The opposition relations in the system of english phrasal verbs

DOI 10.51955/2312-1327_2022_3_167

Svetlana Yu. Bogdanova

Ayana B. Chimitova

Abstract. The article deals with the types of opposition relations which exist in the system of English phrasal verbs, and the characteristic features of the oppositions of deadjectival phrasal verbs, such as black out, are analyzed in detail. The difficulties of the description of such opposition relations are caused by the complicated semantic structure of phrasal verbs, consisting of two elements, where each of the elements is a word. Phrasal verbs can have direct, rethought and idiomatic meanings. The joint rethought meaning of the analytical linguistic unit can be formed with the help of a verbal component, a particle, or the whole phrasal verb can be rethought. In the antonymic pairs of the phrasal verbs with the direct or rethought meanings either verbs or spatial particles can make oppositions. The antonymic relations of phrasal verbs with idiomatic meanings do not follow any rules. The example of deadjectival phrasal verbs with the verbal components black, white, light demonstrates the development of meanings of phrasal verbs and the way in which they form antonymic pairs. It is shown that phrasal verbs, formed from the adjectives denoting color, in certain meanings can be treated as antonyms due to their verbal components, while their particles do not usually form oppositions.

Keywords: Phrasal verb, particle, spatial relations, deadjectival verb, opposition relations.

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