Converseness as a Relational Opposition

This article provides information about pairs of words – converses – that express mutually related inverse relations. A distinctive feature of converse words is that each of them necessarily presupposes the existence of its semantically reversed counterpart from the opposite perspective. The article discusses lexical and grammatical converses and substantiates the properties of symmetry, transitivity, and reflexivity associated with the phenomenon of converseness. It is demonstrated through examples that the discussion of converse relations among kinship terms is of particular interest for two reasons. The article also examines how gradable antonyms form mutually related oppositional relations.