Harry Slapped Hugo, Tracey Smacked Richie: The Semantics of Slap and Smack

dc.contributor.authorSibly, Anne
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-10T22:38:57Z
dc.date.issued2010
dc.date.updated2016-02-24T12:12:15Z
dc.description.abstractThis article analyzes and compares the meanings of two English contact verbs: slap and smack. Although they are sometimes regarded as synonymous in their primary senses, evidence is adduced to show that each verb has a distinct meaning. Corpus data are used to identify the everyday patterns of each verb's use and the analysis and discussion focus on the syntactic and semantic implications of these patterns. Attention is also given to the social and cultural factors that have influenced the way people think about the actions described by the verbs. Meanings are expressed in explications using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), which uses reductive paraphrase to describe each verb in terms of simpler prime concepts; this allows direct comparison of their semantic content. Slap and smack are shown to share many salient semantic features but, at the same time, to have unique characteristics which make them capable of distinctive description. Their prototypical meanings provide a strong conceptual foundation for other senses, including metaphorical uses.
dc.identifier.issn0726-8602
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/56961
dc.publisherRoutledge, Taylor & Francis Group
dc.sourceAustralian Journal of Linguistics
dc.subjectKeywords: Corpus Linguistics; Culture; Lexicology; NSM; Physical Contact Verbs; Polysemy; Semantic Template; Semantics
dc.titleHarry Slapped Hugo, Tracey Smacked Richie: The Semantics of Slap and Smack
dc.typeJournal article
local.bibliographicCitation.issue3
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage348
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage323
local.contributor.affiliationSibly, Anne, College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU
local.contributor.authoremailrepository.admin@anu.edu.au
local.contributor.authoruidSibly, Anne, u3919394
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.absfor200408 - Linguistic Structures (incl. Grammar, Phonology, Lexicon, Semantics)
local.identifier.absseo950203 - Languages and Literature
local.identifier.ariespublicationu9803255xPUB381
local.identifier.citationvolume30
local.identifier.doi10.1080/07268602.2010.498804
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-77955792622
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByu9803255
local.type.statusPublished Version

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