SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF PARADOX AND THEIR RELATION TO READERS' INTERPRETATION

Presented is a detailed syntactic & semantic classification of paradoxical expressions, from a 303-entry database. Paradox occurs when two words or expressions are in semantic opposition. Questionnaires to university students (N = 130) determined that paradox could easily be interpreted in terms of a particular set of strategies. A complete list of the opposed terms of the syntactic paradoxical structure found in the database is provided, as are the 18 common semantic types & some unique examples. There are five syntactic relations prominent in many paradoxical expressions: the equative relation, head-on modifier relations, parallelism, coordination, & negation. Interpretive strategies with opposed terms of different categories are discussed. 52 References. J. Mayberry