Paradigm Split

Pam Peters

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Paradigm Split

In: Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory

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Pam Peters

Pam Peters Macquarie University

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 301–312

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004490758_025

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Abstract

This study addresses a set of ongoing questions about the two systems of comparison (synthetic or analytic) for English disyllabic adjectives. Data on 60 common adjectives was extracted from the British National ·Corpus, and instances of the two systems were correlated with comparative and superlative usage, in each of a set of morphophonemic groups. The results showed that synthetic comparison was the common pattern among both -y and -Iy adjectives in the comparative as well as superlative, though the trends were never 100% and there were some outstanding exceptions, such as likely in the -ly group. Yet many adjectives - whatever their dominant pattern of comparison - showed a relatively higher rate for synthetic comparison with superlatives than with comparatives. In 16% of the adjectives examined (dubbed “crossovers”) this differential is so pronounced as to mean that they usually form superlatives in the opposite way to the comparative. This confirms that the pattern of comparison is not necessarily fixed for a particular adjective, and that morphophonemic identity is in tension with syntactic and syntagmatic pressures. Certain collocations such as “cruellest month”/“deadliest poison” promote the use of the superlative, which evidently has particularly affective and rhetorical value. The data examined did not support the notion that the spoken medium promotes the use of synthetic forms of comparison.

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Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory

Papers from the Twentieth International Conference on English Language Research on Computerized Corpora (ICAME 20) Freiburg im Breisgau 1999

Series: Language and Computers, Volume: 33

Cover Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004490758

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 01 Jan 2000

Subjects
- Languages and Linguistics
  - Applied Linguistics

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Paradigm Split

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Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory

Papers from the Twentieth International Conference on English Language Research on Computerized Corpora (ICAME 20) Freiburg im Breisgau 1999

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