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which on closer inspection reveal conceptual differences Gaims and Redman; 1998:15. In other words, synonym refers to a word having the same
or nearly the same meaning as another word. For example:
a kid = child
b big = large
c flat = apartment
2 Antonym
Antonym can be defined as lexemes which are opposite in meaning Crystal, 1999:1655. It refers to relation of oppositeness of meaning.
For example: a
alive dead b
female male c
polite impolite
3 Hyponym
Hyponym is less familiar term to most people than either synonym or antonym, but it refers to a much more important sense relation Crystal,
1999:165. For example:
a Vehicle: bus, car, motorcycle.
b Flower: rose, jasmine, lily.
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c. Word Building
Gaims and Redman 1998:47 state that there are three main forms of word building which characterize English, namely:
1 Affixation
Affixation is the process of adding prefixes and suffixes to the base item; in this way items can be modified in meaning and or changed from one part
of speech to another. Based on the types of constructions they form, there are word which is formed by derivation and word which formed by inflection.
2 Words formed by derivation
Derivation is the construction of word which is result in the change of word class or the meaning of the stem. There are two derivational, suffixes
and prefixes. Derivational suffixes are syllables or group of syllables such as - ion, -able,-less. that are joined to the end of the word or morpheme to change
its meaning. Example: powerless, understandable. Derivational prefix is a syllable or group syllables such as un-, im-, mis-,
dis-, and pre-, which is joined to the beginning of a word or morpheme to change its meaning. Example: impatient, disappeared, unemployment,
misunderstanding. 3
Words formed by inflection Inflection is the construction of words which does not result the change of
word class. There are four kinds of inflection: a
Plural forms, such as pen-pens, glass-glasses, child-children. b
Possession , such as Sarah’s bag, Pete’s car.
