A parallel corpus approach to investigating semantic change

Beeching, Kate

Abstract

Traugott and Dasher (2002) draw our attention to items at the extreme right of the spectrum of semantic change where the canonical or core meaning is almost entirely bleached. Lexicographers and semanticists have struggled to pin down the senses of such items, often referred to as discourse or pragmatic markers (see, however, Dostie, 2004; Hansen, 1998a).

Pragmatic markers are often multifunctional, serving both turn-taking and modal functions or, as in the case of quand même, the focus of this study, both an adversative and a relational function. Traugott and Dasher suggest that the frequency of certain contextual interpretations of an item can end up by eclipsing the original sense. The original sense may continue in a state of polysemy with the new sense or may entirely disappear – this is summed up in the configuration M1 > M1/M2 (> M2).

This chapter explores the potential of parallel corpora as a means of demonstrating that semantic change has indeed occurred. Translators translate according to the context – and their translation may capture in the target language the nuances of the item as its senses evolve. The translation of such items is far from unproblematic (see Aijmer, Foolen and Simon-Vandenbergen, 2006, and Aijmer, 2007). However, if M1 and M2 are encoded in different expressions in the TL and translators select M2 rather than M1, this may prove to be a sound test for semantic change.

• Publication Date: Mar 15, 2013
• Deposit Date: Jan 21, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 15, 2016
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 103-125
• Series Title: Studies in Corpus Linguistics
• Series Number: 54
• Book Title: Advances in corpus-based contrastive linguistics. Studies in honour of Stig Johansson
• ISBN: 9789027203595
• Keywords: semantic change, parallel corpora, quand même, implicature, polysemy
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/933699
• Publisher URL: http://www.benjamins.com/#catalog/books/scl.51/main
• Contract Date: Nov 15, 2016