are Antonymity(gradable antonyms), complementar (binary antonyms), and converseness (converse antonyms).
a.Antonymity (Gradable antonyms). This refer to pairs of words such as : big/small, good/bad, stupid/smart, etc.
b.Complementary (binary antonyms).This oppositeness refers to pairs such as : male|female, alive|dead, married|single etc, where the assertion of one quality implies the denial of the other, thus if “john is married” he is not single, or if “john is male” he is not female etc.
c.Converseness (converse antonym). This oppositeness refers to pairs that indicate a converse relationship, where the assertion of one implies the recipient of the other, as in : buy/sell, push/pull, teach/learn, lease/rent, give/take etc.