Lexical Relation With A Scale Structure
Definition:
A lexical relation with a scale structure is a pattern of association between lexical units in a fixed order or progression. They represent successive values of some variable property.
Discussion:
A scale can be represented mathematically as
- {… -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3 …}
Examples:
(English)
Here are some examples of lexical relations with a scale structure in English arranged in decreasing order of discreteness:
Rank
- {private, corporal, sergeant, general}
- {Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2 …}
Hierarchy
- {county, state, country}
- {phoneme, word, sentence, discourse}
Numeric
- {one, two, three …}
- {first, second, third …}
- {single, double, triple …}
- {singleton, twins, triplets …}
Units of measurement
- {inch, foot, yard, mile}
- {millimeter, centimeter, meter, kilometer}
- {second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year, decade, century, millennium}
Calendar
- {Sunday, Monday, Tuesday … Saturday}
- {January, February, March … December}
Development
- {newborn, infant, toddler, child, adolescent, adult}
- {planning, design, implementation, production, evaluation}
Scalar properties
- {cold, cool, lukewarm, warm, hot}
- {minuscule, tiny, small, big, huge, gigantic}
- {slightly, moderately, fairly, very, extremely}
See Also:
This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library. Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003.