Argentina, Eat Your Cows Out! Lexical Substitution in English and Japanese Heart Idioms

Carey Benom

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Chapter 15 Argentina, Eat Your Cows Out! Lexical Substitution in English and Japanese Heart Idioms

In: Embodiment in Cross-Linguistic Studies

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Carey Benom

Carey Benom
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 369–391

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004548640_017

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Abstract

This chapter reports on the results of a corpus-based study of lexical substitution, which is one type of idiomatic creativity, examining which terms are utilized by speakers as creative substitutes for the lexemes heart in English idioms and kokoro and shin in Japanese idioms. I attempt to motivate the choice of these particular terms, to establish what their use reveals about the meaning of heart in these idioms, and to develop a preliminary taxonomy of the range of semantic categories of lexical substitution in idioms (in which I argue that there are five categories of lexical substitution based on the semantic relationship between the original lexeme and the lexeme that replaced it, and label these categories synonymy, antonymy, analogy, providing an alternative, and assigning a cause).

Additionally, I show that the specific meaning of an idiom employed with a lexical substitute is determined by three factors: the semantics contributed by the substituted term in the context of the idiom; the relationship of form and meaning in the idiom (based on the typology given in Nunberg et al. 1994), and the specific context of use. Finally, I note that the English results were plentiful, but the Japanese results were not, and ask why this may be the case, testing the hypothesis that heart forms a core element in the idioms in Japanese, and therefore is not easily replaced. Results provide limited support for this hypothesis.

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Embodiment in Cross-Linguistic Studies

The ‘Heart’

Series: Brill's Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture, Volume: 37

Cover Embodiment in Cross-Linguistic Studies

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004548640

Publisher:: BRILL

Print Publication Date:: 25 Aug 2023

Front Matter

Part 1 Cognitive Linguistic and Cultural Linguistic Approaches

Part 2 Lexicographic and Other Formal Approaches

Back Matter

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Chapter 15 Argentina, Eat Your Cows Out! Lexical Substitution in English and Japanese Heart Idioms

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Embodiment in Cross-Linguistic Studies

The ‘Heart’

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