Maritime expressions : a corpus based exploration of maritime metaphors
This study uses a purpose-built corpus to explore the linguistic legacy of Britainâs maritime history found in the form of hundreds of specialised âMaritime Expressionsâ (MEs), such as TAKEN ABACK, ANCHOR and ALOOF, that permeate modern English. Selecting just those expressions commencing with âAâ, it analyses 61 MEs in detail and describes the processes by which these technical expressions, from a highly specialised occupational discourse community, have made their way into modern English. The Maritime Text Corpus (MTC) comprises 8.8 million words, encompassing a range of text types and registers, selected to provide a cross-section of âmaritimeâ writing. It is analysed using WordSmith analytical software (Scott, 2010), with the 100 million-word British National Corpus (BNC) as a reference corpus. Using the MTC, a list of keywords of specific salience within the maritime discourse has been compiled and, using frequency data, concordances and collocations, these MEs are described in detail and their use and form in the MTC and the BNC is compared. The study examines the transformation from ME to figurative use in the general discourse, in terms of form and metaphoricity. MEs are classified according
Isserlis, Simon Jonathon
Maritime expressions : a corpus based exploration of maritime metaphors. This study uses a purpose-built corpus to explore the linguistic legacy of Britainâs maritime history found in the form of hundreds of specialised âMaritime Expressionsâ (MEs), such as TAKEN ABACK, ANCHOR and ALOOF, that permeate modern English. Selecting just those expressions commencing with âAâ, it analyses 61 MEs in detail and describes the processes by which these technical expressions, from a highly specialised occupational discourse community, have made their way into modern English. The Maritime Text Corpus (MTC) comprises 8.8 million words, encompassing a range of text types and registers, selected to provide a cross-section of âmaritimeâ writing. It is analysed using WordSmith analytical software (Scott, 2010), with the 100 million-word British National Corpus (BNC) as a reference corpus. Using the MTC, a list of keywords of specific salience within the maritime discourse has been compiled and, using frequency data, concordances and collocations, these MEs are described in detail and their use and form in the MTC and the BNC is compared. The study examines the transformation from ME to figurative use in the general discourse, in terms of form and metaphoricity. MEs are classified according
maritime expression corpus_base exploration maritime metaphor study use purpose_built corpus explore linguistic legacy britain maritime_history find form hundred specialise maritime taken anchor permeate modern_english expression commence analyse detail describes process technical expression highly specialised occupational discourse community make_way modern_english maritime text corpus comprise word encompass range text_type register select provide cross_section maritime writing analyse_use wordsmith analytical software word british_national_corpus bnc reference corpus using list keywords specific salience within maritime discourse compile use frequency data concordance collocation describe_detail use form bnc compare study_examines transformation figurative use general discourse term form classify_accord