Languages in Contrast - Volume 6, Issue 2, 2006

The category of progressive is known for the notorious difficulties of definition it poses not only within individual languages, but for general theories of aspect as well. A particularly challenging problem is the fact that in any one language, there seem to be lexemes that block progressive marking (such as the verbs ‘to know’ and ‘to understand’ in English). On the basis of comprehensive lexical samples from five languages, this study attempts to shed some light on the semantic factors governing the acceptability of progressive markers. This results in a modified outlook on the progressive.

English and Hebrew use sharply differing systems for categorizing the meanings of words referring to vision. In English, the relevant parameters of meaning relate to whether information has been visually recorded and registered and what type of image was captured (a still picture, a moving picture, a close-up, etc.). In Hebrew, on the other hand, vision words code whether the information which has been recorded is particularly significant to the subject, and, if so, how (intellectually, personally, etc.).

This paper addresses the question of how English and Spanish encode the modal meanings of possibility and necessity. English modals and Spanish modal periphrases emerge as ‘cross-linguistic equivalents’ in this area. Data from two monolingual ‘comparable’ corpora — the Bank of English and CREA — reveal (i) differences in grammatical conceptualization in the English and the Spanish traditions and (ii) the relative inadequacy of classifications of modality for a translation-oriented contrast in this area. An English-Spanish contrastive map of the semantics (and expressive means) of modality will be an effective way to make relevant and accurate cross-linguistic information available. It is also the first step towards identifying potential translation pitfalls.

This paper is a corpus-based contrastive study of one particular semantic area — the modification of nouns — and the grammatical structures available in English and Spanish to actualize this particular meaning within the scope of the NP. Two large monolingual reference corpora, one in each language, have been used to extract the empirical data on which to base the analysis. A functional approach has been followed, starting from perceived similarities in meaning and trying to reveal the subtle links between particular semantic functions and the structures most commonly employed by native speakers of the two languages to convey those semantic functions. The working procedure will be described in detail, from the data selection process, to the description, juxtaposition and final contrast. This paper presents part of the contrastive results found in a larger study (Ramón 2003), and shows the appropriateness of the methodology employed in order to obtain contrastive data useful in applied areas such as foreign language teaching, and, especially, in the field of translation.