Introduction
The sense of an expression is the relation between the expression (a word, a phrase or a lexeme) with its referent. In other words, the sense is the relation between form and meaning. In practice, the semantic relationships may be divided into two: the relations between form and meaning and the relations between two meanings. These relations result in synonymy (more than one form having the same meaning), polysemy or homonymy (the same form having more than one meaning), and hyponymy (the inclusion of one meaning in another meaning) (Leech, 1981: 94). Also, Lyons (1977: 270) claims that the oppositeness is in some way present in the mind of the speaker and hearer during an act of utterance, which brings forward the notion of antonymy.
Kinds of Sense Relations
There are several kinds of sense relations as a result of the semantic relatedness between the form and meaning and between two meanings which will be discussed in the following.
1. Synonymy
This kind of sense relation means “word of the same meaning” (Leech, 1981: 92). Synonymy is a condition in which two lexemes or words have “more or less” the same lexical meaning (Subroto, 1992: 1). This condition results from the contiguity or sameness in meanings between two lexemes or words. One way to check if the two words are synonymous is to exchange one to another in certain syntactical constructions. For example, in the sentence Apakah Anda sudah bayar SPP? the word sudah is synonymous to telah so the sentence becomes Apakah Anda telah bayar SPP? However, these words are not synonyms because they cannot be exchanged in many other morphological or syntactical constructions. For example: menyudahi but not menelahi (morphological construction); or in the sentence Dia mandi belum, makan sudah. but not in Dia mandi belum, makan telah. (syntactical construction)
Synonymy can happen in the level of bound morphemes, free morpheme or words, phrases, or sentences. Hurford and Heasley (1986: 101) gives extensive accounts and exercise on this sense relation which involve predicates and sentences only. However, in Indonesian language, synonymy may be found on different parts of speech (kelas kata): nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, numerical, prepositions, and conjunctions (Subroto, 1992: 6).
Other examples:
1. “Pemandangan di kampung itu bagus/baik/indah.”
2. “I am going to purchase/buy a new coat.”
2. Polysemy
This sense relation exists where there is a lexeme in one language which has more than one meaning. Lyons (1977: 235) mentions that it is difficult to differentiate when two or more meanings may be associated with homonymous lexemes in one language, but not in the other. By definition, polysemy is a kind of sense relation where a lexeme has more than one meaning. This condition results from the overlapping of information or meanings contained by a lexeme.
However, Leech (1981: 227) shows the difficulty or problem as to draw a line between polysemy and homonymy. The solution for students of semantics is that we recognize a case of polysemy if the senses concerned are related. Therefore, Hurford and Heasley (1986: 105) suggest that it is a case where a word has several very closely related senses.
There are several factors which contribute to the origin of polysemy ((Subroto, 1992: 16):
1. shift of application (e.g. Pemuda itu gagah. and Pesawat itu gagah.)
2. use for specific purpose or community (e.g. Polisi mengadakan operasi. as compared to Dokter melakukan operasi.)
3. use in metaphorical of figurative expressions (e.g. mata sapi)
4. influence of foreign language (e.g. kertas kerja)
Other examples:
1. “mouth” of a river and of an animal (clearly related by the concepts of an opening from the interior of something to the outside)
2. “found” means (1) establish, mendirikan, and (2) melt and pour into a mould, mencetak.
3. berjalan is polysemous to bergerak, hidup, berlangsung, berproses
3. Antonymy
This sense relation means “word of opposite meaning” (Leech, 1981: 92). Lyons (1977: 271) refers to this kind of relation as antonymy, i.e. the standard technical term for oppositeness of meaning between lexemes. This condition results from the oppositeness or contrast and complementation of meanings of two or more lexemes. Lyons (1997: 270-280) differentiates the oppositeness of meaning into three kinds: gradable antonyms, converseness and complementary antonyms.
A traditional view of antonymy is that it is simply “oppositeness of meaning”. This view is not adequate as words may be opposite in meaning in different ways but some words have no real opposites.
Lexical opposites are of several different kinds. They are gradable opposites and ungradable opposites. Gradable opposites involve the comparison of a property (usually denoted in an adjective) so as to find whether they have this property to the same degree or not. For example, the concept of “hot” has the gradation. A lexeme like “female” is, on the contrary, ungradable. So we have two pairs of opposites “hot” and “cold” and “female” and “male”, which have an important logical difference between them. Other kinds of oppositeness of meaning are binary antonyms or complementary antonyms. Binary antonyms are expressions which come in pairs and between them there are no relevant possibilities. If one term is applicable then the other can not be, and vice versa. True and false are binary antonyms. If a sentence is true, it cannot be false. If it is false, it cannot be true.
Examples:
1. Besar x kecil (gradable antonyms)
2. Suami x isteri (converse)
3. Laki-laki x perempuan (complementary)
4. Hyponymy
This meaning relation exists between two meanings if one componential formula contains all the features present in the other formula. (Leech, 1981: 92). This condition results from the inclusion of one meaning into another meaning. It is the inclusion of the more specific or subordinate term, the hyponym, into the more general or superordinate term which is called the hyperonym.
Hyponymy is a sense relation between two expressions or more such that the meaning of one expression is included in the meaning of the other (Hurford and Heasley, 1986: 105). Usually, the hyponym has a more specific feature/property than the hyperonym.
If synonymy is bilateral, or symmetrical, or special hyponymy in the sense that “if x is a hyponym of y” then “y is also a hyponym of x”, then in this sense, hyponymy is a unilateral or asymmetrical relation.
Examples:
1. sedulur: kakang; mbakyu; adhi
In the above example, the word sedulur has semantic properties:
(a) animate
(b) human being
(c) familial relation
(d) born to the same mother
(e) older than the speaker (specific property of the hyponym kakang)
2. emotion: love; fear; anger; happiness; sadness etc.
5. Homonymy
Under the discussion on forms, lexemes, and expressions, Lyons (1977: 21) mentions homonymy, that is, the condition where two words or lexemes have the same form, but differ in meaning. In this case or condition, a homonym is an ambiguous word having different senses which are far apart from each other and not obviously related to each other in any way (Hurford and Heasley, 1986: 123).
Examples:
1. “case”, means (1) legal problem, kasus, and (2) a kind of bag, koper.
2. “can”, means (1) be able to, bisa, and (2) a metal container, kaleng.
3. bisa, means (1) be able to, dapat, and (2) a venom, racun ular.
References:
Hurford, James R. and Heasley, Brendan. 1986. Semantic: a Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Leech, Geoffrey. 1981. Semantics: the Study of Meaning. Harmondsworth: The Chaucer Press.
Lyons, John. 1971. Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Subroto, D. Edi. 1992. Semantik Leksikal II. Surakarta: Universitas Sebelas Maret
