Re: Two different opposites

From:    Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> wrote:
<<<<<
know <-> not know
know <-> unknow (forget)
do <-> not do
do <-> undo
This seems more like the three points of a triangle
than the two endpoints of a single spectrum.
Yet in
other cases these two different opposites really mean
about the same thing:
welcome <-> not welcome
welcome <-> unwelcome
happy <-> not happy
happy <-> unhappy
>>>>
Depends what reference you pick: If you pick the resultive state of a
process (knowing) then you can compare it to the ingressive dynamic state of
getting there (to learn) and its reverse dynamic state (forgetting).
However, if you pick a state of "knowing" outside any process (instinct?)
then you get the opposite state (to not know.) Same with awake/asleep,
closed/open (but "standing up" has no specific opposite: It could be
"sitting" as well as "lying down" or any other position.) That's why you can
have doublets with negative "not" and opposite un-.
These are examples of semantic polarity/scalar, reverses/opposite pairs.
There are other kinds of pairs whose units are relative: parent/child (and
why not fruit/plant), enemy/friend, up/down, horizontal/vertical, etc.
Semantics books give examples of all categories.
My conlang uses them all, including antonyms like "floor/ceiling". I also
use handy words like Indonesian "anak": kunci "a lock" > anak kunci "key",
bow/arrow, etc.