OPPOSITENESS: FEATURES – TYPES – CLASSES
OPPOSITENESS: FEATURES – TYPES – CLASSES

Summary/Abstract: One of the relationships semantic units enter is that of oppositeness, and although pretty much any user of language has a clear notion of what opposites are, it proves difficult once you try to categorize this broad field and describe it in more detail. This paper aims at giving an overview of the different types of opposites and group them according to their features. The categories used are: profile, base and domain as defined by J. R. Taylor. Additionally the feature of binarity is used as a core distinction for the different types of opositeness. Besides the basic distinction binary vs. non-binary two other aspects are considered: inherentness and patency. Based on these premisses the following types of opposites are described: antonyms, further divided into polar, equipollent and overlapping antonyms, complementaries, converses and reverses. The different types are presented starting from an example and then describing their features. Where necessary, comments have been added.

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