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- Volume 25, Issue 1, 2025
Languages in Contrast - Volume 25, Issue 1, 2025
Volume 25, Issue 1, 2025
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Intermediate perfects
Author(s): Eric Corre, Henriëtte de Swart and Teresa M. Xiquéspp.: 1–22 (22)More LessAbstractThe cross-linguistic variation in distribution and meaning of perfect constructions building on have + past participle in Western European languages has been analysed in terms of the aoristic drift, the shift from resultative via perfect to perfective past meaning that takes us from ‘classical’ perfect languages like English to ‘liberal’ perfect languages like French. This paper challenges the (often implicit) assumption that there is a single path along the aoristic drift, resulting in a linear perfect scale. Data coming from translation corpora reveal that the perfect in three ‘intermediate’ languages (Dutch, Catalan and Breton) is sensitive to lexical aspect (state vs. event), narrativity and hodiernal vs. pre-hodiernal past time reference. These meaning ingredients appear in different combinations in the three languages, thereby establishing them as independent dimensions of variation. The conclusion that there are multiple paths along the aoristic drift has implications for the cross-linguistic semantics of tense and aspect.
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The fate of ‘pseudo-’ words
Author(s): Kristel Van Goethem, Muriel Norde and Francesca Masinipp.: 23–50 (28)More LessAbstractThe present study examines the fate of the neoclassical combining form pseudo- in eight European languages, belonging to Germanic (Danish, Dutch, English, German and Swedish) and Romance (French, Italian, Spanish). In order to gain a better understanding of the synchronic morphological behaviour and productivity of pseudo- words in these languages, we carry out a cross-linguistic corpus analysis and compare the morphological and distributional properties of pseudo-. We also analyse its debonding behaviour and categorical flexibility in the set of languages and correlate this property with its productivity. The results of the corpus study are discussed against the typological background of the so-called Germanic and Romance Sandwiches.
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Fluidic motion patterns in English and Modern Greek
Author(s): Thomai Dalpanagiotipp.: 51–82 (32)More LessAbstractThis paper investigates conceptual and phraseological patterns from a cross-linguistic perspective. The focus of attention is on the fluidic motion uses of the highly polysemous verbs run and τρέχω ‘run’ in English and Modern Greek respectively. They are manner of motion verbs denoting the typically human, fast movement on ground and they are frequently cited in the literature on motion event encoding; yet, their extended use to denote motion of liquids is mentioned only in passing. The study thus provides a comprehensive description of that part of the semantic network of the two verbs that relates to fluidic motion (literally and figuratively). The contrastive approach taken combines cognitive semantics (Frame Semantics, Conceptual Metaphor and Metonymy Theory) with a phraseological view of language. Convergences and divergences are identified at a conceptual and phraseological level through a twofold corpus-based study involving comparable monolingual analysis and parallel corpus investigation.
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English tough-constructions and their analogues in French and Russian
Author(s): Alina Tsikulina, Fayssal Tayalati and Efstathia Sorolipp.: 83–121 (39)More LessAbstractEvaluative constructions involving tough-predicates (e.g., This hill is difficult to climb) present atypical structure-to-meaning mappings and vary across languages: in some languages (e.g., English/French), speakers typically use so-called tough-constructions (TCs) in which the syntactic subject of the matrix sentence is logically the missing object of the infinitive; in others (e.g., Russian), speakers opt for a variety of functional analogues (e.g., passive, impersonal constructions). The aim of this paper is to explore English TCs involving difficult and easy adjectives, compare them to French and Russian analogues based on a parallel-corpus, and investigate how specific semantic properties (animacy, transitivity, adjective scope) relate to specific (more or less compact) configurations. The results show that French and Russian have similar functional analogues and only partially share the structural properties of English TCs. The findings support a multidimensional account based on the inherent semantic properties of evaluative constructions and their degree of compactness.
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The intricate construction of projection in news reports
Author(s): Jorge Arús-Hitapp.: 122–147 (26)More LessAbstractThis paper looks at projection in the discourse of news reports in English and Spanish. The analysis reveals the extent to which projection pervades these texts, not only at clause complex level – the traditional object of study of projection – but also below the clause complex, at clause simple and at group level. The discussion of a number of examples from English and Spanish news reports serves to answer the three research questions guiding this research, which concern (a) the preferred types of projection in news reports, (b) the preferred realizations of the different types of projection in news reports, and (c) the main cross-linguistic similarities and contrasts of projection in news reports. The answers to these issues ultimately contribute to a broader understanding of the concept of projection.
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Review of Guillemin-Flescher (2023): Linguistique contrastive : énonciation et activité langagière
Author(s): Laure Lansaripp.: 148–156 (9)More LessThis article reviews Linguistique contrastive : énonciation et activité langagière
Volumes & issues
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Volume 25 (2025)
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Volume 24 (2024)
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Volume 23 (2023)
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Volume 22 (2022)
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Volume 21 (2021)
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Volume 20 (2020)
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Volume 19 (2019)
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Volume 18 (2018)
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Volume 17 (2017)
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Volume 16 (2016)
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Volume 15 (2015)
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Volume 14 (2014)
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Volume 13 (2013)
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Volume 12 (2012)
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Volume 11 (2011)
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Volume 10 (2010)
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Volume 9 (2009)
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Volume 8 (2008)
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Volume 7 (2007)
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Volume 6 (2006)
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Volume 5 (2004)
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Volume 4 (2002)
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Volume 3 (2000)
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Volume 2 (1999)
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Volume 1 (1998)
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