Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
One which comes to mind is /raiz/ in English, which can be either "raise" or "raze".
Zompist's Markov generator wrote:it was labelled" orange marmalade," but that is unutterably hideous.
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
(Not so much homonyms here but...)
While it's a reconstructed 'lang, PIE has a few interesting ones such as *mel- "good" vs. *mel- "harm, argue, contend". If you stretch it to near homophones which are antonyms you get *mel- "good" vs. *melo- "bad" (itself apparently from *mel- "harm"). There's also *sed- "to sit down" vs. *sed- "to go" and *h1erh1- "quiet, at rest" vs. h1erh1- "row". There mentioned in The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World by Mallory and Adams.
While it's a reconstructed 'lang, PIE has a few interesting ones such as *mel- "good" vs. *mel- "harm, argue, contend". If you stretch it to near homophones which are antonyms you get *mel- "good" vs. *melo- "bad" (itself apparently from *mel- "harm"). There's also *sed- "to sit down" vs. *sed- "to go" and *h1erh1- "quiet, at rest" vs. h1erh1- "row". There mentioned in The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World by Mallory and Adams.
You can tell the same lie a thousand times,
But it never gets any more true,
So close your eyes once more and once more believe
That they all still believe in you.
Just one time.
But it never gets any more true,
So close your eyes once more and once more believe
That they all still believe in you.
Just one time.
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
/reɪz/, not /raɪz/ (which is 'rise')Marion Blancard wrote:One which comes to mind is /raiz/ in English, which can be either "raise" or "raze".
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
Oops! There's a spelling pronuncation for you.finlay wrote:/reɪz/, not /raɪz/ (which is 'rise')Marion Blancard wrote:One which comes to mind is /raiz/ in English, which can be either "raise" or "raze".
Zompist's Markov generator wrote:it was labelled" orange marmalade," but that is unutterably hideous.
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
Iirc, the Thai words for "hit" and "miss" (as in a target, used e.g. when playing darts or the like) only differ in tone.
JAL
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Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
Oh god, Mandarin is full of these. Well, maybe not full, but I can think of at least two off the top of my head:jal wrote:Iirc, the Thai words for "hit" and "miss" (as in a target, used e.g. when playing darts or the like) only differ in tone.
JAL
买,卖 (mai4, mai3), meaning 'sell' and 'buy' respectively.
那,哪 (na4, na3), meaning 'there' and 'where' respectively.
The buy/sell example reminds me of German kaufen/verkaufen for buy/sell.
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
Same as in Dutch, "kopen" vs. "verkopen", but I wouldn't call that good examples, because then English "probable"/"improbable" etc. would also count.Chibi wrote:The buy/sell example reminds me of German kaufen/verkaufen for buy/sell.
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Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
All the hypo-/hyper- pairs. I imagine that's especially bad in non-rhotic dialects.
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
You have to get around it by saying /ˌhaiˌpou-/ rather than /ˌhaipə-/ for the first one.
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
I'm not sure if they are the same case, because ver- doesn't really have a definitive meaning in German (maybe it's different in Dutch). The prefix meaning "un-," "dis-," "in-" etc. in German verbs is usually ent-...but there is no word *entkaufen.jal wrote:Same as in Dutch, "kopen" vs. "verkopen", but I wouldn't call that good examples, because then English "probable"/"improbable" etc. would also count.Chibi wrote:The buy/sell example reminds me of German kaufen/verkaufen for buy/sell.
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However, I'll agree that they aren't so fit for lists of near-homophones because they are pretty distinct. I was just reminded of how they both have the same "kaufen" root.
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
In what dialect would /ˌhaipə-/ ever be an acceptable pronunciation for "hypo?" Would people really say "hyp-uh-alergenic?"finlay wrote:You have to get around it by saying /ˌhaiˌpou-/ rather than /ˌhaipə-/ for the first one.
[quote="Nortaneous"]Is South Africa better off now than it was a few decades ago?[/quote]
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
Uh, no. But it'd be acceptable in "hypoglycaemic", for example.
Oh, one near homonym that annoys me is illegal/legal, because so many people pronounce 'illegal' with a barely-audible /ɪ/ which is more of a syllabic lengthening of the /l/. Something like [l̩ːiːgəl] (ignoring other allophony of /l/). I often have to turn around and ask (or be asked) "[ˈɪl.liːgəl] or [ˈliːgəl]?"
Oh, one near homonym that annoys me is illegal/legal, because so many people pronounce 'illegal' with a barely-audible /ɪ/ which is more of a syllabic lengthening of the /l/. Something like [l̩ːiːgəl] (ignoring other allophony of /l/). I often have to turn around and ask (or be asked) "[ˈɪl.liːgəl] or [ˈliːgəl]?"
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
"can" and "can't", since the [t] often disappears. Even in careful speech they can be difficult to discern.
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
Argh, I hate this, because in my own accent I usually have [kan] and [kanʔ], and I don't have much way around it other than to repeatedly ask "did you just say [kan] or [kantʼ]?" – some other scottish folk have the form 'cannae' (something like [kani] or [kane]) instead of 'can't', and most english folk have [kɑːnt] for 'can't'...Terra wrote:"can" and "can't", since the [t] often disappears. Even in careful speech they can be difficult to discern.
(the other big clue is that, crossdialectally, 'can' is often unstressed [kən] and 'can't' is always stressed, but if you want to put emphasis on 'can', it screws up)
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
The only one in Swedish I can think of is gift which means both poison/merry
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Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
With legal/illegal and can/can't, I think a good way to discern them is to lengthen them into separate words: "Did you mean legal or not legal?" And the same with "can not".
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
Hm, it's got a variety of meanings in fact, yeah: http://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/ver-. I think in the case of verkaufen it's hardly reversible or irreversible change of state, as in their 4th example, rather than:Chibi wrote:I'm not sure if they are the same case, because ver- doesn't really have a definitive meaning in German
*Entkaufen could indeed be literally translated as *disbuy or *debuy, but to me that doesn't make much sense in English either,The prefix meaning "un-," "dis-," "in-" etc. in German verbs is usually ent-...but there is no word *entkaufen.
DISCLAIMER: I have not checked this with textbooks or other academic research; instead this statement is based on intuition alone, which I'm aware is very uninformed, imprecise and unscholarly, therefore void.
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
You mean homophones, right? Also, obligatorily we have to talk about "inflammable". I know that "inflammable" = nonflammable is technically not a real thing, but it looks pretty damn real.
It's (broadly) [faɪ.ˈjuw.lɛ]
#define FEMALE
ConlangDictionary 0.3 3/15/14 (ZBB thread)
Quis vult in terra stare,
Cum possit volitare?
#define FEMALE
ConlangDictionary 0.3 3/15/14 (ZBB thread)
Quis vult in terra stare,
Cum possit volitare?
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
Shrdlu wrote:The only one in Swedish I can think of is gift which means both poison/merrymarried
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
Tackar, men kommer du på några fler för här har det tvärdött?
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Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
This is why phonemic {-tensing dialects are superiorTerra wrote:"can" and "can't", since the [t] often disappears. Even in careful speech they can be difficult to discern.
[k{n] vs. [ke@n?] are very different from each other. "can" is frequently reduced to [kn=] imd, though.
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
Yeah, what I meant was that there is no single meaning of ver-, rather than a prefix like ent-, which universally means undoing something, or zer- which means destroying something.Guitarplayer wrote:Hm, it's got a variety of meanings in fact, yeah: http://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/ver-. I think in the case of verkaufen it's hardly reversible or irreversible change of state, as in their 4th example, rather than:Chibi wrote:I'm not sure if they are the same case, because ver- doesn't really have a definitive meaning in German
*Entkaufen could indeed be literally translated as *disbuy or *debuy, but to me that doesn't make much sense in English either,The prefix meaning "un-," "dis-," "in-" etc. in German verbs is usually ent-...but there is no word *entkaufen.because nothing is undone, severed or taken back by the act of buying, which seem to be the meanings of dis- and de- respectively, at least in some words I can think of. *Entkaufen would involve a reversal or a detachment of or by the action of buying I think.
DISCLAIMER: I have not checked this with textbooks or other academic research; instead this statement is based on intuition alone, which I'm aware is very uninformed, imprecise and unscholarly, therefore void.
And yeah, I knew the ent- prefix was somewhat productive (I remember hearing the German version of a Wicked song, where the Wicked Witch of the West says entgrünifizieren with reference to making her skin normal colored rather than green)
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
infamous El Guapo
in famous El Guapo
in famous El Guapo
[quote="Nortaneous"]Is South Africa better off now than it was a few decades ago?[/quote]
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
not homonyms or even syntactically confusablebrandrinn wrote:infamous El Guapo
in famous El Guapo
كان يا ما كان / يا صمت العشية / قمري هاجر في الصبح بعيدا / في العيون العسلية
tà yi póbo tsùtsùr ciivà dè!
short texts in Cuhbi
Risha Cuhbi grammar
tà yi póbo tsùtsùr ciivà dè!
short texts in Cuhbi
Risha Cuhbi grammar
Re: Homonyms which are nearly antonyms
Would "affect" vs "effect" count?