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A corpus investigation: the similarities and differences of cute, pretty and beautiful

Since the introduction of computers in corpus linguistics, analyses of language has transformed into a more reliable guide to language than native speaker intuition. When disagreements between speakers’ intuition arise over the meaning and usage of words, an analysis of corpora can provide further...

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Main Authors: Tan, Hai Ly, Chae, Kwan Jung
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM 2015
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9073/1/8788-27897-1-PB.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9073/
http://ejournal.ukm.my/3l
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spelling my-ukm.journal.90732016-12-14T06:48:53Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9073/ A corpus investigation: the similarities and differences of cute, pretty and beautiful Tan, Hai Ly Chae, Kwan Jung Since the introduction of computers in corpus linguistics, analyses of language has transformed into a more reliable guide to language than native speaker intuition. When disagreements between speakers’ intuition arise over the meaning and usage of words, an analysis of corpora can provide further insight on the characteristics of the words in question. In this study, a corpus analysis is conducted to investigate the similarities and differences in the use of cute, pretty and beautiful using the Bank of English (BoE). The investigation specifically looked at the frequency, collocation, semantic preference, semantic prosody and phraseology of the adjectives. The results show that similarities found between pretty and beautiful, according to these aspects, indicate that these two words may be the most synonymous pair of the three. However, the findings suggest that pretty and beautiful are far from being completely synonymous and do not have the same usage in all contexts. The analysis demonstrates that uncertainties a speaker may have regarding language use may be clarified by referring to corpora. Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM 2015 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9073/1/8788-27897-1-PB.pdf Tan, Hai Ly and Chae, Kwan Jung (2015) A corpus investigation: the similarities and differences of cute, pretty and beautiful. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 21 (3). pp. 125-140. ISSN 0128-5157 http://ejournal.ukm.my/3l
institution Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
building Perpustakaan Tun Sri Lanang Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
content_source UKM Journal Article Repository
url_provider http://journalarticle.ukm.my/
language English
description Since the introduction of computers in corpus linguistics, analyses of language has transformed into a more reliable guide to language than native speaker intuition. When disagreements between speakers’ intuition arise over the meaning and usage of words, an analysis of corpora can provide further insight on the characteristics of the words in question. In this study, a corpus analysis is conducted to investigate the similarities and differences in the use of cute, pretty and beautiful using the Bank of English (BoE). The investigation specifically looked at the frequency, collocation, semantic preference, semantic prosody and phraseology of the adjectives. The results show that similarities found between pretty and beautiful, according to these aspects, indicate that these two words may be the most synonymous pair of the three. However, the findings suggest that pretty and beautiful are far from being completely synonymous and do not have the same usage in all contexts. The analysis demonstrates that uncertainties a speaker may have regarding language use may be clarified by referring to corpora.
format Article
author Tan, Hai Ly
Chae, Kwan Jung
spellingShingle Tan, Hai Ly
Chae, Kwan Jung
A corpus investigation: the similarities and differences of cute, pretty and beautiful
author_facet Tan, Hai Ly
Chae, Kwan Jung
author_sort Tan, Hai Ly
title A corpus investigation: the similarities and differences of cute, pretty and beautiful
title_short A corpus investigation: the similarities and differences of cute, pretty and beautiful
title_full A corpus investigation: the similarities and differences of cute, pretty and beautiful
title_fullStr A corpus investigation: the similarities and differences of cute, pretty and beautiful
title_full_unstemmed A corpus investigation: the similarities and differences of cute, pretty and beautiful
title_sort corpus investigation: the similarities and differences of cute, pretty and beautiful
publisher Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM
publishDate 2015
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9073/1/8788-27897-1-PB.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/9073/
http://ejournal.ukm.my/3l
_version_ 1643737674797809664
score 13.211869

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