Aston Corpus PG Conference 22 May 2008

22.05.08 Fanie Tsiamita

Aston Corpus PG Conference22 May 2008

Taking a ‘Drive’

Fanie Tsiamita

University of LiverpoolFanie.Tsiamita@liverpool.ac.uk

Introduction (I)

Polysemy:• The case of one lexical item having two or more

related senses, all going back to a single etymological root.

Examples: mouth; tail; fork

Lexical Priming• “Every word is primed for use in discourse as a

result of the cumulative effects of an individual’s encounters with the word” (Hoey, 2005)

Introduction (III)

Lexical Priming – Its implications for polysemy• The senses of a polysemous lexical item will be

disambiguated by their primings.- The more common sense may use the primings of

the less common sense. The less common sense never will.

- Two similarly common senses will avoid each other’s primings.

- Where neither of the above applies, the effect will be humour, ambiguity or a new meaning combining the two senses.

Introduction (III)

Lexical Priming – Its implications for polysemy• The senses of a polysemous lexical item will be

disambiguated by their primings.- The more common sense may use the primings of

the less common sense. The less common sense never will.

- Two similarly common senses will avoid each other’s primings.

- Where neither of the above applies, the effect will be humour, ambiguity or a new meaning combining the two senses.

Methodology

• BNC subcorpus <w fict prose>- 844 instances in a total of 432 texts ( 17,000,000

words)

• Instances were grouped according to senses- dictionaries provided guidelines for the grouping

- 12 senses found

• Determination of the primings of the two most frequent senses of drive:

› “journey in a car or other vehicle” (26%)

› “wide piece of hard ground or private road leading from the road to a person’s house” (47%)

• Drive (=journey) & drive (=private road) + determiners.

1. The vast majority of instances of both senses co- occur with the definite / indefinite article:

Proportion of instances of drive (=journey) and drive (=private road) occurring with an article

Nr of occurrences

of drive

Nr of instances occurring

with a determiner

Percentage of instances

occurring with a determiner

Drive (=journey) 223 200 90%

(=private road) 400 382 96%

2. While the instances of drive (=journey) show equal distribution between the two determiners,

drive (=private road) co-occurs 9 times more frequently with the definite than with the indefinite article:

Distribution of the instances of drive (=journey) and drive (=private road) between the definite and the indefinite article

Definite article Indefinite article

No. of % occurrences

Drive (=journey)

200 conc.lines 100 50% 100 50%

(=private road)

382 conc.lines

343 90% 39 10%

Potential Primings (I)

Semantic preferences of drive (=journey) and drive (=private road) when preceded by the sequence

determiner + pre-modification

Results (I)

• Determiner + pre-mod. + drive (=journey)

Results (I)

• Determiner + pre-mod. + drive (=journey)

Results (I)

• Determiner + pre-mod. + drive (=journey)- Evaluation

- Distance / Duration

- Duration

- Distance

- Time-of-day

- Classifier

- Shape

Results (I)

- Duration

- Distance

- Time-of-day

- Classifier

- Shape

Results (I)

- Duration

- Distance

- Time-of-day

- Classifier

- Shape

Semantic preferences of drive (=journey) when preceded by determiner + premodification

33 3023

EVALUATIO

DIST. /

DURATION

DISTANCE

TIME-o

CLASSIFIE

Semanticassociations of def.article + drive

Semanticassociations ofindef. article + drive

Definite article + pre-modification + drive (=journey)

ho had suggested the ill-fated drive to Burford, the man whoI've had the most embarrassing drive of my life! The car fadnd and make the slow, crawling drive across town to his home and plentiful. After the long drive a good soak was just whcate herself. During the short drive back to the inn they werivin'." He dozed on the short drive, but unfortunately he w

ich to make the fifteen-minute drive to the campus each day.ad tormented him for the whole drive back to Perugia. How coly that the fourteen-kilometre drive from the airport was sobus for the thirteen-kilometre drive to the city. She was foefence. During the twenty-mile drive, once he had left his o

peak much during the afternoon drive. And they didn't stop te exhaustion of the long night drive up the coast, but I sud

arily, as he began the curving drive down the east side of t

Indefinite article + pre-modification + drive (=journey)

e pillion. It was a hard, fast drive through the congested s ot. No. I want a nice peaceful drive across the fields, than ime for a pleasant comfortable drive to Carpendens Court. Sh

his back on her. It was a long drive from the airport, made uting now, "It'll be a longish drive; ask Mary to put somethhe belonged to. It was a short drive from the city. Harvey hholiday more than a three-hour drive from here, he thought, house was only a few minutes' drive away from the river. Fr the cab. It was a thirty-mile drive. They took the side roandscreen after a thousand-mile drive, stained with the black wished to go for an afternoon drive around the local villagore you set off for an evening drive?&equo; He shook his heae took me out in it for a test drive. Yes, that's it. We wern it!" He took them for a test drive and then Mrs Lomax drov

his back on her. It was a long drive from the airport, made uting now, "It'll be a longish drive; ask Mary to put somethhe belonged to. It was a short drive from the city. Harvey hholiday more than a three-hour drive from here, he thought, house was only a few minutes' drive away from the river. Fr the cab. It was a thirty-mile drive. They took the side roandscreen after a thousand-mile drive, stained with the black wished to go for an afternoon drive around the local villagore you set off for an evening drive?&equo; He shook his hea e took me out in it for a test drive. Yes, that's it. We wern it!" He took them for a test drive and then Mrs Lomax drov

Results (II)

• Determiner + pre-mod. + drive (=private road)

Results (II)

• Determiner + pre-mod. + drive (=private road)

Results (II)

• Determiner + pre-mod. + drive (=private road)- Size

- Material

- Attribute

- Shape

- Classifier

- Part-of

- Position

- Possession

Results (II)

- Material

- Attribute

- Shape

- Classifier

- Part-of

- Position

- Possession

Results (II)

- Material

- Attribute

- Shape

- Classifier

- Part-of

- Position

- Possession

Semantic preferences of drive (=private road) when preceded by determiner + premodification

3726 21

4 11 11 7

ATTRIBUTE

CLASSIFIE

PART-OF

POSITIO

POSSESSION

Semanticassociations of def.article + drive

Semanticassociations ofindef. article + drive

Definite article + pre-modification + drive (=private road)

&equo; They drove up the short drive, past a lodge with a rod outside on the wide circular drive carriages would have lohing in plastic? The gravelled drive split into two; one braed loudly on the frozen gravel drive. An orderly at the door squealing on the loose gravel drive. Tight-lipped, she drov walked with her down the dark drive and took her as far as isurely fashion down the shady drive. Suddenly Cora-Beth stoaring out into the sun-dappled drive flanked by swaying treenockglen, along the tree-lined drive of the convent through a turned down the long curving drive of the house, pulled thd the Porsche down the winding drive to Tavey Grange. Leonor slope. Besides the long access drive that climbed into the trtible nipped into the private drive to the apartment block

ry was coming down the factory drive. But behind the wheel wAt the bottom, where the hotel drive met the highway, he hal toy, coming fast up the house drive before turning sharplyis walk home where the rectory drive curved and the bushes g as they drove up the adjoining drive and felt a surge of verhe strolled out into the front drive, Mr McWhirter was being On his way he passed the main drive, and he could see that a carriage came round the rear drive of the Hall and, after er driving up the Dersingham's drive on Saturday morning? Mivia turned into the Fourniers' drive she saw that she had befter appearing in the Julians' drive on Friday night? The sarefully up the twisting canyon drive, and began to die insi

Indefinite article + pre-modification + drive (=private road)

inted cream, with a wide dusty drive approaching from the leuse Ruth had ever seen. A long drive curved towards a three-and latticed windows. A narrow drive ran through a garden th narrow approach lane a gravel drive swung round to the side, "Georgian" windows, a tarmac drive and double garage, a bue slowly down a narrow asphalt drive between the southern wa n gates up a steeply ascending drive past lawns on several das an entrance to a tree-lined drive. She turned in, then fea sopping weed-infested gravel drive, and pulled up in the s road, approached by a winding drive flanked by poplars, it t yellow rape. A flat concrete drive on the left of the housding smoothly up a huge curved drive towards a house whose l, was in fact almost a private drive used by the Rector and

Conclusions (I)

The semantic associations of drive (=journey) are different to those of drive (=private road) and vice versa:

- Drive (=journey) co-occurs predominantly with members of the categories of DISTANCE / DURATION and EVALUATION; also of DISTANCE and DURATION,

while- Drive (=private road) co-occurs predominantly with

members of the categories of SIZE and MATERIAL; also of SHAPE and ATTRIBUTE.

Potential Primings (II)

As a next step I checked what tends to immediately precede the sequence

determiner + (pre-modification) + drive.

Results (III)

PREP. + a (pre-mod.) drive (=journey) 41%

PREP. + the (pre-mod.) drive (=journey) 58%

PREP. + a (pre-mod.) drive (=private road) 67%

PREP. + the (pre-mod.) drive (=private road)

Results (III)

PREP. + a/an 33%

PREP. + the 52%

In order to check if this indeed has to do with the word’s sense, I turned to look at some of its co-hyponyms when they occur in a sequence of determiner + (pre-modification) + co-hyponym

street

avenue

Results (III)

PREP. + a (a/an...) street 75%

PREP. + the (…) street 87%

PREP. + a (a/an...) lane 71%

PREP. + the (…) lane 86%

PREP. + an (a/an...) alley 75%

PREP. + the (…) alley 85%

Results (III)

PREP. + a (a/an...) road 52%

PREP. + the (…) road 78%

PREP. + an (a/an...) avenue 52%

PREP. + the (…) avenue 83%

e fence came closer. There was a road on the other side. Note can't have vanished? There's a road just opposite he must' V Through the sand, there was a road. One day, Bonney decideft in the restaurants. It was a road on the way up, this Mared. "Perhaps. "Tis too narrow a road to be guarded by a casly clear of vegetation. It was a road. To their left it led

andled, used, of value only as an avenue to her papa's wealt" he said bracingly, "is a new avenue or fresh look at an olbe said. Flight was a possible avenue and he must not overlo secret stores, where a likely avenue of attack comes in ove

There BE a

It BE a

Results (III)

So, bearing in mind that• In the entire BNC written fiction part

- PREP. + a/an 33%- PREP. + the 52%

- PREP. + a (an…) drive (=priv. road) 67%- PREP. + the (…) drive (=priv. road) 85%

The above co-hyponyms of drive (=priv. road) all show striking similarities with drive (=private road) in terms of their colligational preferences as regards the sequence X + det. + Y, where Y is one of drive, road, street, alley, lane, avenue.

Conclusions (II)

There appears to be a priming for the sequence determiner + (pre-modification) + drive (=private road) to be immediately preceded by a preposition.

Furthermore, there are strong indications of very little overlap in terms of the prepositions preceding each of the two senses:

- the prepositions across, along, down, in, into, up co-occur exclusively with drive (=private road)

- the prepositions after, during, throughout co-occur exclusively with drive (=journey).

Conclusions (III)

LP claim:• Two similarly common senses will avoid each

other’s primings.

Semantic associations:Confirmed on both the level of language production and the level of language processing.

Colligational patterns:Confirmed on the level of language production, results on the level of language processing still pending.

Thank you!

And the AHRC for funding this research.

Aston Corpus PG Conference 22 May 2008

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