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Hyponymy
¢¢¢ Definition
6.5
Hyponymy
Hyponymy
deals with the relationship of semantic
inclusion. That is, the meaning of a more specific word
is included in that of another more general word. These specific words
are known as hyponyms.
For instance, tulip and rose are hyponyms of flower,
and lion and elephant are hyponyms of animal. The
general words flower and animal are the superordinate
terms and the more specific ones tulip, rose, lion,
elephant are the subordinate
terms. Hyponymous sets also include things like hammer,
saw, screwdriver, spanner, etc. under the general word tool; plaice,
cod, herring, sole, etc under fish. Compare:
General
specific
superordinate
subordinate
hyperonym
hyponym
flower
rose,
plum, chrysanthemum
animal
cow,
horse, sheep, tiger
matter
solid,
gas, liquid
Hyponymy
can be described in terms of tree-like graphs, with higher-order superordinates
above the lower subordinates. But their status either as superordinate
or subordinate is relative to other terms. For example, horse, dog,
pig are subordinates in relation to animal, but superordinates
of mare, hound and boar. Animal itself becomes a
subordinate of creature. And creature in turn becomes a
subordinate of living things. It would seem reasonable that the
whole of the vocabulary could be organized in this way:
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Use
The
sense relation of hyponymy is very helpful in both receptive and productive
processing of language. In reading comprehension, coherence by hyponymy
is an important key:
[39] There was a fine
rocking-chair that his father used to sit in, a desk where
he wrote letters, a nest of small
tables and a dark, imposing bookcase. Now all this furniture
was to be sold, and with it his own
past.
In
this piece of discourse, the writer uses a set of hyponyms under furniture,
which gives the writing coherence and provides the key to understanding
the text. Of course, in some cases, the superordinate is not necessarily
an immediate superordinate in the family tree of a particular word; it
can be a general word. Instead of furniture there could have been
items, objects, things, which are examples of general superordinates.
In production, knowing the semantic features of the hyponyms and their
superordinates can help us achieve vividness, exactness, and concreteness.
Consider the following two pairs of sentences:
[40a] Trees surround the water near our summer place.
[40b] Old elms surround the lake near our summer cabin.
[41a] I met a writer
who is the relation of a politician.
[41b] I met a newspaper reporter who is the brother of Senator
Buckley.
It is not too difficult to judge that in each pair sentence [b] is better
than sentence [a], because in [b] the writer uses subordinates, which
are concrete and precise, presenting a vivid verbal picture before the
reader whereas in [a] the words used are superordinates, which convey
only a general and vague idea.
However,
this does not mean that hyponyms are better than superordinates. In actual
writing no one can confine himself to the mere use of subordinates. A
good piece of writing often needs both superordinates and subordinates
working mutually to achieve the desired effect.
Comment
and improve:
It
is said that a magnificent building was destroyed yesterday.
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