Semantic Prosody: The phenomenom of "prosody" in lexical patterning

Yıl 2014, Cilt: 4 Sayı: 2, 76 - 83, 14.07.2016

Jason Fuqua

Öz

Abstract: The study of semantic prosody is new to the corpus linguistic field. It has become apparent through the current research that semantic prosody be integrated into English as a foreign language (EFL) and English as a second language (ESL) vocabulary learning, reading, writing and teaching. Semantic prosody, when taught explicitly, is valuable to the EFL/ESL teaching field to develop communicative competence among non-native English speakers (NNES). The different positive and negative connotations of specific words and their impact on NNES bilingual dictionaries are examined along with its effects on NNES written works. These findings give new insights into the teaching of semantic prosody. The results of the study suggest that if explicit instruction of semantic prosodic words and phrases in EFL/ESL vocabulary classes do not occur, then the results are a misuse of semantic prosodic words and phrases by NNES. Practical suggestions for EFL/ESL teaching of semantic prosody are provided.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Key words: semantic prosody, connotation, bilingual dictionaries, English language learners, vocabulary acquisition.

Kaynakça

• Ahmadian, M., Yazdani, H., & Darabi, A. (2011). Assessing English learners' knowledge of semantic prosody through a corpus-driven design of semantic prosody test. English Language Teaching, 4(4), 288-298. doi:10.5539/elt.v4n4p288
• Firth, J. (1957). Papers in linguistics, 1934-1951. London: Oxford University press. Ji, Y., We, J. (2000). Research into sematic prosody revisited. Journal of Xiamen University, 143, 63-68.
• Lee, S. (2011). Semantic prosody in bilingual dictionaries and EFL learners' sentence writings. English Teaching, 66(2), 253-272.
• Louw, B. (1993). Irony in the text or insincerity in the writer? The diagnostic potential of semantic prosodies. In M.
• Baker, G. Francis & E. Tognini-Bonelli (Eds.), Text and technology: In hounour of John Sinclair (pp. 157-176). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Louw, B. (2000). Contextual prosodic theory: Bringing semantic prosodies to life. In C. Heffer, H. Sauntson, & G. Fox (Eds.), Words in context: A tribute to John Sinclair on his retirement (pp.48-94). Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham.
• McGee, I. (2012). Should we teach prosodic awareness? RELC Journal, 43(2), 169-186. DOI: 10.1177/0033688212449485 Namvar, F., Mohd Nor, N., Ibrahim, N., & Mustafa, J. (2012). Analysis of collocations in the Iranian postgraduate students' writings. 3L: Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 18(1), 11-22.
• Nation, I.S.P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge University Press.
• Nation. I.S.P. (2008). Teaching vocabulary: Strategies and techniques. Heinle. Nesselhauf, N. (2003). The use of collocations by advanced learners of English and some implications for teaching. Applied Linguistics, 24(2), 223-242.
• Pan, F., & Peng, Y. (2003). Corpus-based analysis of semantic prosody and its applications. Contempary Linguistics. 5(4): 359-366.
• Pan, F. (2010). Lexical acquisition viewed from a contrastive analysis of collocational behavior of near synonyms. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 33(5), 52-64.
• Partington, A. (1998). Patterns and meanings. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Partington, A. (2009). A few frequently asked questions about semantic—or evaluative—prosody. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. 14(2), 139-158. Doi10.1075/ijcl.14.2.01
• Ping-Fang, Y., & Jing-Chun, C. (2009). Semantic prosody: A new perspective on lexicography. US-China Foreign Language, 7(1), 20-25.
• Sadeghi, K. (2009). Collocational differences between L1 and L2: Implications for EFL learners and teachers. TESL Canada Journal, 26(2), 100-124.
• Sardinha, T. (2000). Semantic prosodies in English and Portuguese: A contrastive study. Cuadernos de Filologi a Inglesa 9(1): 93-110.
• Shen, Y. (2009). Study on collocations in English writing by Chinese students. Sino-US English Teaching, 6(3), 25-30.
• Sinclair, J.M. (1987). Looking up: An account of the COBUILD project in lexical computing and the development of the Collins COBUILD English language dictionary. London: Collins.
• Sinclair, J. M. (1991). Corpus, concordance, collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Stubbs, M. (1995). Collocations and semantic profiles: On the cause of trouble with quantitative studies. Functions of Language, 2(1), 23-55.
• Stubbs, M. (1996). Texts and corpus analysis: Computer assisted studies of language and culture. Oxford: Blackwell.
• Tognini-Bonelli, E. (2001). Corpus linguistics at work. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Wang, Q. (2004). A Corpus-based study of semantic prosodies and bilingual dictionaries. Unpublished master’s thesis, Suzhou University, China.
• Webb, S. (2007). The effects of synonymy on second-language vocabulary learning. Reading In A Foreign Language, 19(2), 120-136.
• Wei, N. X. (2002). A corpus-driven study of semantic prosodies in specialized texts. Modern Foreign Language, 25(2), 165-175.
• Wei, N. X. (2006). A corpus-based contrastive study of semantic prosody in learner English. Foreign Language Research, (5), 50-56.
• Xiao, R., & McEnery, T. (2006). Collocation, semantic prosody, and near synonymy: A cross-linguistic perspective. Applied Linguistics, 27(1), 103-129.
• Zhang, C. (2010). A Comparative Corpus-based Study of Semantic Prosody. Journal of Language Teaching & Research, 1(4), 451-456. doi:10.4304/jltr.1.4.451-456
• Zhang, C. (2010). An overview of corpus-based studies of semantic prosody. Asian Social Science, 6(6), 190-194.
• Zhang, R., & Ooi, B.Y. (2008). A corpus-based analysis of ‘qing’: A contrastive-semantic perspective. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Using Corpora in Contrastive and Translation Studies, Hangzhou, China, September, 25-27.
• Zhang, W. (2009). Semantic prosody and ESL/EFL vocabulary pedagogy. TESL Canada Journal, 26(2), 1-12.