Sequence and order
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Michael Stubbs
Abstract
Corpus linguists often attempt to avoid assumptions imported from pre-corpus studies, by using methods which could be called “inductive”, in so far as they proceed from observations about textual sequences to generalizations about order in the system. However, induction has been questioned for over 400 years (by Bacon, Hume, Popper and others), and the possibility of rigorous, theory-free induction is now generally rejected. One major phraseological model, proposed by Sinclair in the late 1990s, is certainly not a purely inductive generalization from raw corpus data. I will discuss this model using attested data on a particular construction and a distinction proposed by Firth, Halliday and Palmer between “sequence” (an observable feature of texts) and “order” (a feature of linguists’ models).
Abstract
Corpus linguists often attempt to avoid assumptions imported from pre-corpus studies, by using methods which could be called “inductive”, in so far as they proceed from observations about textual sequences to generalizations about order in the system. However, induction has been questioned for over 400 years (by Bacon, Hume, Popper and others), and the possibility of rigorous, theory-free induction is now generally rejected. One major phraseological model, proposed by Sinclair in the late 1990s, is certainly not a purely inductive generalization from raw corpus data. I will discuss this model using attested data on a particular construction and a distinction proposed by Firth, Halliday and Palmer between “sequence” (an observable feature of texts) and “order” (a feature of linguists’ models).
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
Sequence and order
- Sequence and order 13
- Mom and Dad but Men and Women 35
- Sequences of size adjectives in text 47
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Competing constructions
- The competition between the intensifiers dead and deadly 71
- Has go -V ousted go-and -V? 91
- The construction cannot help -ing and its rivals in Modern English 113
- From reduction to emancipation 133
- Complex prepositions and variation within the PNP construction 153
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Emerging patterns
- A finer definition of neology in English 177
- A corpus-based study of gender assignment in recent English loanwords in Norwegian 209
- The return of the prefix? New verb-particle combinations in blogs 223
-
Correlating patterns and meaning
- Modality and the V wh pattern 247
- Assessing corpus search methods in onomasiological investigations 271
- Author index 293
- Subject index 297
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
Sequence and order
- Sequence and order 13
- Mom and Dad but Men and Women 35
- Sequences of size adjectives in text 47
-
Competing constructions
- The competition between the intensifiers dead and deadly 71
- Has go -V ousted go-and -V? 91
- The construction cannot help -ing and its rivals in Modern English 113
- From reduction to emancipation 133
- Complex prepositions and variation within the PNP construction 153
-
Emerging patterns
- A finer definition of neology in English 177
- A corpus-based study of gender assignment in recent English loanwords in Norwegian 209
- The return of the prefix? New verb-particle combinations in blogs 223
-
Correlating patterns and meaning
- Modality and the V wh pattern 247
- Assessing corpus search methods in onomasiological investigations 271
- Author index 293
- Subject index 297
