The antonymy expresses a contrasting semantic relationship between two lexical units or words in certain contexts. This term was coined by C. J. Smith in his book Synonyms and antonyms 1867. In general, unlike synonymy, antonymy requires a one-to-one relationship.
For example, the antonym of "happy" is "sad." On the other hand, as synonyms they can be named "happy", "happy", "happy", among others. However, the antonymy is variable, as it depends to a large extent on the context. However, some particular antonym pairs are often known without reference to a contextual framework..
For example, black and white colors are opposite when they mean "good" or "evil," respectively. This is the case of expressions such as "white magic" and "black magic". Antonymy relationships belong to the most interesting aspects studied by the linguistic discipline.
His analysis is further proof that human beings think and speak in categories. Therefore, they classify each word into groups by referring to one or more of the same (presumably) characteristics of these words. In this sense, antonymy is simply a particular form of categorization.
This is based on a marked (though rarely logical) differentiation from other words. Consequently, an antonym cannot occur on its own terms; always needs another word to refer to.
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Considering the formal point of view, antonymy relationships are classified into lexical antonyms (pairs of different words with opposite meanings) and grammatical antonyms (opposites formed by adding a prefix).
Thus, the pairs good / bad, interesting / boring, and fast / slow are lexical antonyms. Scrupulous / unscrupulous, honest / dishonest and symmetric / asymmetric are grammatical antonyms..
Reciprocal antonyms show a symmetrical relationship in their meanings. So if X gives Y to Z, then Z receives Y from Z; or if X is something of Y, then Y is something of X.
Some word pairs that exhibit this kind of antonym relationship are buy / sell, teacher / student, boss / employee, hunter / prey, give / take, and up / down..
For their part, complementary antonyms do not imply a reciprocal relationship; that is, one element of the pair does not necessarily lead to the other.
Some examples of these opposites are: single / married, present / absent, on / off, alive / dead, singular / plural, and asleep / awake.
Gradual antonyms are always adjectives. The meaning of these pairs of antonyms is related to the objects they modify. These words do not provide an absolute scale.
For example, it is known that "a small whale" will be much larger than "a large squirrel", or that "fast" implies greater speed when applied to an airplane than when it refers to a bicycle..
Furthermore, these pairs give rise to implications. Thus, “a whale is bigger than a dolphin” implies that “a dolphin is smaller than a whale”.
Among others, these gradual pairs include: good / bad, fat / skinny, pretty / ugly, tall / short, long / short. Note that all cases can be accompanied by "more" or "less": more or less skinny, more or less fat.
Some examples of antonymy are:
To better explain the concept of antonymy in a text, we will put an example of its use in a real text. Below is an excerpt from The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. Then a version with the opposites will be presented (in some cases, the wording is a bit contrived).
"Good!" Said the witch. We don't have a table… let's see. We better put it against a tree trunk.
Edmund was roughly forced to his feet, and then the dwarf placed him on his back against a tree and tied him tightly..
He watched as the witch took off her upper cloak. The woman's arms were bare under him and terribly white.
Due precisely to their whiteness, the boy could distinguish them, although he could not see them much more, since there was hardly any light in that valley under the dark trees.
-Prepare the victim- the witch ordered.
The dwarf unbuttoned the collar of Edmund's shirt and folded the shirt back at the neck. He then grabbed the boy by the hair and pulled his head back, forcing him to lift his chin.
After that, Edmund heard a strange noise: whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. For a moment it did not occur to him what it might be, but then he understood. It was the sound of a knife being sharpened ".
"Bad!" Said the witch. We don't have a table… let's see. It will be worse if we put it against a tree trunk.
Edmund was invited to sit gently, and then the giant placed him on his back against a tree and weakly untied him.
He watched as the witch put on her lower cloak. The woman's arms were draped over him and they were pleasantly black.
Due precisely to their blackness, the boy could distinguish them, although he could not see them a little less, since there was hardly any darkness in that valley over the clear trees.
-Prepare the perpetrator- the witch ordered.
The giant buttoned the collar of Edmund's shirt and unfolded the shirt forward at the neck. Then he released the boy by the hair and pulled his head forward, forcing him to lower his chin.
Before that, Edmund heard a familiar noise: whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. For a moment it did not occur to him what it might be, but then he understood. It was the sound of a knife being sharpened ".
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