基于语料库的SUBJECT TO,PURSUANT TO,IN ACCORDANCE WITH语义韵对比研究

A Corpus-Based Study of Semantic Prosody with Reference to Subject to,Pursuant to and In accordance with

合同文本中,subject to、pursuant to、in accordance with常用作同义/近义词表达当事人行事之依据,多被翻译成“根据”,但实际上三者的搭配和使用语境大有差异。该文在自建合同语料库的基础上,以数据驱动的研究方法,以三者为节点词,考察其搭配行为、语义倾向和语义韵。研究发现,三者虽为近义词,但实际使用中搭配、语义倾向和语义韵均存在明显差异:subject to多与权力授权、行为约束类语义范畴词语搭配,积极、中性和消极语义韵俱全,以中性居多,但与消极涵义搭配词共现的频数显著高于其他两词;pursuant to多与“具体条款+编号”搭配,in accordance with较多与法规、规则规范类词语搭配,二者都表现出极低的消极语义韵,前者带有一定的积极语义韵强度,后者中性语义韵占绝对地位。

In contracts,the three phrases,i.e.subject to,pursuant to and in accordance with,are often used,mostly as synonyms,to signify the base upon which the parties thereto act.However,the three vary from each other noticeably in terms of collocation and context.To tell the difference between them three,the current study is based on a self-built contract corpus,following the data-driven approach to investigate their collocation,semantic preference and prosody.It is found that the three,synonymous as they are,differ from each other in terms of collocation,semantic preference and prosody."Subject to"tends to collocate with words that are power-or authorization-related or constraint-implied,demonstrating a mixed semantic prosody of positive,neutral and negative polarities."Pursuant to"tends to collocate with the pattern of"clause+No."while"in accordance with"usually goes with words indicating laws,regulations or specifications.Both of them carry remarkably low negative prosodies.However,the former is found to carry a certain proportion of positive prosodies while the latter is dominated by neutral prosodies.