Semantic Relations and the Lexicon: Antonymy, Synonymy and other Paradigms

by M. Lynne Murphy

Overview

This book explores how some word meanings are paradigmatically related to each other, for example, as opposites or synonyms, and how they relate to the mental organization of our vocabularies. Traditional approaches claim that such relationships are part of our lexical knowledge (our "dictionary" of mentally stored words) but Lynne Murphy argues that lexical relationships actually constitute our "metalinguistic" knowledge. The book draws on a century of previous research, including word association experiments, child language, and the use of synonyms and antonyms in text.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521780674
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/02/2003
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.29(h) x 1.02(d)

About the Author

M. Lynne Murphy is Lecturer in Linguistics at the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, University of Sussex

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Symbols and typographical conventions; Part I. Paradigmatic Relations, Generally: 1. Why lexical relations?; 2. A pragmatic approach to semantic relations; 3. Other approaches; Part II. Paradigmatic Relations, Specifically: 4. Synonymy and similarity; 5. Antonymy and contrast; 6. Hyponymy, meronymy and other relations; 7. Lexicon and metalexicon: implications and explorations; Appendix: relation elements; Notes; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

Review of the hardback: 'A new book on semantic relations? Is there anything left to be said on this topic? Lynne Murphy gives a positive answer to these questions. The novelty of her approach comes from the interdisciplinary perspective she adopts.' Studies in Informatics and Control

Review of the hardback: 'Murphy's book sheds light on the important challenges and interesting insights which the matter of SR's are still able to offer, even if such relations have been subject of interest for centuries.' The Linguist List

Review of the hardback: 'The book is in many ways an impressive achievement: well written and cogently argued, it demonstrates sharp analytical skills, methodological awareness and stringency, and a depth of scholarship of the highest international standard. A particularly commendable feature of the study is the way the author manages to attend to detail without losing sight of the big picture … there can be little doubt that Semantic relations and the lexicon makes a very significant contribution to current thinking about lexical semantics, and that future scholarship will find the book difficult to ignore. It is hereby warmly recommended.' Acta Lingvistica Hafniensia

Review of the hardback: '… there can be little doubt that Semantic Relations and the Lexicon makes a very significant contribution to current thinking about lexical semantics, and that future scholarship will find the book difficult to ignore. It is hereby warmly recommended.' International Journal of Linguistics

From the Publisher