English copular verbs: A contrastive corpus-supported view

260 Pages·2014·1.202 MB·English

by  Markéta Malá

ENGLISH

COPULAR

  VERBS

A contrastive  

corpus-supported

view

Markéta Malá
The book English Copular Verbs presents
a contrastive view of English copulas and
their Czech translation counterparts. Since
the repertory of copular verbs is much nar‑

rower in Czech than in English, the trans‑
lation counterparts display a variety of
formally divergent means rendering into
  Czech the meanings carried by the English
copulas, such as the speaker’s epistemic
  stance or an evaluation of whether the
quality ascribed to the subject by the cop‑
ula is a permanent one. The study shows

      how salient translation counterparts can
be used as ‘markers of meaning’, making
  it possible not only to identify the mean‑

ing of the individual copular verbs but also
to trace other, structurally diverse Eng‑
    lish constructions which convey the same

meaning as the copulas in question. The

material is drawn from a bidirectional par‑

allel corpus of Czech and English.
Ediční řada Trivium,
řídí Daniel Vojtěch

ENGLISH
COPULAR
VERBS
A contrastive
corpus-supported
view
Markéta Malá

filozofická fakulta univerzity karlovy, 2014
KATALO GIZAC E V K N IZE – NÁRO DNÍ KNIHOVNA ČR

Malá, Markéta
English copular verbs: a contrastive corpus-supported view / Markéta Malá. – Vyd. 1. –
Praha: F ilozofická fa ku lta Univerz ity Karlo v y, 2014. – (Trivium; sv. 5)
IS BN 978-80-7308-509-4

8 11.111 * 81‘ 367 .332.8 * 811.162.3‘25 * 81-114 * 81‘322.2
– angličtina
– sponová sl ovesa
– překlady do češtiny
– kontras tivní lingvistika
– korpusová lingvistika
– monografie
– English lang uage
– copula
– translations into Czech
– contrastive linguistics
– corp us linguistics
– m on ograph s
811.111 – Angličtina [11]
420 – English and Old English (Anglo-Saxon) [11]
Acknowledgement
This book was written within the Programme for the Development of the
Fields of Study at Charles University, No. 10 Linguistics; sub-programme

EAnckgnlioshw ilned tgheem Liegnhtt of Synchronic and Diachronic Corpora.

REnecelinshzo inva lhy
prof. PhDr. Libuše Dušková, DrSc.
doc. PhDr. Renata Povolná, Ph.D.

©d Mc aPrhkDétra RMeanlaá, 2 0P1o4v
© Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Filozofická fakulta, 2014

V©š eMcharnkaé ptar áMvaa lváy h2r0a1zena

IVSšBeNch 9n7a8 -8rá0v-7a 3v08h-5a0z9e-n4a (print)
ISBN 978-80-7308-852-1 (online : pdf)
Table of contents
List of figures 8
List of tables 10
Abbreviations 14
1. Introduction 15
2. Contrastive research and parallel corpora 18
2.1 Contrastive research and corpus linguistics 18
2.2 Multilingual corpora 24
3. Corpora used in this study 28
3.1 InterCorp 28
3.2 Recognizing (and overcoming) the limitations
of a translation corpus 31
3.3 The English-Czech section of InterCorp
and the subcorpora used in this study 33
4. Copular verbs 38
4.1 The delimitation of copular verbs 38

4.2 The individual copular verbs 52
4.3 Conclusion 79

5. Translation correspondence 80

5.1 Equivalence and correspondence in translation corpora 80
5.2 Formal correspondence 85
5.3 Divergent vs congruent counterparts 96
5.4 Translation paradigms 98

6. The translation paradigm of copular verbs 100
6.1 Types of correspondence 100
6.2 Synthetic counterparts 104

6.3 Analytic counterparts 105
6.4 Zero counterparts 106
6.5 An overall view of the translation paradigm 107
7. The method 112
7.1 Czech counterparts as markers of meaning 112
7.2 A bidirectional corpus-supported approach 112
8. Resulting copular verbs: become, come, fall, get, go, grow, and turn 115
8.1 Step 1: Formal characteristics of resulting copular verbs 115
8.2 Step 2: The counterparts of resulting copular verbs 127
8.3 Step 3: The counterparts as a starting point:
the means of expressing inchoative mutation in English 142
8.4 Conclusion 148
9. Epistemic/sensory-perception copular verbs:
appear, seem, feel, look, smell, sound, and taste 150
9.1 Step 1: Formal characteristics
of epistemic/sensory-perception copular verbs 150
9.2 Step 2: The counterparts of epistemic/sensory-perception
copular verbs 172
9.3 Step 3: The counterparts as a starting point:
the means of expressing epistemic evaluation in English 189
9.4 Beyond Step 3 192
9.5 Conclusion 193

10. Copular verbs prove and turn out 196
10.1 Step 1: Formal characteristics of the copular verbs

prove and turn out 196
10.2 Step 2: The counterparts of prove and turn out 202

10.3 Step 3: The counterparts of prove and turn out
as a starting point: the limitations of the method 209
10.4 Conclusion 211
11. Durative copular verbs: keep, remain and stay 214
11.1 Step 1: Formal characteristics of the copular verbs
keep, remain and stay 214
11.2 Step 2: The counterparts of keep, remain and stay 219

11.3 Step 3: The counterparts of keep, remain and stay
as a starting point: further limitations of the method 225
11.4 Conclusion 226
12. Conclusions 234
Sources and references 242
Index 251
Resumé 253
List of Figures
3.1 The composition of the core of the English-Czech section of InterCorp
3.2 The sub-corpora of InterCorp and the supplementary corpora used in
the present study
4.1 The copula → lexical verb gradient
4.2 The distribution of seem in the British National Corpus
4.3 The most frequent forms of the predicative complement of seem in fic-
tion and academic prose
4.4 Frequency (pmw) of the construction appear + adjective/to-infinitive in
the BNC
4.5 The most frequent forms of the predicative complement of appear in
fiction and academic prose
4.6 Frequency (pmw) of the constructions prove + adjective/to-infinitive,
and turn out + adjective/to-infinitive in the BNC
4.7 Relative frequency (pmw) of the constructions ‘sensory copula + adjecti-
ve’ in the BNC
4.8 Relative frequency (pmw) of the constructions ‘keep/remain/stay + ad-
jective’ in the BNC
4.9 Relative frequency (pmw) of the constructions ‘become/get + adjective’
in the BNC

4.10 Relative frequency (pmw) of the constructions ‘resulting copula come/
fall/go/grow/turn + adjective’ in the BNC

5.1 Types of translation correspondence
7.1 The methodology: a bidirectional corpus-supported approach

8.1 The types of translation counterparts of resulting copular verbs
8.2 Phase verbs as counterparts of resulting copulas
8.3 Czech translation counterparts of resulting copulas as markers of incho-
ative change
9.1 The types of translation counterparts of epistemic/sensory-perception
copular verbs
9.2 Czech translation counterparts of epistemic/sensory-perception copulas
as markers of epistemic modification

10.1 The types of translation counterparts of prove and turn out
8 list of figures