Using recurrent word-combinations to explore cross-linguistic differences
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Jarle Ebeling
Abstract
The present study explores phraseological differences between English and Norwegian on the basis of a bidirectional parallel corpus, viz. The English-Norwegian Parallel Corpus. The investigation starts from lists of recurrent three-word combinations in English and Norwegian original and translated fiction texts. The paper discusses methodological issues related to using recurrent word-combinations as a point of departure for contrastive studies. Three case studies arise from observed differences between original and translated texts, as they emerged from the lists. The results point to constructional, semantic and pragmatic differences between the languages. Moreover, the studies suggest that the bootstrapping method applied may point to cross-linguistic differences that might elude traditional contrastive corpus investigations.
Abstract
The present study explores phraseological differences between English and Norwegian on the basis of a bidirectional parallel corpus, viz. The English-Norwegian Parallel Corpus. The investigation starts from lists of recurrent three-word combinations in English and Norwegian original and translated fiction texts. The paper discusses methodological issues related to using recurrent word-combinations as a point of departure for contrastive studies. Three case studies arise from observed differences between original and translated texts, as they emerged from the lists. The results point to constructional, semantic and pragmatic differences between the languages. Moreover, the studies suggest that the bootstrapping method applied may point to cross-linguistic differences that might elude traditional contrastive corpus investigations.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- In memory of Stig Johansson v
- Table of contents vii
- List of contributors ix
- Introduction 1
- Tertia comparationis in multilingual corpora 7
- Seeing the lexical profile of Swedish through multilingual corpora 25
- A corpus-based analysis of English affixal negation translated into Spanish 57
- English adverbs of essence and their equivalents in Dutch and French 83
- A parallel corpus approach to investigating semantic change 103
- Youngspeak 127
- Quantity approximation in English and French business news reporting 139
- Enriching the phraseological coverage of high-frequency adverbs in English-French bilingual dictionaries 157
- Using recurrent word-combinations to explore cross-linguistic differences 177
- Cohesive substitution in English and German 201
- The extraposition of clausal subjects in English and Swedish 233
- Thematic variation in English and Spanish newspaper genres 261
- Author index 287
- Subject index 291
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- In memory of Stig Johansson v
- Table of contents vii
- List of contributors ix
- Introduction 1
- Tertia comparationis in multilingual corpora 7
- Seeing the lexical profile of Swedish through multilingual corpora 25
- A corpus-based analysis of English affixal negation translated into Spanish 57
- English adverbs of essence and their equivalents in Dutch and French 83
- A parallel corpus approach to investigating semantic change 103
- Youngspeak 127
- Quantity approximation in English and French business news reporting 139
- Enriching the phraseological coverage of high-frequency adverbs in English-French bilingual dictionaries 157
- Using recurrent word-combinations to explore cross-linguistic differences 177
- Cohesive substitution in English and German 201
- The extraposition of clausal subjects in English and Swedish 233
- Thematic variation in English and Spanish newspaper genres 261
- Author index 287
- Subject index 291
