Words and Phrases Corpus Studies of Lexical Semantics

by Stubbs, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780631208327
• ISBN10: 0631208321
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-10-08
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This book fills a gap in studies of meaning by providing detailed case studies of attested corpus data on the meanings of words and phrases. It places lexis and phraseology at the centre of semantics and pragmatics. Words and Phrases starts from traditional concepts of lexical semantics, including meaning as use, denotation and connotation, lexical field, sense relations, phraseology and collocation. It also uses innovative corpus data to explore these concepts with an exciting new technology. The main chapters are detailed case studies of words in collocations, words in texts and words in culture. Concluding chapters discuss the implications of corpus analysis for linguistic theory, especially lexico-grammar and theories of competence and performance.

Author Biography

Michael Stubbs is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Trier in Germany. He was Chair of BAAL (the British Association for Applied Linguistics) from 1988 to 1991. He has published widely on language in education, on text and discourse analysis, and on corpus linguistics. His previous books include Discourse Analysis (Blackwell 1983), Educational Linguistics (Blackwell 1986), and Text and Corpus Analysis (Blackwell 1996).

Table of Contents

Figures, Concordances and Tables	xi
Acknowledgements	xii
Data Conventions and Terminology	xiv
Notes on Corpus Data and Software	xvi
PART I Introduction	1	(54)
Words in Use: Introductory Examples	3	(21)
Text and Discourse: Some Distinctions	5	(1)
Language, Action, Knowledge and Situation	6	(1)
Words and Expectations	7	(1)
Language, Logic and Truth	8	(1)
Common-sense Knowledge	9	(2)
Linguistic Conventions	11	(2)
Possible and Actual	13	(6)
Example 1: the ambiguity of SURGERY	13	(1)
Example 2: the (non-)ambiguity of BANK	14	(2)
Example 3: the days of the week	16	(1)
Example 4: lonely hearts ads	17	(2)
Summary and Implications	19	(2)
Background and Further Reading	21	(1)
Topics for Further Study	22	(2)
Words, Phrases and Meanings: Basic Concepts	24	(31)
Terminology	24	(1)
Words: Word-forms and Lemmas	25	(4)
Example: the lemmas CONSUME and SEEK	27	(2)
Collocation	29	(1)
Words and Units of Meaning	30	(2)
Delexicalization	32	(2)
Denotation and Connotation	34	(1)
Relational Lexical Semantics	35	(4)
Semantic fields	35	(1)
Synonyms, antonyms and hyponyms	36	(3)
Frequent and Less Frequent Words	39	(4)
Content and function words: lexical density	39	(2)
Core vocabulary	41	(2)
Two Examples	43	(6)
Bloomfield's analysis of SALT	43	(2)
CAUSE problems and CAUSE amusement	45	(4)
Summary and Implications	49	(1)
Background and Further Reading	50	(1)
Topics for Further Study	51	(4)
PART II Case Studies	55	(140)
Words in Phrases 1: Concepts, Data and Methods	57	(23)
Background	57	(3)
Communicative Competence	60	(1)
Corpus Methods: Observing Patterns	61	(1)
Terminology	62	(4)
Corpus, Concordance, Data-base	66	(1)
The Cobuild Collocations Data-base on CD-ROM	67	(4)
The corpus	67	(2)
The data-base	69	(1)
Precision and recall	70	(1)
Data for Semantics and Pragmatics	71	(1)
Summary and Implications	72	(1)
Appendix 1: Measures of Statistical Significance	73	(2)
Appendix 2: Further Notes on the Data-base	75	(2)
Background and Further Reading	77	(1)
Topics for Further Study	78	(2)
Words in Phrases 2: A Case Study of the Phraseology of English	80	(20)
Frequency of Phraseological Units	80	(1)
Strength of Attraction: Word-forms, Lemmas and Lexical Sets	81	(3)
Lexical Profiles: Comprehensive Coverage of Data	84	(3)
Example 1: lexical profile for resemblance	85	(1)
Example 2: lexical profile for reckless	85	(1)
Example 3: lexical profile for backdrop	86	(1)
Example 4: lexical profile for doses	86	(1)
A Model of Extended Lexical Units	87	(9)
Example 5: lexical profile for UNDERGO	89	(6)
Example 6: lexical profile for chopped	95	(1)
Summary and Implications	96	(1)
Background and Further Reading	97	(1)
Topics for Further Study	97	(3)
Words in Texts 1: Words, Phrases and Text Cohesion	100	(23)
Words and Co-text	100	(1)
Routine and Creativity	101	(1)
Variable Phrases and Textual Cohesion	102	(1)
Antonyms and Synonyms	103	(2)
Discourse Prosodies	105	(3)
Lexical Cohesion: Textual Examples	108	(9)
Example 1: just large enough to see with the naked eye	108	(4)
Example 2: causing untold damage	112	(3)
Example 3: causing growing pains and undergoing a transition	115	(1)
Example 4: undergoing rapid star formation	115	(2)
Collocations and Coherence	117	(3)
Summary and Implications	120	(1)
Background and Further Reading	121	(1)
Topics for Further Study	122	(1)
Words in Texts 2: A Case Study of a Short Story	123	(22)
Public Data and Replicable Experiments	123	(1)
Lexis and Text Structure	124	(2)
Analysis 1: Frequency Statistics (Descending Frequency Order)	126	(3)
Frequency of function words: statistics	126	(1)
Interpretation	127	(1)
Frequency of content words: statistics	127	(1)
Interpretation	128	(1)
Analysis 2: Frequency Statistics (Keywords)	129	(1)
Analysis 3: Frequency Statistics (Order of Occurrence)	130	(3)
Statistics	130	(2)
Interpretation	132	(1)
Analysis 4: A Vocabulary-management Profile	133	(7)
Types and tokens, vocabulary and text	133	(1)
Youmans's method	134	(1)
`Eveline'	135	(5)
A Further Note on Replication	140	(1)
Limitations on the Analyses	141	(1)
Summary and Implications	142	(2)
Background and Further Reading	144	(1)
Topics for Further Study	144	(1)
Words in Culture 1: Case Studies of Cultural Keywords	145	(25)
Data and Citation Conventions	146	(1)
Text and Discourse	147	(1)
Case Study 1: Ethnic, Racial and Tribal	147	(2)
Case Study 2: Heritage and Care	149	(5)
Keyword: Heritage	150	(1)
Keyword: Care	151	(3)
Keyword: Community	154	(1)
Case Study 3: Proper Standards	154	(7)
Keyword: Standard	155	(1)
Keyword: Proper	156	(4)
Keyword: Trendy	160	(1)
Case Study 4: Little Red Riding Hood	161	(3)
Discursive Formations	164	(2)
Summary and Implications	166	(2)
Background and Further Reading	168	(1)
Topics for Further Study	168	(2)
Words in Culture 2: Case Studies of Loan Words in English	170	(25)
Data	170	(1)
The Etymological Fallacy	171	(2)
Language Change	173	(1)
Terminology	174	(1)
Words, Politics and National Stereotypes	175	(2)
Fields of Knowledge and Text-Types	177	(1)
A Case Study of German Loan Words in English	178	(6)
Frequency in the Vocabulary versus Frequency in Texts	184	(1)
False Friends: Flak, Blitz and Angst	185	(3)
The OED and Cultural Keywords	188	(2)
A Further Note on Vocabulary and Text	190	(2)
Summary and Implications	192	(1)
Background and Further Reading	192	(1)
Topics for Further Study	193	(2)
PART III Implications	195	(50)
Words, Phrases and Connotations: On Lexico-grammar and Evaluative Language	197	(23)
Connotations	197	(1)
Verbs, Discourse Prosodies and Point of View	198	(8)
Example 1: I was accosted in the street by a stranger	199	(2)
Example 2: fears lurking just below the surface	201	(1)
Example 3: Loiter and other verbs	202	(1)
Inter-collocations: the example of Street	203	(3)
A Lexico-syntactic Example: Make one's way somewhere	206	(4)
A Note on Syntax	210	(1)
A Cognitive View	210	(1)
A Syntactic Example: BE-passives and GET-passives	211	(4)
Summary and Implications	215	(1)
Background and Further Reading	216	(2)
Topics for Further Study	218	(2)
Data and Dualisms: On Corpus Methods and Pluralist Models	220	(25)
Principles	220	(1)
Problems?	221	(5)
Dualisms and Monisms	226	(6)
Cartesian dualism	226	(3)
Monism: version 1	229	(1)
Monism: version 2	229	(2)
The Saussurian paradox	231	(1)
Pluralist Positions	232	(1)
Brute and Institutional Facts	232	(2)
Physical, Psychological and Social	234	(2)
Worlds 1, 2 and 3	236	(2)
A Pluralist Model	238	(1)
Performance Data, Corpora and Routine Behaviour	239	(3)
Summary and Implications	242	(2)
Background and Further Reading	244	(1)
References	245	(14)
Name Index	259	(4)
Subject Index	263