A4. Lexical Relations - Set of Pairs

✅ Summary: Lexical Relations – Set of Pairs (Lesson A4)

This lesson introduces lexical relations that use a “set of pairs” structure, the fourth major type of lexical relation alongside simple sets, scales, and tree structures.

🔹 Key Types of Set-of-Pairs Lexical Relations

1. Opposites (Antonyms)
   Pairs of words with opposite meanings:
   
   

   • Complementary: dead–alive, true–false
     
     

   • Gradable: hot–cold, long–short (allow degrees or neutral states)
     
     

   • Converses: give–receive, husband–wife
     
     

   • Antosemes: reciprocal kin terms (e.g., spouse: husband ↔ wife)
     
     

2. Individual–Group Relations
   Links individuals to collective groups:
   
   

   • lion → pride
     
     

   • sheep → flock
     
     

3. Syntagmatic Pairs
   Pairs with a fixed cultural or grammatical association:
   
   

   • actor–action: pilot–fly
     
     

   • action–object: kick–ball
     
     

   • location–object: bank–money
     
     

   • instrument–action: knife–carve
     
     

   • benefactor–benefactee: teacher–pupil
     
     

🔧 Working with Set of Pairs in FLEx

• Only antonyms are predefined in FLEx as "Sense Pair" relations.
  
  

• Other types (e.g., individual-group, syntagmatic) must be manually added via the Lists > Lexical Relations area.
  
  

• Activities guide learners through observing, inserting, and deleting antonym relations at the sense level.
  
  

🧠 Conceptual Frameworks

• Complementary antonyms: If not X, then Y (e.g., if not male, then female)
  
  

• Gradable antonyms: If not X, not necessarily Y (e.g., not hot ≠ cold)
  
  

• Converses: Relational direction or role reversal (e.g., buyer–seller)
  
  

• Antosemes: One form, two reciprocal senses (e.g., spouse = husband/wife)
  
  

📘 Resources & Activities

• Practice creating and observing antonym relations in the FLEx sample database.
  
  

• Exercise: Add a complementary antonym pair (e.g., mère–père).
  
  

• Activity: Provide examples of lexical pairings in a non-English language.
  
  

Supplementary readings include:

• Bartholomew & Schoenhals (2019)
  
  

• Coward & Grimes (2000)
  
  

• Roberts et al. (2014)
  
  

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