Литература по учебной дисциплине «Практика устной и письменной речи»

3. The basic notions of semantic relations
Closely connected sectors of vocabulary characterized by a common concept are termed semantic fields. For example, the semantic field of colour (blue, black, red, etc.), terms of kinship (mother, father, son,etc.). The basis of grouping is not only lingual, but also extralingual: the words are associated because the things they name are closely connected in reality. Words making up semantic fields cannot replace one another, they may belong to different parts of speech, but all of them are joined together by some common semantic component. E.g., in the semantic field of space there are nouns surface, expanse; verbs extend, spread; adjectives spacious, vast, etc.
Lexical groups of words belonging to the same part of speech and linked by a common concept are termed a lexico-semantic group (LSG). E.g., bread, cheese, milk, meat, make up a LSG with the concept of food.
The relationship existing between elements of a LSG and semantic fields is that of inclusion, or hyponymy. E.g., the meaning of car, bus, taxi is included in the meaning of vehicle. The hyponymic relationship may be viewed as the hierarchical relations between the meaning of the general and the individual terms. The general term vehicle is called a hyperonym; it serves to describe the lexico-semantic group, e.g. the LSG of vehicles. The individual terms car, bus, taxi are called hyponyms; they contain the meanings which distinguish them from each other. Or, for instance, animal is a generic term (hyperonym) as compared to the specific names (hyponyms) wolf, dog or mouse. The latter are also called equonyms; an equonym ia a name well suited to a person, place, thing, etc. so named. Dog, in its turn, may serve as a generic term (hyperonym) for different breeds such as bull-dog, collie, poodle, etc.
The criterion of semantic similarity and semantic contrasts subdivided lexical units into synonyms and antonyms, respectively. Synonyms and antonyms are language universals because they exist in all Indo-European languages.