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(3) b) The same opposition is found in many pairs of lexical items: these pairs establish a correlation in the lexicon, just as there are correlations in the phonological system:

(i) SEX MAŁE : FEMALE

tom-cat tabby-cat jack-ass jenny-ass usher usherette

(4)    c) Like phonological oppositions, semantic oppositions ma by neutralized, with the unmarked, extended term covering the semantic space named by the opposition. Here are a ger examples where the opposition is neutralized.

Man (human) man woman

OLD (age ) old young

(i)    a) Ali en are bom equal.

b) Ali men dislike women's tears.

(ii)    a) "How old is the baby?" "Two years old."

b) He didn't consider himself old, even if he was past his prime.

.(5) d) Lexical semantics adopts the communication (interchange/ replacement) test to investigate lexical paradigms (subsystems of the vocabulary) uncovering the relevant semantic component features in term of which the units of the system are opposed.

The application of the commutation test makes the identification of the distinctive features of a paradigm possible.

For example, the terms on the left in (6) are opposed to those on the right - in terms of the feature [+/- CO-LINEAL] ( w linii prostej)

(6)    [-CO-LINEAL] [ + CO-LINEAL]

My uncle    my father

My aunt    my mother

(7)    [-APPROXIMATION] [+APPROXIMATION]

Blue    bluish

Red    reddish

Young    youngish

Replacement of one form by another is semantically equivalent with substituting one semantic feature by another.

Similarly the feature [+/- APPROXIMATION] is relevant for the correlation in (7):

Thus the terms blue/bluish are invariants of the lexical system standing in a relation of commutation (interchange). On the other hand, pairs like the ones below are variants.