Figuration, Lexis and Cultural Resonance: A Corpus Based Study of Malay  

Oleh:

Charteris-Black, Jonathan

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Pragmatics: Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association vol. 10 no. 3 (2000)
Topik: Lexicon; Figurative language; Corpus Analysis; Malay
Fulltext: 537-870-1-PB.pdf (14.38MB)

Isi artikel

This paper is a corpus based study of the cultural meaning of figuration in the Malay lexicon. Initially, polysemy is examined for evidence of figurative conceptualisation at the single word level for two body part terms, mata 'the eye' andkaki 'the foot /leg'. Compound forms are then examined to identify the extent to which similar conceptualisations are found. Finally, figurative phraseological units (simpulan bahasa) are examined for figurative conceptualisations. We consider the relationship between figurative meaning at the phraseological and lexical levels. The identification of figurative language is made with reference to dictionaries and its saliency is gauged with reference to a corpus of contemporary Malay. A methodology is proposed for the description of cultural resonance. This involves the identification of conceptual keys that, it is suggested, underlie figurative uses of language. Identification takes place by selecting a number of surface forms which share the same underlying idea and calculating the sum of their tokens in the corpus. Illustration is provided of conceptual keys and their cultural resonance; where relevant, comparison is made with English phraseology. A corpus based study of figurative language is, potentially, of great importance in understanding the relationship between lexis and culture in Malay and provides the bedrock for further cross-linguistic research.

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