SEMANTIC OPPOSITION AND LEXICAL MEANING: EPISTEMOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON LANGUAGE AND KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

Semantic opposition is more than a lexical device; it is a fundamental epistemological strategy by which human beings differentiate, categorize, and structure knowledge. This paper explores how oppositional structures in language—such as binary antonyms (true/false, light/dark), scalar contrasts (hot/cold), and conceptual reversals (buy/sell)—function as cognitive tools for learning and conceptualizing the world. Drawing on the philosophical foundations of contrast in Western thought, particularly the ontological dualisms articulated by Plato and formalized in modern structural linguistics by Ferdinand de Saussure, the study demonstrates that linguistic meaning arises not from isolated reference but from systematic difference.