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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=FR link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>Dear Ian Joo , dear all <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>To come back to Ian’s query, and after the interesting discussion on google, mathematics and computers, I’d like to recall that Abel’s book <i>Über den Gegensinn der Urworte</i> (Leipzig 1884, also cited in this online debate by Frans Plank), which was inspired by Bain’s theory (<i>Logic</i>, London, 1870) on the essential relativity of knowledge and the duality of all experience, offers various evidence in support of the claim that <b><i>very old </i></b> (i.e. not any) languages contain many words with two opposite meanings, i.e. kinds of <i>Janus bifrons</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> Freud was seduced by this notion, which seemed to provide valuable linguistic support for his theory of dreams as the expression of archaic and alogical thought. But a precise and detailed study (E. Benveniste’s « Remarques sur la fonction du langage dans la découverte freudienne », <i>La Psychanalyse</i>, 1956, 1, 3-16) has since shown that none of Abel’s arguments can withstand close scrutiny.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>However, many languages exhibit cases of enantiosemy,</span><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> i.e. co-presence of two opposite meanings</span><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>. In Classical Arabic, for example, we find </span><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>اصرد</span></i><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> ‘așrada</span></i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> « to reach one’s goal » or « to miss it », </span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>سخن</span><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> </span></i><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>ا</span><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> <i>‘așhana</i> « to sheathe » or « to unsheath », </span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>تاثم </span><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> ta’aθθama</span></i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> « to sin » or « to abstain from sin ». In Amharic, we have <i>sababbara</i> « to break into pieces » or « to break slightly ». </span><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>We often find also, rather than <i>enantiosemy</i>, the including of two meanings under one global heading. Languages are able to subsume multiples under extensible classifications, whose very vagueness allows them to better capture reality while contributing to the dynamic of vocabularies. Classical Arabic is known to contain a number of words that express a relation, however asymmetrical, betwwen two terms : thus, </span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>باع </span><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>b</span></i><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>āˁ</span></i><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>a</span></i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> once had the meaning « buy » as well as « sell », thus designating, actually, the operation of exchange, without expressing its asymmetry. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>Classical Arabic possesses other neutral words, found in ancient poetry, whose double value is often assumed by translators to be a contradiction : ex. </span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>تخانف</span><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> tah</span></i><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>ā</span></i><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>nafa</span></i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> « to be disturbed by a powerful movement of the soul », whence, depending on the context, either « burst into tears » or « burst into laughter », </span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>تغشمر</span><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> taġašmara</span></i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> « to act according to one’s own judgment », whence, depending on the context, « to be just » or « to be unjust ». </span><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>Similarly, prepositions, postpositions, etc. often express the relation itself, which explains their use in apparently contradictory contexts, like French <i>la passion qu’elle éprouve envers lui</i> (« the passion she feels toward him ») / <i>la répulsion qu’elle éprouve envers lui </i>(« the repulsion she feels toward him »).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> </span><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> In all of these cases, what we observe is the ordering of opposing elements under the heading of their common features. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:18.0pt'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>This can also be illustrated with examples from resultative verbs in (Mandarin) Chinese. Thus </span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:SimSun'>开</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:16.0pt'> </span><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>kāi</span></i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>, meaning « to open » when used independently, can take two opposite meanings when combined with a preceding verb in a resultative verb group, i.e. either </span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:SimSun'>分</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:16.0pt'> </span><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>fēn</span></i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> « to divide » as in (1) below, or </span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:SimSun'>化</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:16.0pt'> </span><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>huà</span></i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> « to fuse » as in (2) : <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>(1)<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"MS Gothic"'>是什么原因使</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:SimSun'>这对恋人<b><i>分开</i></b>了</span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:SimSun'> </span><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>?</span><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> (<i>shì shénme yuányīn shǐ zhèi duì liànrén fēn-kāi le</i> ?) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>« for what reason has this couple separated ? » /<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>(2)<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> </span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:SimSun'>糖在水里<b><i>化开</i></b>了</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:16.0pt'> </span><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoListParagraph><i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>(táng zài shuǐ li huà-kāi le)</span></i><span style='font-size:16.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>« the sugar has melted in water ».<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>All the best<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>Claude<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span style='font-size:16.0pt'>(Claude Hagège, Collège de France, Chaire de Théorie Linguistique, Paris)<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br /> <table style="border-top: 1px solid #D3D4DE;">
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