A Study Of English Gradable Antonyms

This dissertation is a study of the lexical-semantic relation of antonymy with its major focus on properties of gradable antonyms in English. Gradable antonyms are pairs of opposites with variable degrees in semantic strength. Syntactically, they can be modified by intensifiers like "very" and "too" and can be used in comparatives. They can be classified into different categories from different aspects. Semantically, one term of an antonymic pair is opposed to the other, with a fuzzy boundary. This quality, which is inherent to gradable antonyms, is referred to as committedness, and its reduction in semantic strength is termed as impartiality. Occurring in some gradable antonyms in the comparative, impartiality can be considered as an additional and conditional property. Semantically-defined impartiality is distinguished from pragmatically- defined unmarkedness in that the latter describes a neutralized state without any committedness.The use of gradable antonyms in the positive degree presupposes a comparison. The calibration for comparison is set by the nominal with which the antonym co-occurs. This implicit calibration bears the features of relativity, uncertainty, subjectivity and cultural variation. These variations can sometimes result in failure in interpersonal communication, especially in cross-cultural communication.More often than not, however, gradable antonyms are associated with comparative sentences, where, against the comparison domain introduced by "than", a comparison is overtly made by means of a gradable antonym in its comparative degree. In such sentences, the calibration and comparison domain converge semantically.Gradable antonyms can be viewed and explicated from the cognitive perspective. When people perceive a certain property, such as a state, sensation, the most effective and efficient way is to bisect this property and coin two words contrary in meaning to represent the sub-properties, each of which is positioned towards one end of the scale opposite the other with a gray middle ground in between. Hence, gradable antonyms came into being and are used frequently. The use of antonyms in the positive degree is motivated by the Economy Principle in language and an explicit comparison involving antonyms with a comparison domain is pragmatically motivated.It is obvious that, in comparatives, both terms of a polar antonymic pair and the positive term of an overlapping antonymic pair are impartial, while the negative termof an overlapping antonymic pair and both terms of an equipollent antonymic pair remain committed. This distribution of impartiality is not arbitrary but cognitively and pragmatically rule-governed. Polar antonyms represent the properties which can be evaluated objectively and calibrated in terms of everyday conventional measurements. The relative quantity of such properties is more important than their presence or absence. Thus, each term of the pair is allowed to cover the part of the scale usually denoted by the other. As the properties of equipollent antonyms are typically associated with sensations or emotions, our instincts tell us that they are concepts of great incompatibility. In use, each term of a pair is allowed to move only within the part of the scale denoted by the term in question in its positive degree. As a result, the two opposed terms do not overlap any part on the scale, even in the comparative. Overlapping antonyms denote subjective evaluation of a certain property, with one term commendatory and its counterpart derogatory. The use of these antonyms is colored by the entrenched optimistic attitude towards life, described by the Pollyanna Principle, which makes the positive term frequently used and widely distributed. Therefore, the positive one is semantically impartial in the comparative and pragmatically unmarked, while the negative stays committed and marked.The notion of markedness is useful in the analysis of gradable anonyms. The distribution of markedness in gradable antonyms has its logical, cognitive, evaluative, or pragmat...