Defining English and Serbian Verbs of Damage
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/philologia.2023.21.21.1Keywords:
contrastive analysis, collocational method, verbs, semantic field, English, SerbianAbstract
Applying his own collocational method in line with the distributional semantics, the author provides definitions of causative “verbs of damage” in Serbian and English. In this way the two lexical subfields can be compared, and relevant conclusions drawn about their similarities and differences. “Verbs of damage” comprise a small set of verbs that share the definition ‘cause to get in bad state’, and they are to be distinguished from “verbs of destruction”. This common parlance definition is reduced to a semantic definition stated in terms of semantic atoms, and the graphic devices used in the definitions are explained. Its implications are commented on, as well as the evaluative connotation of the object nouns. Collocational method is a variant of distributional semantics, and the article expounds its main principles and states the three steps to be taken when applying the method. In connection with this matter, the acceptability of collocations is discussed. Implications are given of broad semantic categories like ‘sth’, and ‘phenomenon’ by offering narrower categories.
References
Bierwisch, M. 1970. Semantics. In J. Lyons (ed.) New Horizons in Linguistics. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 166–184.
Cruse, D. A. 1986. Lexical Semantics. Cambridge/New York/Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Cruse, D. A. 2004. Meaning in Language. An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Geeraerts, D. 1992. Polysemy and prototypicality. Cognitive Linguistics 3(2), 219–231.
Greenbaum, S. 1970. Verb Intensifier Collocations in English. The Hague and Paris: Mouton.
Goddard, C. and A. Wierzbicka. 1994. Introducing lexical primitives. In C. Goddard and A. Wierzbicka (eds.) Semantic and Lexical Universals. Theory and Empirical Findings. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 31–54.
Hanks, P. 2013. Lexical Analysis. Norms and Exploitations. Cambridge, MA/London: MIT Press.
Harris, Z. 1954. Distributional structure. Word 10(2–3), 146–162.
Harris, Z. 1968. Mathematical Structures of Language. New York: Wiley.
Hlebec, B. 1990. Aspects, Phases and Tenses in English and Serbo-Croatian. Grazer Linguistische Monographien 8. Graz: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft.
Hlebec, B. 2003. Connexity and indirect connection in English. Studia Anglica Posnaniensia 39, 113–120.
Hlebec, B. 2008a. Collocations with old, young and new and their Serbian correspondents. English Language and Literature Studies: Structures across Cultures. Proceedings I. Belgrade: Faculty of Philology, 171–192.
Hlebec, B. 2008b. Kolokacijska metoda semantičke analize (na primeru imenice pažnja) [Collocational method of semantic analysis exemplified by the noun pažnja]. Semantička proučavanja srpskog jezika. Srpski jezik u svetlu savremenih lingvističkih teorija [Semantic investigations into the Serbian Language. The Serbian Language in the Light of Modern Lingustic Theories] 2. Belgrade: SANU, 65–75.
Hlebec, B. 2008c. „Predikativni instrumental” u svetlu kolokacijske analize [Predicative instrumental in the light of collocational analysis]. Južnoslovenski filolog 64, 535–650.
Hlebec, B. 2011. The portrait of wild (in the collocational technique). Filolog 3, 121–130.
Hlebec, B. 2012. The seme ‘strong’ in lexical definitions. Belgrade BELLS 4, 7–25.
Hlebec, B. 2013. It not as we know it. Filolog 8, 37–47.
Hlebec, B. 2015a. Lexical definitions of some performative verbs. SAP 50(1), 27–44.
Hlebec, B. 2015b. Defining an adjective by means of its grammatical collocators. Filolog 11, 21–25.
Hlebec, B. 2016. A contrastive analysis of the performative appoint and its Serbian correspondents. In S. Ristić, I. Lazić Konjik and N. Ivanović (eds.) Lexicology and Lexicography in the Light of Contemporary Approaches. A Collection of Papers. Belgrade: SANU, 493–514.
Hlebec, B. 2019. A Collocational Approach to Semantic Definitions. Beograd: FOKUS – Forum za interkulturnu komunikaciju. http://www.komunikacijaikultura.org/Ebooks/Boris_Hlebec.pdf
Jackendoff, R. 1991. Parts and boundaries. In B. Levin and S. Pinker (eds.) Lexical and Conceptual Semantics. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 9–47.
Lyons, J. 1977. Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mackenzie, I. and I. Mel’čuk. 1988. Crossroads of obstetrics and lexicography. A case study. International Journal of Lexicogrpahy 1(2), 71–83.
Nida, E. 1975. Componential Analysis of Meaning. Hague/Paris/New York: Mouton.
Roos, E. 1976. Contrastive collocational analysis. Papers and Studies in Contrastive Linguistics 5, 65–76.
Rubenstein, H. and J. B. Goodenough. 1965. Contextual correlates of synonymy. Communications of the ACM 8(10), 627–633.
Wiggins, D. 1971. On sentence-sense, word-sense and difference of word - sense: Towards a philosophical theory of dictionaries. In D. D. Steinberg and L. A. Jakobovits (eds.) Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 4–14.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
