High Expectations and Low Blows: Antonymy and Dynamic Meaning Construction

Authors

  • Katarina Rasulić

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18485/bells.2020.12.7

Keywords:

antonymy, semantic extension, dynamic meaning construction, cognitive linguistics

Abstract

This paper, set against the theoretical background of cognitive linguistics, explores the cognitive potential of the lexical-semantic relation of antonymy from the perspective of dynamic meaning construction. Ten pairs of English canonical antonyms (high/low, long/short, broad/narrow, deep/shallow, thick/thin, heavy/ light, hard/soft, large/small, fast/slow, hot/cold) are examined with respect to the ways in which the relation of meaning oppositeness holding between their members is dynamically activated under semantic extension, paradigmatically and syntagmatically, in semantically creative instances of use. The analysis highlights the following aspects of such dynamic meaning construction: (i) the availability of dormant antonym senses for context-induced activation (e.g. shallow trouble); (ii) the modifiability of idiomatic expressions through antonym substitution (e.g. The bigger they come, the harder they fall >The bigger they come, the softer they fall); (iii) the syntagmatic co-occurrence of antonyms whose extended senses belong to different conceptual domains (e.g. High hopes in low places). The theoretical considerations pertain to the cognitive entrenchment of antonymy as a powerful trigger of dynamic meaning construction.

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Published

2021-03-18

How to Cite

Rasulić, K. (2021). High Expectations and Low Blows: Antonymy and Dynamic Meaning Construction. Belgrade English Language and Literature Studies, 12(1), 137–161. https://doi.org/10.18485/bells.2020.12.7

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2020): BELLS - volume 12

Section

THEORETICAL AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS

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