scholarly journals On Semantic Patterns of “Kill–Verbs” in Modern English

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2 (11)) ◽  
pp. 51-61
Author(s):  
Robert Khachatryan
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
National Corpus ◽  
The Way ◽  
Causative Verbs

The article aims to reveal the semantic structures of the causative verbs in modern English, particularly with reference to the characteristics of the verbs meaning “to kill” and the way of expressing the main meaning of “to cause to die”. More precisely, the present article highlights the semantic features of these verbs that condition their causative nature. The article focuses on the investigation of only those verbs meaning “to cause to die” that are more frequent in speech, particularly the verbs to kill, to murder, to assassinate, to execute and to massacre. The linguistic data are borrowed from the British National Corpus.

scholarly journals What may words say, or what may words not say. A corpus-based approach to linguistic action

2005 ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Monserrat Martínez Vázquez
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Approach ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Reliable Information ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Communicative Process ◽  
Linguistic Action ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
National Corpus ◽  
The Way

In this paper I present an empirical approach to the analysis of the way English speakers conceptualize the communicative process in English. Most linguistic expressions about language in English are surface manifestations of what Reddy termed the "conduit metaphor". Reddy's model implies several interrelated cognitive associations: words are conceived as containers in which speakers introduce their ideas and send them to listeners, who will take these ideas out of these containers. Central to this model is the metaphor words are containers. It has also been claimed that there are other ways of perspectivizing the language process apart from the notion of containment (Vanparys 1995). In fact, Reddy himself notes that there is approximately a 30% of metalanguage not based on the conduit metaphor. The pervasiveness of the container metaphor would reasonably be most directly tested in expressions with the lexeme word. In order to measure what falls inside and outside these containers I carry out a corpus analysis of the lexeme word excerpted from the British National Corpus (BNC). The systematic evidence obtained from a large but delimited corpus gives us more reliable information about the frequency and use of this metaphor than an intuition based analysis or an arbitrary search in multi-source corpora.

scholarly journals SEMANTICS OF THE CONSTRUCTIONS WITH SPLIT INFINITIVE

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (34) ◽  
Author(s):  
E.A FROLOVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
American English ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Exact Number ◽  
Expert Assessments ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Integral Feature ◽  
National Corpus

Objective of this article is to define the exact number of split infinitives and the most common splitters in the construction, identify groups of studied constructions united by an integral feature and to determine the semantic features of constructions with a split infinitive. Applied methods. For the purpose of this research language material is collected on the basis of the corpora of texts such as the British National Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English. The examples of the phenomenon are selected to conduct a semantic experiment using the method of expert assessments, which will reveal the semantic features of constructions with a split infinitive. The informants (native speakers) are asked to grade the sentences with the reference to the norm of standard English and leave their personal comments on the use of split infinitive constructions. Results The acquired data is analyzed from the viewpoint of semantics. As a result of the research the semantic features of split infinitives are described and the difference in semantics of split and usual infinitives is established. Conclusion. The construction with a split infinitive in comparison with the usual infinitive introduces different information to the sentence. Putting an adverb directly before a verb allows to clarify the statement, gives a narrow focus and establishes a semantic connection with a specific verb.

I was sat there talking all night: a corpus-based study on factors governing intra-dialectal variation in British English

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 511-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
ULRIKE STANGE
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Standard Form ◽  
Age And Gender ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
British English ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
And Gender ◽  
National Corpus ◽  
Empirical Analyses

When it comes to intra-dialectal variation, the factors governing the choice between functionally equivalent variants still require an exhaustive analysis. The construction be sat/be stood with progressive meaning alternates with the standard form be sitting/be standing in a number of British English dialects. The present article investigates to what extent the Complexity Principle (see Rohdenburg 1996) and horror aequi (see Rohdenburg 2003) influence the choice between so-called pseudo-passive and progressive constructions. Empirical analyses of spoken data in the British National Corpus reveal that this variation phenomenon is common in dialects of Northern and Southwest England, and to a lesser degree in the Midlands and in London. Moreover, we find considerable differences in the distribution of these pseudo-passives regarding their relative frequency and the number of dialects that make use of them. Drawing on a total of 106 occurrences for the construction be stood vs be standing and 366 for be sat vs be sitting, the article evaluates how far the principles above can be considered as statistically significant determinants of intra-dialectal variation. To this end, it will be essential to test for other factors potentially influencing the choice of dialectal variants, such as age and gender.

scholarly journals INTRANSITIVE PHRASAL VERBS WITH PARTICLE 'THROUGH' IN BRITISH NATIONAL CORPUS

Lire Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-34
Author(s):  
Diana Anggraeni
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Phrasal Verbs ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
The Subject ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
National Corpus ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

The aim of this study is to describe the intransitive phrasal verbs with particlethrough used in the British National Corpus. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative method. Linguistic data sources were taken from the British National Corpus. The data containing the phrasal verbs with particle through, collected and then classified into several categories. The categories that are suitable for the purpose of the research are separated and labeled and then explained in a narrative according to the theory and research objectives. The results showed that the intransitive phrasal verbs with particle through in the British National Corpus consisted of two types, namely dynamic and stative intransitive phrasal verbs. Dynamic intransitive is a phrasal verbs with a particle through which indicates the existence of an activity or event carried out by the subject of the sentence. Dynamic intransitive phrasal verbs consist of phrasal verbs belonging to event verbs and activity verbs. Stative intransitive phrasal verbs are classified as existence verbs.

scholarly journals Different Approaches to Enantiosemy in English

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1 (21)) ◽  
pp. 51-65
Author(s):  
Hasmik Kajberuny ◽  
Tamara Hakobyan
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Semantic Structure ◽  
Special Cases ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
National Corpus

Our interest in this article is to investigate different approaches to enantiosemy in English. In the coverage of a variety of viewpoints introduced in the present article, reference is made to well-established traditional and most recent perspectives and approaches provided by both European and Russian scholars with the view of elucidating different principles of classification. The data for the analysis are extracted from different dictionaries and British National Corpus in order to find distinct motivated meanings between opposite senses in the semantic structure of enantiosemic words. The analysis of the data enables us to reveal some regularities of antonymic relations which make it possible to regard them as special cases of polysemy in English. For this reason we consider it crucial to disclose integral and differentiating semes, as well as different potential semes, which give rise to different associations.

Un Dieu sadique : le rôle de l’image blasphématoire de Dieu dans Dolce agonia de Nancy Huston

2013 ◽  
pp. 160-166
Author(s):  
Izabela Front
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Character Of God ◽  
Double Character ◽  
The Way

The present article seeks to analyze the way in which the blasphemous figure of God in Dolce agonia by Nancy Huston allows the author to describe the sacred element in human life, seen as deprived of transcendental character. This is possible thanks to the three aspects of the text dependent on the type of God’s figure, which are: the contrast between passages marked by the cynical God’s voice and passages focused on man’s life filled with suffering; the tone and the appropriation of time var-iations and, finally, the double character of God who, at the same time, is indifferent to man’s lot while touched by his capacity of love.

“That’s well good”: A Re-emergent Intensifier in Current British English

2020 ◽  
pp. 007542422097914
Author(s):  
Karin Aijmer
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
British English ◽  
Discourse Marker ◽  
Time Gap ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
Semantic Types ◽  
Over Time ◽  
National Corpus

Well has a long history and is found as an intensifier already in older English. It is argued that diachronically well has developed from its etymological meaning (‘in a good way’) on a cline of adverbialization to an intensifier and to a discourse marker. Well is replaced by other intensifiers in the fourteenth century but emerges in new uses in Present-Day English. The changes in frequency and use of the new intensifier are explored on the basis of a twenty-year time gap between the old British National Corpus (1994) and the new Spoken British National Corpus (2014). The results show that well increases in frequency over time and that it spreads to new semantic types of adjectives and participles, and is found above all in predicative structures with a copula. The emergence of a new well and its increase in frequency are also related to social factors such as the age, gender, and social class of the speakers, and the informal character of the conversation.

scholarly journals Inclusion, Contrast and Polysemy in Dictionaries: The Relationship between Theory, Language Use and Lexicographic Practice

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-340
Author(s):  
Anu Koskela
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Lexical Item ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
National Corpus

This paper explores the lexicographic representation of a type of polysemy that arises when the meaning of one lexical item can either include or contrast with the meaning of another, as in the case of dog/bitch, shoe/boot, finger/thumb and animal/bird. A survey of how such pairs are represented in monolingual English dictionaries showed that dictionaries mostly represent as explicitly polysemous those lexical items whose broader and narrower readings are more distinctive and clearly separable in definitional terms. They commonly only represented the broader readings for terms that are in fact frequently used in the narrower reading, as shown by data from the British National Corpus.  

A Corpora-Based Analysis of Rely on and Depend on

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-21
Author(s):  
Namkil Kang
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
American English ◽  
The Other ◽  
Information State ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
National Corpus

The ultimate goal of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of rely on and depend on in the Corpus of Contemporary American English and the British National Corpus. The COCA clearly shows that the expression rely on government is the most preferred by Americans, followed by rely on people, and rely on data. The COCA further indicates that the expression depend on slate is the most preferred by Americans, followed by depend on government, and depend on people. The BNC shows, on the other hand, that the expression rely on others is the most preferred by the British, followed by rely on people, and rely on friends. The BNC further indicates that depend on factors and depend on others are the most preferred by the British, followed by depend on age, and depend on food. Finally, in the COCA, the nouns government, luck, welfare, people, information, state, fossil, water, family, oil, food, and things are linked to both rely on and depend on, but many nouns are not still linked to both of them. On the other hand, in the BNC, only the nouns state, chance, government, and others are linked to both rely on and depend on, but many nouns are not still linked to both rely on and depend on. It can thus be inferred from this that rely on is slightly different from depend on in its use.

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