A corpus-based contrastive study of mental verbs

P. 663-686In contrastive linguistics, the development of bilingual and multilingual corpora have provided new empirical data and has allowed linguists to focus attention on the syntagmatic axis and on the analysis of word co-occurrence patterns. Corpus linguistics has given new emphasis to the importance of the context in word meaning. When syntagmatic associations are taken into consideration together with paradigmatic ones, a finer-grained linguistic analysis and new insights into the comparison of languages can be obtained. The study presented here, in line with the current trend towards lexically oriented theories, approaches the interrelation between grammar and lexis, taking into account the interdependence between lexical choice and contextual patterns. The meaning of polysemous verbs is clearly related to their complementation patterns (Levin 1993, Poch and Verdaguer 1996, Faber and Mairal 1999) and the interface between syntax and semantics allows a coherent and systematic account of the differences in word meaning

Semantic frames and semantic networks in the Health Science Corpus

[eng] The aim of this paper is to apply frame semantics principles to the analysis of a specialized corpus, the Health Science Corpus, implemented in the lexical database SciE-Lex. Taking FrameNet as the basis for this research, I will assign frame semantic features to Scie-Lex data in order to highlight the shared semantic and syntactic background of the related words in the biomedical register, give motivation to their patterns of collocates and establish frame-based semantic networks of related lexical units.[spa] El objetivo de este artículo es aplicar los principios de la semántica de marcos al análisis de un corpus especializado, el Health Science Corpus, implementado en la base de datos léxica SciE-Lex. Tomando FrameNet como base para esta investigación, se aplica la semántica de marcos a los datos de Scie-Lex para destacar los aspectos sintácticos y semánticos communes de los términos del registro biomédico, motivar sus patrones combinatorios y establecer redes semánticas basadas en marcos

Semantic frames and semantic networks in the Health Science Corpus

The aim of this paper is to apply frame semantics principles to the analysis of a specialized corpus, the Health Science Corpus, implemented in the lexical data b ase SciE-Lex. Taking FrameNet as the basis for this research, I will assign frame semantic features to Scie-Lex data in order to highlight the shared semantic and syntactic background of the related words in the biomedical register, give motivation to their patterns of collocates and establish frame-based semantic networks of related lexical units.El objetivo de este artículo es aplicar los principios de la semántica de marcos al análisis de un corpus especializado, el Health Science Corpus, implementado en la base de datos léxica SciE-Lex. Tomando FrameNet como base para esta investigación, se aplica la semántica de marcos a los datos de Scie-Lex para destacar los aspectos sintácticos y semánticos communes de los términos del registro biomédico, motivar sus patrones combinatorios y establecer redes semánticas basadas en marcos

Metonymies and metaphors of sadness in the Old English vocabulary

The aim of this paper is to explore the predominant metonymic and metaphoric conceptualizations of sadness in the Old English period. To this end, the Old English expressions for emotional distress recorded in The Old English Thesaurus and dictionary have been analyzed. Taking as a starting point the experiential grounding of emotion conceptualization, we first present experimental evidence in support of the role of somato-behavioral reactions in emotion recognition, affective state induction and emotional information processing and interpretation, and review the most common metonymic and metaphoric expressions for sadness in Modern English. Next, we analyze the Old English vocabulary for sadness and the interplay between embodiment and culture in the conceptualization and linguistic description of emotional distress. Such analysis makes it clear that in ancient times, as in present day English, sadness and psychological distress were also conceptualized in terms of unpleasant physical conditions such as illness, cold, darkness or heaviness. Consequently, a long-term diachronic trend in the conceptualization of sadness can be traced even though its linguistic realization and motivation have varied throughout time

The Metaphorical Conceptualization of Sadness in the Anglo-Saxon Elegies

The aim of this paper is to explore the predominant metaphorical conceptualization of sadness in three Old English elegiac monologues whose main themes are the pain and solitude of exile and separation. Taking as a starting point the Cognitive Theory of Metaphor and briefly reviewing the experimental evidence that supports the experiential grounding of our concep- tualization of sadness, as well as our own previous research on the Old English expressions for emotional distress, we analyze the use of sadness metaphors in the elegies The Wanderer, The Seafarer and The Wife's Lament. This analysis clearly shows that in the Old English period, as in present day English, sadness was largely expressed in metaphorical terms. Cold, darkness and physical dis- comfort were recurrent source domains in its depiction, which suggests a long- term trend in the metaphorical conceptualization of sadness, whose cognitive reality is empirically supported by experimental research. Keywords: conceptual metaphor, elegiac poetry, sadness expressions, Old Englis

Immigration metaphors in a corpus of legal English : an exploratory study of EAL learners? metaphorical production and awareness

La metàfora és un element central de la comunicació i la comprensió humana. Abunda en el llenguatge quotidià i també en el d'especialització, no sent una excepció el discurs legal. Aquest fet és rellevant ja que les metàfores ens permeten emmarcar la realitat des de diverses perspectives que condicionen la nostra percepció del món. Amb l'objectiu d'explorar l'ús que els estudiants de Dret amb anglès com a llengua addicional (EAL) fan de les metàfores i de determinar si són conscients de les seues connotacions, es va compilar i va analitzar qualitativament un corpus d'aprenents. Els resultats han demostrat que els aprenents igual que els parlants natius utilitzen metàfores conceptuals tals com LA IMMIGRACIÓ ÉS UNA FORÇA NATURAL, ELS ESTATS SÓN CONTENIDOS o ELS IMMIGRANTS SÓN UNA AMENAÇA per a descriure el fenomen de la immigració. Aquest estudi exploratori també va subratllar la importància que els aprenents siguen conscients de la càrrega negativa d'algunes metàfores per a promoure el pensament crític

Building up a Combinatory Dictionary of Biomedical English, SciE-Lex

[Resumen] El objetivo de este artículo es presentar el proceso de gestación de SciE-Lex, un diccionario combinatorio de términos generales frecuentemente utilizados en inglés biomédico, que nació con el propósito de ayudar a los científicos españoles a redactar artículos científicos en inglés. Como proyecto lexicográfico se integra plenamente en la corriente léxico-gramatical que subraya la estrecha relación entre el léxico y la gramática. Su desarrollo ha venido marcado por tres etapas. En la primera, SciE-Lex proporciona, además del equivalente en español de cada entrada, información morfosintáctica y combinatoria, ilustrada con ejemplos y con notas de uso. En una segunda fase añadimos expresiones prefabricadas e información explícita acerca de su variabilidad, composición, funcionamiento y distribución en el artículo biomédico. Finalmente, en una tercera etapa, aun en desarrollo, nos proponemos introducir la semántica de marcos para establecer relaciones sintáctico-semánticas entre los distintos términos que pertenecen al mismo marco.[Abstract] The aim of this article is to present the development of SciE-Lex, a lexical database of non-specialised terms used in biomedical English. SciE-Lex has been designed with the purpose of helping Spanish scientists to write scientific articles in English. As a lexicographic project, it is fully integrated into the lexico-grammatical approach that underlines the close relationship between the lexicon and grammar. There have been three stages in its development: In the first stage, SciE-Lex provides, in addition to the Spanish equivalents of each entry, morphosyntactic and combinatorial information, illustrated with examples and usage notes. In a second phase, we added prefabricated expressions and explicit information about their variability, composition, discourse function and distribution in the biomedical research article. Finally, in a third stage we aim to introduce frame semantics in order to establish syntactic and semantic relations between the terms that belong to the same frame

High Mortality Associated with Thyroid Hyperplasia in European Pond Turtles, Emys orbicularis (L., 1758) (Emydidae) in a Breeding Facility at the Ebro Delta, NE Spain

An outbreak of mortality in a breeding facility of European Pond Turtles (Emys orbicularis) in the Ebro Delta (Tarragona, Spain) occurred in 2014-2015. The breeding program began in 2006 and has generated up to 250 turtles every year. They are released when they are 4 to 5 years old. After a change of the diet of the turtles born during 2014-2015, a mortality of 91% (334 out of 366 animals) was calculated for the hatchlings from 2014. Clinical signs were soft shells, apathy and anorexia approximately 1-5 days before death in all affected turtles. Histologically, thyroid follicles were lined by hypertrophic columnar epithelium and follicular lumina were mostly devoid of colloid. Kidneys were also affected, showing mild to moderate acute degeneration and tubular necrosis with mineralization of tubular epithelium. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia was isolated in pure culture from tissue pools of tested animals. PCRs sensitive for detection of ranavirus, herpesvirus and coccidia (spp.) were all negative. Thus, we conclude that the high mortality outbreak was associated with a thyroid gland hyperplasia and renal malfunction due to a change in diet, complicated with an opportunistic secondary bacterial infectio

The CPDB: a learning and teaching corpus-based methodological tool

Corpus-based methodological tools and NTICs have recently become a commonplace in the teaching-learning of SL and FL, as they allow the language learner to become aware of the complexities of real language in use. As part of a teaching innovation project, GReLiC has recently developed a database of English clause patterns. This study shows the lexico-grammatical information provided in the database as well as some of its pedagogical applications in the linguistics classroom