The Conceptual Basis of Antonymy and Synonymy in Adjectives

Four experiments investigated the nature of the lexical relations of synonymy and antonymy in adjectives. The experiments contrasted the hypothesis that these relations are a form of lexical association with the view that they have a conceptual basis. The results showed that the antonyms and synonyms provided to adjectives in isolation were often not the same as those provided to the same adjectives within a noun phrase. This effect of context is consistent with models of conceptual combination, but cannot be easily explained by lexical associations. Thus, the results support a conceptual basis of antonymy and synonymy. The specific responses given provide some insight into the process by which adjective and noun meanings are combined.