Corpus-based cognitive semantics. A contrastive study of phasal verbs in English and Russian.

Dagmar Divjak, Stefan Gries

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Abstract

In this paper we will present a corpus-based cognitive-semantic analysis of five verbs that express 'begin' in English and Russian, i.e. begin, start, načat', načat'sja and stat'. On the basis of a quantitative analysis of data extracted from the ICE-GB and the Uppsala Corpus we conclude that the prototype for each verb and set of verbs in each language revolves around a different set of characteristics altogether: the difference between begin and start is lexical in nature, that between načat' and stat' can be described as aspectual, whereas the differences between načat' and načat'sja should be termed argument structural. Dissimilarities like these that are of an entirely different order can only be picked up if a methodology is used that adequately captures the multivariate nature of the phenomenon; the Behavioral Profiling approach we have developed and applied here does exactly that.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationStudies in Cognitive Corpus Linguistics.
EditorsBarbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Katarzyna Dziwirek
Place of PublicationFrankfurt am Main
PublisherPeter Lang Verlag
Pages273-296
ISBN (Print)978-3-631-59399-8
Publication statusPublished - 2009

Publication series

NameLodz Studies in Language
PublisherPeter Lang Verlag

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