What are Semantic relations?
Words are not expressed in isolation, in other words, they establish a relationship with each other to enrich the language. In order to establish this relationship, it is necessary to meet different criteria. In this case, we are going to see what are the meaning relationships that are established between the different words. We can find the following relationships: Semantic relations with examples in English
- Antonymy
- Semantic field
- Homonymy
- Polysemy
- Synonymy
1-Antonymy
The semantic relationship of antonymy between the different words occurs when two or more of them present an opposite meaning. Here are some examples of this:
- Cold hot.
- Open close.
- Break: fix.
- Do: undo.
- Clean: dirty.
- Laugh cry.
- Remember: forget.
- Black White.
- High Low.
- Old: young.
- Near far.
- Up and down.
- Early afternoon.
- Reject: accept.
- Live, die.
- Active passive.
- Funny: boring.
- Sunny cloudy.
- Sleeping Awake.
- Sewing: unstitching.
- Lose weight: gain weight.
- Join: separate.
- Suitable: inappropriate.
- Perfect: imperfect.
- Plausible: implausible.
- Conscious: Unconscious.
2-Semantic field
We continue listing the different semantic relationships talking about the semantic field. This relationship occurs when two or more words that are different from each other are related through meaning. That is, they all belong to the same semantic field. These words must always be included in the same grammatical category. To better understand this explanation, it will be necessary to provide a series of examples, we are going to see them:
- Semantic field of means of transport : car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, bus, plane, ship, train, scooter … etc.
- Semantic field of the months of the year : January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.
- Semantic field of the seasons : spring, summer, autumn, winter.
- Semantic field of clothing : pants, coat, socks, shirt, skirt, dress, shoes, tie, jacket, blouse … etc.
- Semantic field of furniture : table, chair, sofa, wardrobe, bed, armchair, worktop, door … etc.
- Semantic field of computing : mouse, keyboard, computer, software, hardware, program, camera, microphone, speaker, screen … etc.
- Kitchen semantic field : casserole, spoon, refrigerator, dishwasher, spoon, fork, knife, napkin, glass, coasters, crockery, saucepan, frying pan, pot … etc.
- Semantic field of education : student, teacher, blackboard, book, pencil, backpack, case, eraser, notebook, folder, pencil sharpener, pen, marker, paint … etc.
3-Homonymy
This semantic relationship occurs when two words that have different meanings are pronounced in the same way. They occur when the words come from two different grammatical families . Let’s see some examples of homonymy placed in a sentence: Semantic relations with examples in English
- My mother came from work early.
- The couple at the back table have ordered wine for dinner.
- Cut along the dotted line.
- He came out of the coma after 2 months.
- You must know how to put the comma in this sentence.
- The company had a very high capital .
- They went on a trip to the capital to celebrate his birthday.
- They had a very romantic date .
- In his book he quotes his work on several occasions.
4-Polysemy
The polysemy is also one of the semantic relationships of language. And it occurs when the same word has different meanings being written in the same way. Let’s look at some examples:
- Saw (tool for cutting; mountain range).
- Bank (place where money is kept; set of fish; place to sit).
- Bridge (place to cross a river; dental structure; accumulation of vacation days).
- Cape (space of land that goes into the sea; military rank; rope)
- Pomegranate (explosive; fruit)
- Feather (writing element; part of the morphology of birds)
- Drum (musical instrument; washing machine part; ear drum)
- Tibia (leg bone; warm)
- Lima (tool used to smooth a surface and remove impurities; citrus fruit)
- Mole (mark on the skin; stamped on a fabric; referring to the moon)
- Cola (end part of an animal; glue, people waiting)
5-Synonymy
Synonymy is the phenomenon that occurs when two or more words that are different in terms of writing and pronunciation, but still have the same meaning . Let’s see some synonyms for words:
- Happy: happy, happy.
- Count: narrate, relate.
- Finish: finish, finish.
- Harmony: Calm, tranquility.
- Glasses: glasses.
- Bonito: beautiful, beautiful.
- Hair.
- Hiking path.
- Punish: punish, admonish.
- Understand.
- Destroy: break, eliminate, destroy.
- Room.
- Master teacher.
- Student: ward, student.
- Driver.
- Musician: performer.
- Strong: robust, stocky.
- Computer: laptop, PC.
- Pardon: sorry.
- Warn: warn.
- Award: award.
