Meronymy

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Meronymy (loan word from Greek: μέρος méros (i.e. part ) + -nymie) is a term from linguistics and denotes a part-whole relationship. It also plays a role in computer science and is the subject of philosophical consideration.

Meronym is to be distinguished from the more colloquial term " partial term ".

Linguistics

Meronymy (also: part-whole relationship ) is a paradigmatic “hierarchical” semantic relation between lexemes (words, concepts), which is based on the fact that a lexeme describes something that is part of another (“whole”), that of called another lexeme. A lexeme is thus in the relationship of meronymy to another lexeme ( is meronym ) if its referent is part of the referent of the other lexeme.

Synonym is also called a partitive relation or a part-of relationship .

The inversion of this relation is called holonymy

Instead of meronymy, the part-whole relationship is often used in German . More precisely, this is a generic term for both meronymy and converse holonymy.

The lexeme (the word) that designates the object that is part is called meronym (also: partonym), the lexeme of the whole holonym (also: parteronym).

Examples:

  • Finger is meronym by hand . Hand is holonym of finger .
  • Hubcap > car wheel > car body > Car
  • Doorknob > door > house (?> Settlement> district> city ...)

The part-whole relationship depends on the relationship of hyponymy or hyperonymy , i.e. H. to distinguish from the relationship of a sub-term to a generic term.

In contrast to hyponymy , meronymy can rarely skip a step:

  • ? The house has a handle.

In some cases it is generally assumed that meronymy linguistically requires an "immediacy of the relation". For this reason, the following example becomes "questionable":

  • The wheel nut is part of the car

Due to the requirement of immediacy, meronymy is not identical with real part-whole relationships and is a “linguistically relevant phenomenon”.

In the meronymy relationship, part-whole relationships of the physical world are in the foreground. In GermaNet , the part-whole relationship is “only coded for nouns” and part-whole relationships are only recorded in Konkreta .

A further example would then be:

A meronymy is also assumed for verbs; So there is not only a spatial but also a temporal inclusion.

  • Example: bloom - bloom ; run off - run .

In detail, however, it is questionable whether there is really an inclusion relationship or just a temporal overlap.

Computer science

In computer science, the term meronymy is referred to as aggregation and used as a modeling term for knowledge and database applications.

philosophy

In philosophy, mereology is the subject of investigation .

literature

  • Volker Harm: Introduction to Lexicology. WBG, Darmstadt 2015 (Introduction to German Studies), ISBN 978-3-534-26384-4 , pp. 73-75.
  • Helmut Glück (Ed.), With the collaboration of Friederike Schmöe : Metzler Lexikon Sprache. 3rd, revised edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2005, ISBN 3-476-02056-8 (article: “Meronymie”).
  • Mereology, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2009)

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Meronym  - explanations of meanings, word origins , synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ after Stein, Achim: Introduction to French Linguistics. 3rd edition - Metzler, Stuttgart, Weimar 2010, p. 78
  2. ↑ Volker Harm: Introduction to Lexicology. WBG, Darmstadt 2015 (Introduction to German Studies), ISBN 978-3-534-26384-4 , p. 74 with reference to Cruse 2002: 545
  3. ↑ Volker Harm: Introduction to Lexicology. WBG, Darmstadt 2015 (Introduction to German Studies), ISBN 978-3-534-26384-4 , p. 74
  4. ↑ Volker Harm: Introduction to Lexicology. WBG, Darmstadt 2015 (Introduction to German Studies), ISBN 978-3-534-26384-4 , p. 74
  5. ↑ Kunze, Claudia: Semantic Relationtypen in GermaNet - In: Langer / Schnorbusch (ed.): Semantik im Lexikon - Tübingen: Narr, 2005, p. 161 (166)
  6. ↑ Volker Harm: Introduction to Lexicology. WBG, Darmstadt 2015 (introduction to German studies), ISBN 978-3-534-26384-4 , p. 75 with additional information on Cruse, Lutzeier u. a.
  7. ↑ Volker Harm: Introduction to Lexicology. WBG, Darmstadt 2015 (Introduction to German Studies), ISBN 978-3-534-26384-4 , p. 75
  8. ↑ Volker Harm: Introduction to Lexicology. WBG, Darmstadt 2015 (Introduction to German Studies), ISBN 978-3-534-26384-4 , p. 75