International Journal of Corpus Linguistics - Volume 28, Issue 1, 2023

Abstract

The article focuses on the polysemy and usage patterns of the Polish lexeme głowa “head” and its diminutive główka. Based on corpus methodology and cognitive linguistics analysis, it is argued that the two lexemes are too autonomous in their meanings than predicted by their morphological relatedness. As the two words cover different semantic domains, we observe that the diminutive suffix has developed a new function which signals lexicalization of meaning toward a non-human semantic domain, for example, material objects, plants, etc. Our research contributes to studies on Polish morphology and lexical semantics and to theoretical research on the polysemy of body part terms.

Abstract

Triangulating corpus linguistic approaches with other (linguistic and non-linguistic) approaches enhances “both the rigour of corpus linguistics and its incorporation into all kinds of research” (McEnery & Hardie, 2012: 227). Our study investigates an important area of mental health research: the experiences of those who hear voices that others cannot hear, and particularly the ways in which those voices are described as person-like. We apply corpus methods to augment the findings of a qualitative approach to 40 interviews with voice-hearers, whereby each interview was coded as involving ‘minimal’ or ‘complex’ personification of voices. Our analysis provides linguistic evidence in support of the qualitative coding of the interviews, but also goes beyond a binary approach by revealing different types and degrees of personification of voices, based on how they are referred to and described by voice-hearers. We relate these findings to concepts that inform therapeutic interventions in clinical psychology.

Abstract

This article examines the lexically parallel English and German constructions can’t stand somebody/something and jemanden/etwas nicht ausstehen können “not tolerate (someone or something)”, from synchronic, diachronic, and quantitative perspectives. Syntactic and semantic restrictions suggest that the usage of stand and ausstehen in the relevant sense is older than other semantically similar verbs (e.g. English tolerate, German leiden), while quantitative evidence from corpora shows that the can’t stand and nicht ausstehen können constructions are both colligationally stronger than lexical competitors. Evidence from the history of stand indicates that the lexeme stand in the Germanic and other Indo-European languages has a long history of being employed in the relevant sense. The restrictions on usage and the colligational strength of the respective English and German constructions are thus argued to result from the antiquity of the construction and functional competition from other lexemes.

Abstract

Corpus research on questions as reader engagement markers in academic writing typically focuses on direct questions. Such questions are signalled by question marks and are relatively easily searchable in a corpus. However, indirect questions can be more challenging to identify, as they can be introduced by a range of forms. Based on a contrastive analysis of a corpus of English, French, and Spanish economics research articles, this paper provides pertinent evidence on direct and indirect questions as reader engagement markers. Firstly, it shows that direct and indirect questions as reader engagement markers are a rhetorical and generic feature of academic writing in the economics research article and, secondly, it presents a comprehensive list of indirect question illocutionary force indicating devices, valuable for future studies of indirect questions. Methodologically, this paper illustrates a replicable process for functional analysis and discusses the value of theoretically merging corpus and contrastive linguistic approaches.

This article reviews Learner Corpus Research Meets Second Language Acquisition