Difference between revisions of "Complementary"

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'''Complementary''' is a characteristic of pairs of lexical items that the denial of the one implies the assertion of the other and the assertion of the one implies the denial of the other.
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'''Complementary''' is a [[sense relation]] holding between any pair of predicates <''P'', ''Q''> that fulfills the following conditions: If a referent ''x'' has property ''P'', it cannot have property ''Q'', and if ''x'' does not have property ''P'', it has property ''Q'':
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:P &rarr; not Q<br>not P &rarr; Q
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Complementarity is a special case of [[incompatibility]].
  
 
===Examples===
 
===Examples===
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German [[Komplementarität]] Chinese [[互补性]]
 
German [[Komplementarität]] Chinese [[互补性]]
  
===Reference===
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===References===
{{: Lyons 1968}}
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* {{: Lyons 1968}}
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* Cruse, A. 2004. ''Meaning in Language. An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  
 
{{dc}}
 
{{dc}}
 
[[Category:Semantics]]
 
[[Category:Semantics]]

Revision as of 12:56, 23 May 2009

Complementary is a sense relation holding between any pair of predicates <P, Q> that fulfills the following conditions: If a referent x has property P, it cannot have property Q, and if x does not have property P, it has property Q:

P → not Q
not P → Q

Complementarity is a special case of incompatibility.

Examples

single: married, male: female

Other languages

German Komplementarität Chinese 互补性

References

  • Lyons, John. 1968. Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


  • Cruse, A. 2004. Meaning in Language. An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.