English General Nouns: A Corpus Theoretical Approach (Studies in Corpus Linguistics, Volume 20)

This book proposes an innovative approach to general nouns. General nouns are defined as high-frequency nouns that are characterised by their textual functions. Although the concept is motivated by Halliday & Hasan (1976), the corpus theoretical approach adopted in the present study is fundamentally different and set in a linguistic framework that prioritises lexis. The study investigates 10 nouns that are very frequent in mainstream English, as represented by the Bank of English Corpus. The corpus-driven approach to the data involves a critical discussion of descriptive tools, such as patterns, semantic prosodies, and primings of lexical items, and the concept of 'local textual functions' is put forward to characterise the functions of the nouns in lexis. The study not only suggests a characterisation of general nouns, but also stresses that functions of lexical items and properties of texts are closely linked. This link requires new ways of describing language. English General Nouns......Page 2 Editorial page......Page 3 Title page......Page 4 LCC data......Page 5 Table of contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 10 Introduction......Page 12 1.1. Halliday & Hasan's (1976) approach......Page 16 1.2. The class of general nouns......Page 17 1.3. The cohesive function of general nouns: Continuum and context......Page 18 1.4. Corpus linguistic findings......Page 20 Conclusion......Page 21 Notes......Page 22 2.1. Electronic corpora and the study of language......Page 24 2.2. Corpus linguistics: Theory and methodology......Page 27 2.2.1. Corpus-based versus corpus-driven approaches......Page 28 2.2.2. Technical possibilities and descriptive tools......Page 29 2.3. A lexical approach to the description of English......Page 33 2.3.1. The lexical item......Page 34 2.3.2. The Pattern Grammar......Page 35 2.3.3. Lexical priming......Page 38 2.3.4. Lexis, grammar, and text: Differences in the corpus-driven approach......Page 39 2.4.1. The corpus theoretical framework......Page 42 2.4.2. Minimal assumptions for the study of general nouns......Page 46 Notes......Page 49 3.1. The corpora of the present study......Page 52 3.2.1. What does the computer count?......Page 54 3.2.2. Frequency lists and key words......Page 56 3.2.3. Frequency and general nouns......Page 59 3.2.4. The nouns in the corpus study......Page 61 3.3.1. Analysing concordance data......Page 65 3.3.2. Dynamic categories and ad hoc labels......Page 69 Note......Page 72 4.1. Time nouns - an overview......Page 74 Measurement......Page 77 Time passes......Page 78 School, university......Page 79 Other examples......Page 80 4.2. Time orientation......Page 82 Concordance 4.2 The 15 examples in the investing time group......Page 86 4.4. Evaluation and text organisation......Page 88 4.5. The fuzziness of meaning......Page 92 4.6. The need for local categories of description......Page 94 Conclusion......Page 98 100 concordance lines for time......Page 99 100 concordance lines for times......Page 101 100 concordance lines for year......Page 103 100 concordance lines for years......Page 105 100 concordance lines for day......Page 107 5.1. People nouns - an overview......Page 110 Concordance 5.1 The first 25 examples of man......Page 111 5.1.2. The descriptive tool `person'......Page 115 5.2. man and woman......Page 116 5.2.1. The introducing function......Page 118 5.2.2. The characterising function......Page 119 5.2.3. The continuity function......Page 120 5.2.4. The meaning of a noun in its narrow context: The support function......Page 122 5.3. men and women......Page 126 Concordance 5.2 The 21 examples of men of category C that occur without determiners and modifiers......Page 128 Concordance 5.3 The 32 examples of women of category C that occur without determiners and modifiers......Page 129 5.4. people......Page 130 Concordance 5.4 The 29 examples of people without determiners and modifiers......Page 131 5.5. family......Page 134 5.6. People nouns - the group......Page 137 Concordance 5.6 Some examples of government......Page 140 Conclusion......Page 141 100 concordance lines for man......Page 142 100 concordance lines for men......Page 144 100 concordance lines for women......Page 146 100 concordance lines for people......Page 148 6.1. The diversity of meanings of world nouns......Page 152 Concordance 6.1 50 examples of part......Page 153 6.2. Evaluation in discourse......Page 155 6.2.1. Language use and language functions......Page 156 6.2.2. Approaching evaluation......Page 157 6.2.3. Corpus linguistics and evaluation......Page 160 6.3. Evaluative meanings of world nouns......Page 162 6.3.1. Adjective patterns with general nouns......Page 163 6.3.2. Evaluative patterns of world nouns......Page 164 Conclusion......Page 169 Notes......Page 170 7.1. Frequency......Page 172 7.1.1. Meaning and paraphrase......Page 173 7.1.2. Frequent nouns as characteristics of texts......Page 175 7.2. General nouns and the word class noun......Page 177 7.3.1. Subgroups of nouns......Page 179 7.3.2. Local textual functions of general nouns......Page 182 7.4. What are general nouns?......Page 183 7.4.1. Quantitative and qualitative features of general nouns......Page 184 7.4.2. General nouns and cohesion......Page 186 7.4.3. A corpus linguistic view on general nouns......Page 188 Note......Page 189 8.1. The methodology of the corpus study......Page 190 8.2.1. Future work......Page 192 8.2.2. Applications......Page 195 8.3. Describing meaning in text: A flexible approach......Page 196 8.3.1. The elusiveness of meaning......Page 197 8.3.3. Flexible grammar......Page 199 Appendix 1......Page 206 Appendix 2......Page 207 References......Page 208 Index......Page 216 The series Studies in Corpus Linguistics......Page 218 This book proposes an innovative approach to general nouns. General nouns are defined as high-frequency nouns that are characterised by their textual functions. Although the concept is motivated by Halliday & Hasan (1976), the corpus theoretical approach adopted in the present study is fundamentally different and set in a linguistic framework that prioritises lexis. The study investigates 20 nouns that are very frequent in mainstream English, as represented by the Bank of English Corpus. The corpus-driven approach to the data involves a critical discussion of descriptive tools, such as patterns, semantic prosodies, and primings of lexical items, and the concept of 'local textual functions' is put forward to characterise the functions of the nouns in texts. The study not only suggests a characterisation of general nouns, but also stresses that functions of lexical items and properties of texts are closely linked. This link requires new ways of describing language. Michaela Mahlberg. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [197]-203) And Index.