Papers by CARMEN PORTERO MUÑOZ
English language and linguistics, May 3, 2024
Time-measurement expressions such as five-year plan, 10 years’ time and 25 years service occur fr... more Time-measurement expressions such as five-year plan, 10 years’ time and 25 years service occur frequently in English. All such expressions consist of a cardinal numeral, followed by a time-noun (N1) then a second noun (N2). The time-noun has one of three orthographic forms: the bare-form, the S-form with apostrophe or the S-form without apostrophe. Using a dataset of 17591 time-measurement tokens from the British National Corpus and mixed-effects logistic regression modelling, this chapter tests the hypothesis that these three orthographic forms represent three different constructions. Our first model, using only expressions with S-form N1, shows that the presence or absence of an apostrophe is not correlated with any other formal or semantic property that would justify the recognition of two constructions. In contrast, our second model using the whole dataset, shows that bare-form N1 and S-form N1 (with or without apostrophe) are highly correlated with aspects of both form and mean...
The choice of the topic of ‘noun + noun ’ compounds for my paper has been motivated by the realiz... more The choice of the topic of ‘noun + noun ’ compounds for my paper has been motivated by the realization that there are relevant aspects to which the FG conception of morphology pays very little attention. One of these is compounding. To my knowledge, with the exception of the account on noun incorporation (Dik 1980,
Alfinge. Revista de Filología, 1997
Open Linguistics, 2018
The functions of the simple past and the present perfect appear to be well delimited in English a... more The functions of the simple past and the present perfect appear to be well delimited in English according to prescriptive grammars. However, in actual use their distribution is still a challenging area of English linguistics since there are fuzzy cases in which this distinction is blurred. For example, in some varieties of English the present perfect seems to be taking over the role of the simple past to express definite past in narratives, where the simple past is the default tense. In these cases, the use of the present perfect has been regarded to be functionally motivated by the speaker’s intention to highlight the current relevance of the event expressed by this form (Ritz, 2010, Walker, 2011). The main objective of this research will be to use the results of corpus analysis and of the relevant studies on this topic and to propose an FDG analysis of these data. It will be concluded that the use of the present perfect in narratives has various functions captured at two different...
Journal of English Studies, 2011
In this paper it will be argued that there are two different and equally relevant factors interve... more In this paper it will be argued that there are two different and equally relevant factors intervening in the creation and interpretation of noun-noun sequences in English. On the one hand, the concepts denoted by the nouns involved will determine some preferences to combine with other nouns, since certain semantic relations are cognitively salient with each semantic type of noun and are therefore privileged. By means of corpus data it will be shown that there are two main types of conceptual relations holding between the two nouns in a sequence, depending on the semantics of the nouns, namely argument relations and adverbial relations. On the other hand, it will be claimed that conceptual combination is a dynamic process that must take context (either world-knowledge, co-text, or situational context) into account.
Linguistics, 2016
This article explores the use of affix-like elements of dubious status in word formation and prop... more This article explores the use of affix-like elements of dubious status in word formation and proposes an analysis within Functional Discourse Grammar (Hengeveld and Mackenzie 2008.
Lingua, 2016
The aim of this paper is to shed new light on the various discourse uses of viewpoint adverbs in-... more The aim of this paper is to shed new light on the various discourse uses of viewpoint adverbs in-wise and to provide an account within the Functional Discourse Grammar model. Semantically, adverbs in-wise are generally regarded as identifying a relevant point of reference in respect of which the clause derives its truth value, that is, the scope of viewpoint adverbs is not the phrase but the whole clause. However, a closer look at their use in larger stretches of discourse and in conversational contexts reveals several functions other than restricting the scope of the proposition. The main concern of this paper will be to disentangle the semantics and discourse functions of this type of adverbs and to propose how they can be accounted for using the FDG architecture.
Estudios De Filologia Inglesa Iv Actas De Las Iv Jornadas De Filologia Inglesa Cordoba Octubre 2001 2004 Isbn 84 7801 715 1 Pags 79 94, 2004
Babel Afial Aspectos De Filologia Inglesa Y Alemana, 2001
Cien Anos De Investigacion Semantica De Michel Breal a La Actualidad Actas Del Congreso Internacional De Semantica Vol 2 2000 Isbn 84 7882 434 0 Pags 1523 1536, 2000
Atlantis
The aim of this article is to study the creation and use of noun-noun sequences with euphemistic ... more The aim of this article is to study the creation and use of noun-noun sequences with euphemistic purposes. A euphemism is traditionally regarded as the replacement of an unpleasant or offensive signifier by another that functions as a 'veil' thrown over the signified. To the extent that noun-noun sequences often require contextual hints or the activation of certain conceptual metaphors and/ or metonymies, they can be used as euphemistic resources to refer to specific unpleasant concepts. The study of the creation and use of noun-noun sequences will be focused on the specific context of the global financial crisis and related unpopular political facts.
This paper offers a proposal for the treatment of English Adjective-Noun sequences within Functio... more This paper offers a proposal for the treatment of English Adjective-Noun sequences within Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG). Adjective-Noun sequences illustrate the unresolved problem of distinguishing between compounds and phrases. It will be shown that stress, as well as other diagnostic criteria like the acceptance of the pro-one construction, fail to draw a clear distinction between a morphological and a syntactic construction. The contention in this paper is that there is not a strict division but a gradual distinction generated at the Conceptual component, where the decision on the function of a linguistic expression is made. More specifically, it will be proposed that the different types of Adjective-Noun sequences can be explained by means of the semantic frames that FDG postulates at the Representational level, in particular by means of the distinction between Property modification and modification of an Individual.
Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 2013
The aim of this paper is to question the relevance of the complement-modifier distinction in Noun... more The aim of this paper is to question the relevance of the complement-modifier distinction in Noun-Noun sequences. It will be argued that neither syntactic nor semantic criteria provide a completely reliable basis for the distinction between complement and modifier in the context of post-head complements or modifiers and even less so in the case of nominal complements or modifiers in pre-head position, i.e. in Noun-Noun sequences. More specifically, it will be contended that the distinction between complements and modifiers in Noun-Noun sequences cannot be held on cognitive grounds either. With this aim it will firstly be shown that there are different types of associations between the two nouns in Noun-Noun sequences, namely thematic-relation associations (e.g. food shopping) and peripheral associations (e.g. strip shopping). Secondly, evidence will be provided to show that, in spite of the fact that these various associations may correspond to our intuitions about the complement-mo...
Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 2014
The noun head is commonly found in the second position of many English noun compounds. Typically,... more The noun head is commonly found in the second position of many English noun compounds. Typically, noun compounds with head in the right are endocentric formations, that is, composite forms which designate a more specific type of the concept denoted by head (e.g. pinhead). The noun head is also found in a significant number of so called ‘exocentric’ formations with a variety of interconnected meanings (e.g. airhead, acidhead, Potterhead). The different exocentric patterns where head participates raise questions about the grammatical status of this element, which is sometimes analysed as a suffixal element, illustrating the fuzzy boundaries between derivation and compounding. In the linguistic literature there is an extensive debate as to whether processes like this one are to be regarded as cases of grammaticalization or lexicalisation. In this paper it will be proposed that exocentric formations in -head are suitable for an analysis using a schema-based approach in Ryder’s (1994) fa...
This dataset is based on a set of sentences extracted from the <i>British National Corpus &... more This dataset is based on a set of sentences extracted from the <i>British National Corpus </i>(BNC).<i> </i>Each sentence includes one or more time-measurement expressions consisting of a cardinal numeral followed by a time noun, then a second noun, with or without an intervening modifier or modifiers. Semantically, the combination of the numeral plus time noun represents a measurable quantity of the second noun. Here are some examples: · That meant she had a good <i>eight hours' start</i> before anyone need even think about her absence. (BNC FNT 13)· Students who undertake the <i>four-year sandwich course</i> spend the third year in industrial placement. (BNC B3C 1798)· An optional <i>10-minute speed test</i> (2105) may be taken by candidates entering for the proficiency examination, without additional fee. (BNC HBP 2000)· It is worth reflecting what a most remarkable contribution women have made to Save The Children t...
Open Linguistics
This article seeks to explore the function and linguistic status of non-central members of the cl... more This article seeks to explore the function and linguistic status of non-central members of the class of “degree words,” focusing on specific cases in English and Spanish, namely, the English adverbs way and proper, the Spanish trendy phrase “Adj no, lo siguiente” and the adverb muy. These intensifiers will be explored in the light of the architecture of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG), specifically in relation to the levels of linguistic representation that are distinguished in this theory, mainly the Interpersonal (or pragmatic) Level (IL) and the Representational (or semantic) Level (RL) and in terms of FDG’s distinction between lexical and grammatical units. It will be shown that the various functional properties of these expressions can be easily accommodated in this theory. As intensifying devices, these expressions are represented as units specifying the Lexical Property at the RL. In addition, some of these expressions can be used with an emphatic function, pertaining to t...
Uploads
Papers by CARMEN PORTERO MUÑOZ