Definition
A paradigmatic lexical relation is a culturally determined pattern of association between lexical units that
- share one or more core semantic components
- belong to the same lexical category
- fill the same syntactic position in a syntactic construction, and
- have the same semantic function.
Examples
Here is a table showing some common paradigmatic lexical relations in English with example sets and underlying structure:
|
Lexical relation |
Example set |
Underlying structure |
|---|---|---|
|
Synonym |
A "happy" synonym set: {happy, joyful, glad} |
|
|
Scalar property |
A temperature set: {cold, cool, lukewarm, warm, hot} |
|
|
Opposite |
A social relation set: {(student, teacher), (patient, doctor)} |
|
|
Generic-specific |
Animal
|
Kinds
More specific concepts within paradigmatic lexical relation.