英语近义词缀的语义倾向研究及可视化呈现——以后缀-proof和-resistant在COHA和GloWbE语料库中的用法为例

A Study on the Semantic Preference of English Near-Synonymous Affixes and Its Visualization:Taking the Usage of Suffixes-Proof and-Resistant in COHA and GloWbE as an Example

本研究主要基于COHA和GloWbE语料库,使用语言动态图和共变词项分析的方法,对与近义后缀-proof和-resistant连用的名词词干的频数分布及语义倾向进行探究。研究结果表明:N-proof的名词词干涵盖了bullet、water、fire等各类与人们的日常生活息息相关的名词,该构式后面主要接服饰类名词;而N-resistant的名词词干主要为drug、antibiotic、methicillin等生物医药类名词,该构式后面主要接细菌类和材料类名词。在频数分布方面,在过去的二三十年间,N-resistant在美国英语中的使用频数显著上升,大有未来逐渐取代N-proof之势。在澳大利亚英语、新西兰英语等其他英语变体中,由于受到地理环境和社会文化因素的影响,与后缀-proof和-resistant连用的名词词干有时会呈现出鲜明的地域特征。就相互竞争的后缀而言,本研究表明类符阻碍和形符阻碍这两种机制很有可能同时存在。

Based on COHA and GloWbE,this study explores the frequency distribution and semantic preference on the nominal stems of two English near-synonymous suffixes-proof and-resistant by means of linguistic motion chart and covarying collexeme analysis.The results show that for N-proof,the nominal stems cover a wide variety of nouns related to our daily life,including words such as bullet,water and fire,and this construction is mainly followed by costume nouns,whereas for N-resistant,its first slot is usually filled by biomedical nouns such as drug,antibiotic and methicillin,and it is mainly followed by nouns related to bacteria or material.In terms of frequency distribution,during the past 20 to 30 years,N-resistant increases sharply in American English,and it may well substitute for N-proof in the near future.In other English varieties such as Australian English and New Zealand English,due to geographical and sociocultural factors,the nominal stems collocating with these two suffixes sometimes display unique regional features.Lastly,in terms of suffix rivalry,this study shows that the two mechanisms of type-blocking and token-blocking may well co-exist.