12. Cross-linguistic phraseological studies: An overview
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Jean-Pierre Colson
Abstract
Cross-linguistic research on phraseology covers a wide range of challenging topics, from the simple comparison of idioms or metaphors in two languages, to the systematic contrastive study of all categories of set phrases across different languages. Current research demonstrates that phraseology in the broad sense is one of the key components of language and is probably universal. However, the theoretical debate on the definition of set phrases and the interaction between culture, meaning, syntax, figurative language and phraseology is not yet completely settled. Two major theoretical approaches have so far yielded promising results: the first is more semantic and is often associated with cognitive linguistics, while the second can be described as cross-linguistic corpus linguistics. The cognitive approach to phraseology across languages lays stress on metaphors and images as the constituent principles of set phrases, and provides interesting information about the intriguing interplay between universal cognitive principles, culture and phraseology. Cross-linguistic studies based on corpora, on the other hand, offer a statistical analysis of the various categories of set phrases as well as a very reliable methodology. Cross-linguistic phraseology is closely linked to translation studies. Active collaboration between multilingual corpus linguistics, contrastive phraseology and natural language processing may offer insightful perspectives on translation practice.
Abstract
Cross-linguistic research on phraseology covers a wide range of challenging topics, from the simple comparison of idioms or metaphors in two languages, to the systematic contrastive study of all categories of set phrases across different languages. Current research demonstrates that phraseology in the broad sense is one of the key components of language and is probably universal. However, the theoretical debate on the definition of set phrases and the interaction between culture, meaning, syntax, figurative language and phraseology is not yet completely settled. Two major theoretical approaches have so far yielded promising results: the first is more semantic and is often associated with cognitive linguistics, while the second can be described as cross-linguistic corpus linguistics. The cognitive approach to phraseology across languages lays stress on metaphors and images as the constituent principles of set phrases, and provides interesting information about the intriguing interplay between universal cognitive principles, culture and phraseology. Cross-linguistic studies based on corpora, on the other hand, offer a statistical analysis of the various categories of set phrases as well as a very reliable methodology. Cross-linguistic phraseology is closely linked to translation studies. Active collaboration between multilingual corpus linguistics, contrastive phraseology and natural language processing may offer insightful perspectives on translation practice.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors xi
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Preface xv
- Introduction: The many faces of phraseology xix
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Part I. Phraseology: theory, typology and terminology
- 1. Phraseology and linguistic theory: A brief survey 3
- 2. Disentangling the phraseological web 27
- 3. A unified approach to semantic frames and collocational patterns 51
- 4. Processing of idioms and idiom modifications: A view from cognitive linguistics 67
- 5. A very complex criterion of fixedness: Non-compositionality 81
- 6. Reassessing the canon: 'Fixed' phrases in general reference corpora 95
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Part II. Corpus-based analyses of phraseological units
- 7. Adjective + Noun sequences in attributive or NP-final positions: Observations on lexicalization 111
- 8. Phrasal similes in the BNC 127
- 9. Foot and Mouth: The phrasal patterns of two frequent nouns 143
- 10. The Good Lord and his works: A corpus-driven study of collocational resonance 159
- 11. Fixed expressions, extenders and metonymy in the speech of people with Alzheimer's disease 175
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Part III. Phraseology across languages and cultures
- 12. Cross-linguistic phraseological studies: An overview 191
- 13. Figurative phraseology and culture 207
- 14. Critical observations on the culture-boundness of phraseology 229
- 15. Phraseology in a European framework: A cross-linguistic and cross-cultural research project on widespread idioms 243
- 16. Free and bound prepositions in a contrastive perspective. The case of with and avec 259
- 17. Contrastive idiom analysis: The case of Japanese and English idioms of anger 275
- 18. Automatic extraction of translation equivalents of phrasal and light verbs in English and Russian 293
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Part IV. Phraseology in lexicography and natural language processing
- 19. Dictionaries and collocation 313
- 20. Computational phraseology: An overview 337
- 21. A computational lexicography approach to phraseologisms 361
- 22. Extracting specialized collocations using lexical functions 377
- 23. Combined statistical and grammatical criteria for the retrieval of phraseological units in an electronic corpus 391
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Envoi
- The phrase, the whole phrase and nothing but the phrase 407
- Author index 411
- Subject index 417
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors xi
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Preface xv
- Introduction: The many faces of phraseology xix
-
Part I. Phraseology: theory, typology and terminology
- 1. Phraseology and linguistic theory: A brief survey 3
- 2. Disentangling the phraseological web 27
- 3. A unified approach to semantic frames and collocational patterns 51
- 4. Processing of idioms and idiom modifications: A view from cognitive linguistics 67
- 5. A very complex criterion of fixedness: Non-compositionality 81
- 6. Reassessing the canon: 'Fixed' phrases in general reference corpora 95
-
Part II. Corpus-based analyses of phraseological units
- 7. Adjective + Noun sequences in attributive or NP-final positions: Observations on lexicalization 111
- 8. Phrasal similes in the BNC 127
- 9. Foot and Mouth: The phrasal patterns of two frequent nouns 143
- 10. The Good Lord and his works: A corpus-driven study of collocational resonance 159
- 11. Fixed expressions, extenders and metonymy in the speech of people with Alzheimer's disease 175
-
Part III. Phraseology across languages and cultures
- 12. Cross-linguistic phraseological studies: An overview 191
- 13. Figurative phraseology and culture 207
- 14. Critical observations on the culture-boundness of phraseology 229
- 15. Phraseology in a European framework: A cross-linguistic and cross-cultural research project on widespread idioms 243
- 16. Free and bound prepositions in a contrastive perspective. The case of with and avec 259
- 17. Contrastive idiom analysis: The case of Japanese and English idioms of anger 275
- 18. Automatic extraction of translation equivalents of phrasal and light verbs in English and Russian 293
-
Part IV. Phraseology in lexicography and natural language processing
- 19. Dictionaries and collocation 313
- 20. Computational phraseology: An overview 337
- 21. A computational lexicography approach to phraseologisms 361
- 22. Extracting specialized collocations using lexical functions 377
- 23. Combined statistical and grammatical criteria for the retrieval of phraseological units in an electronic corpus 391
-
Envoi
- The phrase, the whole phrase and nothing but the phrase 407
- Author index 411
- Subject index 417
