Abstract:
The article focuses on the subject of the lexical relations between two words that conventionally are conceived as opposites because of the way of derivation of the negative from the positive one. As it turns out however, the unmarked member of the opposition in question прокопсаник „ rotter, scapegrace“ codes more negative meaning compared to the marked one непрокопсаник „good-for-nothing“. An explanation of this peculiar case is provided in terms of the development of ambivalent meaning for the formally unmarked member that makes from it something worse than the straight negative example coded by the marked one.
