Glossary:Interrogative Antonymy

Interrogative antonymy

Pronounciation

/ˌɪntəˈrɒɡətɪv ˈæntənɪmi/

General definition

Interrogative antonymy has a superficial resemblance to Coordinated Antonymy - as to the pattern in which it occurs - but has a different semantic role. In contrast to Coordinated Antonymy, the answer has to be one or the other antonym. In general, Interrogative Antonymy is closer related to Negated Antonymy.

General pattern

X or Y

Example

Is this the new Bill or the old Bill? Shall I turn it on or turn it off?

References

• Jones, Stephen; Murphy, M. Lynne (2005). Using corpora to investigate antonym acquisition. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 10:3. John Benjamin Publishing Company.
• Murphy, M. Lynne; Jones, Stephen (2008 November). Antonyms in children's and child-directed speech. First language 28 (4[87]).