Corpora-Based Comparative Analysis of Synonyms “Situation, Environment and Circumstance”

Sun Jing; Yin Zhuhui

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15

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Corpora-Based Comparative Analysis of Synonyms “Situation, Environment and Circumstance”

Sun Jing, Yin Zhuhui

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 8, Issue 4)

Received: 7 May 2020 Accepted: 25 May 2020 Published: 4 June 2020

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Abstract

This study compares the frequency, collocation and semantic prosody of situation, environment and circumstance in Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners (WECCL). Vocabulary is the cornerstone of second language learning and its development is one of the hot topics in second language acquisition researches. Huge in size, subtle in semantic difference and often presented in minimal contexts, synonyms in English remain a permanent challenge for Chinese English learners. Traditional synonym differentiation usually relies on item-by-item analysis of lexical meanings and introspective qualitative methods like intuition, experience, etc. However, in practice, such guesswork is far from satisfactory. With the rapid development of information technology, corpus linguistics provides a key to the study of synonyms. Based on corpus data, this paper compares and analyzes the selected synonyms using Antconc, Chi-square Calculator and BFSU Collocator. Findings indicate: 1) In terms of use frequency, Chinese students tend to overuse synonyms compared with native speakers; 2) In terms of salient collocations, Chinese students use the synonyms with lots of semantic ambiguity but few collocation types; 3) In terms of semantic prosody, on the Chinese students’ side, inadequate accuracy is comparatively conspicuous as well as semantic prosody misuse. Preliminary cause analysis points to two main factors influencing Chinese students’ mastery of synonyms, respectively L1 negative transfer and the misleading effect of Chinese-English dictionaries. Based on the above analysis, this paper puts forward some suggestions for teaching synonyms and compiling dictionaries.

Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 8, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15
Page(s)	206-216
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Corpus, Synonyms, Frequency, Collocation, Semantic Prosody

References

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[2]	Saeed, J. (2000). Semantics. Beijing Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
[3]	Harward, J & Etienne, Z. (2000). Words, Meaning and Vocabulary. London: Wellington House.
[4]	Hoey, M. (2005). Lexical Priming: A New Theory of Words and Language. London & New York: Routledge. International Journal of Lexicography, 19 (3): 327-335.
[5]	Shahzadi, A., Asghar, A. &Javed, A. (2019). Effectiveness of Corpus in Teaching English Synonyms. Corporum: Journal of Corpus Linguistics- CJCL, 2 (1): 51-65.
[6]	Lu, J. (2010). Corpus-Based Study on the Collocation Features and Semantic Prosody In EFL Learners’ Use of Synonyms. Modern Foreign Languages 33 (3): 276-286.
[7]	Sun, L. (2017) A New Interpretation of Semantic Prosody Features in Chinese EFL Learners Use of Synonyms ----Comparing affect and influence. Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies (1): 57-61.
[8]	He, A. P. (1997). On Corpus Linguistics. Journal of Foreign Languages (5): 22-27.
[9]	Kennedy, G. (1998). An introduction to corpus linguistics. London: Longman.
[10]	Sinclair, J. (1991). Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[11]	Louw, B. (1993). Irony in the text or insincerity in the writer? The diagnostic potential of semantic prosodies. In M. Baker, G. Francis and E. Tognini-Bonelli (eds.) Text and Technology: In Honour of John Sinclair (pp. 157-176) Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
[12]	Stubbs, M. (1995). Collocations and semantic profiles: On the cause of trouble with quantitative studies: Functions of language, 2 (1): 23-25.
[13]	Sinclair, J. (1996). The Search for Units of Meaning. Textus IX: 75-106.
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[15]	Wen, Q. F. (2008). Spoken and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners (2.0). Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
[16]	Liang, M. C. (2010). Using Corpora: A Practical Coursebook. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
[17]	Ellis, R. (1999). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press.
[18]	Guo, J. (2007). A Survey on the Needs and Use of College English Dictionary. Education and Vocation (12): 168-169.
[19]	Potter, S. (1959). Our Language. London: William Clowes and Sons Ltd.
[20]	Thornbury, S. (2002). How to Teach Vocabulary. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

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Sun Jing, Yin Zhuhui. (2020). Corpora-Based Comparative Analysis of Synonyms “Situation, Environment and Circumstance”. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 8(4), 206-216. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15

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Sun Jing; Yin Zhuhui. Corpora-Based Comparative Analysis of Synonyms “Situation, Environment and Circumstance”. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2020, 8(4), 206-216. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15

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AMA Style

Sun Jing, Yin Zhuhui. Corpora-Based Comparative Analysis of Synonyms “Situation, Environment and Circumstance”. Int J Lit Arts. 2020;8(4):206-216. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15,
  author = {Sun Jing and Yin Zhuhui},
  title = {Corpora-Based Comparative Analysis of Synonyms “Situation, Environment and Circumstance”},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {8},
  number = {4},
  pages = {206-216},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20200804.15},
  abstract = {This study compares the frequency, collocation and semantic prosody of situation, environment and circumstance in Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners (WECCL). Vocabulary is the cornerstone of second language learning and its development is one of the hot topics in second language acquisition researches. Huge in size, subtle in semantic difference and often presented in minimal contexts, synonyms in English remain a permanent challenge for Chinese English learners. Traditional synonym differentiation usually relies on item-by-item analysis of lexical meanings and introspective qualitative methods like intuition, experience, etc. However, in practice, such guesswork is far from satisfactory. With the rapid development of information technology, corpus linguistics provides a key to the study of synonyms. Based on corpus data, this paper compares and analyzes the selected synonyms using Antconc, Chi-square Calculator and BFSU Collocator. Findings indicate: 1) In terms of use frequency, Chinese students tend to overuse synonyms compared with native speakers; 2) In terms of salient collocations, Chinese students use the synonyms with lots of semantic ambiguity but few collocation types; 3) In terms of semantic prosody, on the Chinese students’ side, inadequate accuracy is comparatively conspicuous as well as semantic prosody misuse. Preliminary cause analysis points to two main factors influencing Chinese students’ mastery of synonyms, respectively L1 negative transfer and the misleading effect of Chinese-English dictionaries. Based on the above analysis, this paper puts forward some suggestions for teaching synonyms and compiling dictionaries.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Corpora-Based Comparative Analysis of Synonyms “Situation, Environment and Circumstance”
AU  - Sun Jing
AU  - Yin Zhuhui
Y1  - 2020/06/04
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 206
EP  - 216
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15
AB  - This study compares the frequency, collocation and semantic prosody of situation, environment and circumstance in Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners (WECCL). Vocabulary is the cornerstone of second language learning and its development is one of the hot topics in second language acquisition researches. Huge in size, subtle in semantic difference and often presented in minimal contexts, synonyms in English remain a permanent challenge for Chinese English learners. Traditional synonym differentiation usually relies on item-by-item analysis of lexical meanings and introspective qualitative methods like intuition, experience, etc. However, in practice, such guesswork is far from satisfactory. With the rapid development of information technology, corpus linguistics provides a key to the study of synonyms. Based on corpus data, this paper compares and analyzes the selected synonyms using Antconc, Chi-square Calculator and BFSU Collocator. Findings indicate: 1) In terms of use frequency, Chinese students tend to overuse synonyms compared with native speakers; 2) In terms of salient collocations, Chinese students use the synonyms with lots of semantic ambiguity but few collocation types; 3) In terms of semantic prosody, on the Chinese students’ side, inadequate accuracy is comparatively conspicuous as well as semantic prosody misuse. Preliminary cause analysis points to two main factors influencing Chinese students’ mastery of synonyms, respectively L1 negative transfer and the misleading effect of Chinese-English dictionaries. Based on the above analysis, this paper puts forward some suggestions for teaching synonyms and compiling dictionaries.
VL  - 8
IS  - 4
ER  -

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Author Information

Sun Jing

School of Foreign Studies, Beijing Information Science & Technology University, Beijing, China
Yin Zhuhui

School of Foreign Studies, Beijing Information Science & Technology University, Beijing, China

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APA Style

Sun Jing, Yin Zhuhui. (2020). Corpora-Based Comparative Analysis of Synonyms “Situation, Environment and Circumstance”. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 8(4), 206-216. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15

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ACS Style

Sun Jing; Yin Zhuhui. Corpora-Based Comparative Analysis of Synonyms “Situation, Environment and Circumstance”. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2020, 8(4), 206-216. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15

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AMA Style

Sun Jing, Yin Zhuhui. Corpora-Based Comparative Analysis of Synonyms “Situation, Environment and Circumstance”. Int J Lit Arts. 2020;8(4):206-216. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15,
  author = {Sun Jing and Yin Zhuhui},
  title = {Corpora-Based Comparative Analysis of Synonyms “Situation, Environment and Circumstance”},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {8},
  number = {4},
  pages = {206-216},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20200804.15},
  abstract = {This study compares the frequency, collocation and semantic prosody of situation, environment and circumstance in Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners (WECCL). Vocabulary is the cornerstone of second language learning and its development is one of the hot topics in second language acquisition researches. Huge in size, subtle in semantic difference and often presented in minimal contexts, synonyms in English remain a permanent challenge for Chinese English learners. Traditional synonym differentiation usually relies on item-by-item analysis of lexical meanings and introspective qualitative methods like intuition, experience, etc. However, in practice, such guesswork is far from satisfactory. With the rapid development of information technology, corpus linguistics provides a key to the study of synonyms. Based on corpus data, this paper compares and analyzes the selected synonyms using Antconc, Chi-square Calculator and BFSU Collocator. Findings indicate: 1) In terms of use frequency, Chinese students tend to overuse synonyms compared with native speakers; 2) In terms of salient collocations, Chinese students use the synonyms with lots of semantic ambiguity but few collocation types; 3) In terms of semantic prosody, on the Chinese students’ side, inadequate accuracy is comparatively conspicuous as well as semantic prosody misuse. Preliminary cause analysis points to two main factors influencing Chinese students’ mastery of synonyms, respectively L1 negative transfer and the misleading effect of Chinese-English dictionaries. Based on the above analysis, this paper puts forward some suggestions for teaching synonyms and compiling dictionaries.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Corpora-Based Comparative Analysis of Synonyms “Situation, Environment and Circumstance”
AU  - Sun Jing
AU  - Yin Zhuhui
Y1  - 2020/06/04
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 206
EP  - 216
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200804.15
AB  - This study compares the frequency, collocation and semantic prosody of situation, environment and circumstance in Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners (WECCL). Vocabulary is the cornerstone of second language learning and its development is one of the hot topics in second language acquisition researches. Huge in size, subtle in semantic difference and often presented in minimal contexts, synonyms in English remain a permanent challenge for Chinese English learners. Traditional synonym differentiation usually relies on item-by-item analysis of lexical meanings and introspective qualitative methods like intuition, experience, etc. However, in practice, such guesswork is far from satisfactory. With the rapid development of information technology, corpus linguistics provides a key to the study of synonyms. Based on corpus data, this paper compares and analyzes the selected synonyms using Antconc, Chi-square Calculator and BFSU Collocator. Findings indicate: 1) In terms of use frequency, Chinese students tend to overuse synonyms compared with native speakers; 2) In terms of salient collocations, Chinese students use the synonyms with lots of semantic ambiguity but few collocation types; 3) In terms of semantic prosody, on the Chinese students’ side, inadequate accuracy is comparatively conspicuous as well as semantic prosody misuse. Preliminary cause analysis points to two main factors influencing Chinese students’ mastery of synonyms, respectively L1 negative transfer and the misleading effect of Chinese-English dictionaries. Based on the above analysis, this paper puts forward some suggestions for teaching synonyms and compiling dictionaries.
VL  - 8
IS  - 4
ER  -

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