John Benjamins Publishing Company
Using web data to explore lexico-semantic relations
Abstract
This paper reports on web-as-corpus research that seeks to explain why some semantically opposed word pairs have special status as canonical antonyms (for example: cold-hot), while other pairs do not (icy-scorching, cold-fiery, freezing-hot, etc.). In particular, it reports on the findings of Jones, Paradis, Murphy and Willners (2007), and extends their retrieval procedure to include the previously overlooked ‘ancillary’ function of antonymy (Jones 2002). The primary assumptions are that a language’s most canonical ‘opposites’ can be reasonably expected to co-occur with highest fidelity in those constructions associated most closely with the key discourse functions of antonymy, and that, given their low frequency in language, an extremely large corpus is needed in order to identify such patterns of co-occurrence.
Abstract
This paper reports on web-as-corpus research that seeks to explain why some semantically opposed word pairs have special status as canonical antonyms (for example: cold-hot), while other pairs do not (icy-scorching, cold-fiery, freezing-hot, etc.). In particular, it reports on the findings of Jones, Paradis, Murphy and Willners (2007), and extends their retrieval procedure to include the previously overlooked ‘ancillary’ function of antonymy (Jones 2002). The primary assumptions are that a language’s most canonical ‘opposites’ can be reasonably expected to co-occur with highest fidelity in those constructions associated most closely with the key discourse functions of antonymy, and that, given their low frequency in language, an extremely large corpus is needed in order to identify such patterns of co-occurrence.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction 1
- Lexico-semantic relations in theory and practice 5
- Swedish opposites 15
- Using web data to explore lexico-semantic relations 49
- Synonyms in corpus texts 69
- Antonymy relations 95
- An empiricist’s view of the ontology of lexical-semantic relations 115
- The consistency of sense-related items in dictionaries 145
- Lexical-semantic and conceptual relations in GermaNet 163
- Index 185
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction 1
- Lexico-semantic relations in theory and practice 5
- Swedish opposites 15
- Using web data to explore lexico-semantic relations 49
- Synonyms in corpus texts 69
- Antonymy relations 95
- An empiricist’s view of the ontology of lexical-semantic relations 115
- The consistency of sense-related items in dictionaries 145
- Lexical-semantic and conceptual relations in GermaNet 163
- Index 185
