2.1.2 Coordainated antonymy

Another important function of antonymy lies in the fact that in a great number of contexts they create a sense of inclusivity or exhaust a particular semantic scale. In order to reach this effect a lot of lexico-semantic schemes ( frames) may be used:

11. Novels about theatre people, good or bad have one thing in common: they delight those who are fascinated by theatre; they bore those who are not.

In this example antonyms good and bad are used to represent more than simply two discrete points on semantic level: they rather denote the whole entirety [18, p.51]. The following are the examples introduced by Steven Jones [22, p.203]:

12. He took success and failure in his stride.

13. The chief constable purged the lot – the good with the bad.

All in all, it is evaluated that this type of antonym function occurs in approximately one third of all the contexts [18, p.52].

2.1.3 Minor discourse functions of antonymy

The minor functions of antonyms, according to Storjohann, include comparative, distinguished, transitional, negated, interrogative, idiomatic and extreme antonymy.

Comparative antonymy occurs when a particular concept is measured in terms of its position on the semantic scale. Here antonymy is resorted to in order to compare and to establish the sense of contrast:

14. This document contains more good than bad.

In distinguished antonymy the emphasis is put on the difference, that is held in a pair of words:

15. He persuaded his colleagues to rely more on their ability to distinguish between good and bad.

Transitional function of antonyms is set when a change from one antonym to another one is stated:

16. «I set out to find where these kids were getting the guns», Larson recalls. «So I looked for a story which showed how weapons were diverted from good guys to bad guys».

Negated antonyms may be used when you want to bolster one antonym by means of negating another one:

17. This was good, not bad news.

In case with interrogative antonymy a choice between two concepts is offered. This function of antonymy is in the first place a characteristic feature of spoken language. Such an interrogative framework offers the addressee the choice of two answers: either one stated antonym, or another one:

18. Tell me, is it good or bad?

Idiomatic antonymy’s function lies in the usage of antonymic pairs in numerous idiomatic expressions, and especially in proverbs and sayings:

19. That was simply a long, idiotic history of throwing good money after bad.

And finally, in extreme antonymy two end-points of a semantic scale are set up together as a contrast to the centre of a scale:

20. Many, the very good and the very bad, force or insinuate themselves into the imagination.

Collectively, the minor classes comprise approximately 20-25% of all the contexts with antonymic co-occurrence. And over 90 % of all the contexts with antonymy may be referred to either of these eight categories – ancillary, coordinated or minor classes. The remaining cases, according to Petra Storjohann, defy this classification for the reason that they are used in an inventive way, for example, in literature, and thus cannot be generalized about [18, p.53].