Our collocating body parts: recurring images of self and other in the use of English body-part terms

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Abstract

This study adopts a corpus-based approach to investigate body-part terms in English. The British National Corpus (BNC) was searched using Sketch Engine for collocates of a sample of English body-part terms: hand(s), finger(s), arm(s). The items of interest in this particular study are nominal collocates of these search terms where the collocates themselves are body-part terms, as in Rachel ran her fingers through her hair, where hair occurs as a collocate of the search term fingers. The corpus-based approach adopted here leads to an expanded view of the semantic space relevant to understanding how body-part terms interrelate beyond what can be established through purely linguistic considerations of polysemy and diachronic change. Our approach also leads to a better appreciation of the role of self vs. other in the usage of body-part terms.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Body in Language
Subtitle of host publicationComparative Studies of Linguistic Embodiment
EditorsMatthias Brenzinger, Iwona Kraska-Szlenk
PublisherBrill
Pages119-139
Number of pages21
ISBN (Electronic)9789004274280
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Publication series

NameBrill's Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture
Volume8
ISSN (Print)1879-5412
ISSN (Electronic)1879-5420

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