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Discourse functions of antonymy: a cross-linguistic investigation of Swedish and English

Murphy, M. Lynne ; Paradis, Carita LU orcid ; Willners, Caroline LU and Jones, Steven (2009) In Journal of Pragmatics 41(11). p.2159-2184
Abstract
Jones (2002) identified several discourse functions of antonymy, each of which is loosely associated with a number of contrastive

constructions in written English. Subsequent work (Jones, 2006; Jones and Murphy, 2005; Murphy and Jones, 2008) demonstrated

that these functions are found in other modalities/registers of English, albeit with some differences in distribution. This article takes

a first step in exploring discourse functions of antonymy in a language other than English. Because binary contrast has the potential

to interact in different ways with the values and thought patterns of different cultures, we hypothesized that other languages differ

from English in the ways in which antonyms... (More)
Jones (2002) identified several discourse functions of antonymy, each of which is loosely associated with a number of contrastive

constructions in written English. Subsequent work (Jones, 2006; Jones and Murphy, 2005; Murphy and Jones, 2008) demonstrated

that these functions are found in other modalities/registers of English, albeit with some differences in distribution. This article takes

a first step in exploring discourse functions of antonymy in a language other than English. Because binary contrast has the potential

to interact in different ways with the values and thought patterns of different cultures, we hypothesized that other languages differ

from English in the ways in which antonyms are used in discourse.

In this study of antonyms in Swedish, translational near-equivalents of pairs used by Jones were searched in the Swedish Parole

corpus, and more than 4300 instances of co-occurring antonyms were found and analyzed in their sentential contexts. While the

same range of antonym discourse functions is found in English and Swedish, the proportions of those functions differ significantly

between the two languages. This paper both describes their functions (and the form of the functions) in Swedish and reflects on the

similarities and differences with English.We ascribe some of the differences to the idiomaticity of certain componential expressions

and discuss the possibility that certain cultural values affect some categories. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Discourse frame, Construction, Contrast, Opposition, Adjectives, Corpus
in
Journal of Pragmatics
volume
41
issue
11
pages
2159 - 2184
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000270626100003
  • scopus:69749114537
ISSN
0378-2166
DOI
10.1016/j.pragma.2008.09.040
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
dff115a0-5a42-41b4-a564-8a556af14ad0 (old id 1504467)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 10:30:47
date last changed
2023-11-15 22:34:18
@article{dff115a0-5a42-41b4-a564-8a556af14ad0,
  abstract     = {{Jones (2002) identified several discourse functions of antonymy, each of which is loosely associated with a number of contrastive<br/><br>
constructions in written English. Subsequent work (Jones, 2006; Jones and Murphy, 2005; Murphy and Jones, 2008) demonstrated<br/><br>
that these functions are found in other modalities/registers of English, albeit with some differences in distribution. This article takes<br/><br>
a first step in exploring discourse functions of antonymy in a language other than English. Because binary contrast has the potential<br/><br>
to interact in different ways with the values and thought patterns of different cultures, we hypothesized that other languages differ<br/><br>
from English in the ways in which antonyms are used in discourse.<br/><br>
In this study of antonyms in Swedish, translational near-equivalents of pairs used by Jones were searched in the Swedish Parole<br/><br>
corpus, and more than 4300 instances of co-occurring antonyms were found and analyzed in their sentential contexts. While the<br/><br>
same range of antonym discourse functions is found in English and Swedish, the proportions of those functions differ significantly<br/><br>
between the two languages. This paper both describes their functions (and the form of the functions) in Swedish and reflects on the<br/><br>
similarities and differences with English.We ascribe some of the differences to the idiomaticity of certain componential expressions<br/><br>
and discuss the possibility that certain cultural values affect some categories.}},
  author       = {{Murphy, M. Lynne and Paradis, Carita and Willners, Caroline and Jones, Steven}},
  issn         = {{0378-2166}},
  keywords     = {{Discourse frame; Construction; Contrast; Opposition; Adjectives; Corpus}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{11}},
  pages        = {{2159--2184}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Pragmatics}},
  title        = {{Discourse functions of antonymy: a cross-linguistic investigation of Swedish and English}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5556505/1504469.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.pragma.2008.09.040}},
  volume       = {{41}},
  year         = {{2009}},
}