A Comparative Study of Antisense Homonymous Compound Words in Chinese and Korean Languages

Antisense compounds are a common form of word formation in both Chinese and Korean languages. This study investigates 205 pairs of Chinese and Korean antisense homonymous compound words. From the perspective of the internal structure of words, these compounds mainly consist of nominal morphemes, verbal morphemes, and descriptive morphemes. The semantics of antisense compound words primarily involve five semantic types: space, relation, time, movement, and attribute. There is a correspondence between the parts of speech of the constituent morphemes of antisense compound words and their meanings. For example, those composed of nominal morphemes mainly express relations, space, and time; those composed with verbal morphemes express movement; while those formed by adjective morphemes express attributes.There are many differences in morphology, meaning, and part-of-speech usage between Chinese and Korean antisense homonymous compound words. In terms of morphology, Chinese has fewer forms than Korean but possesses strong lexical expansion ability. Regarding semantic meaning, there is inconsistency in the semantic range between Chinese and Korean antisense homonymous compound words. In terms of parts-of-speech usage for antisense compounds formed by verbs or adjectives in both languages show certain corresponding relations despite differences.