A Corpus-based Diachronic Study of Word Pairs from Early Middle English To Early Modern English

• Project/Area Number: 26370565
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: English linguistics
• Research Institution: Hyogo University of Teacher Education
• Principal Investigator: Tani Akinobu 兵庫教育大学, 学校教育研究科, 教授 (90236670)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
• Keywords: word pairs / binomials / ジャンル / phraseology / 語源 / 頻度 / Helsinki Corpus / コーパス / 中英語 / 初期近代英語 / formulaicity / (ir)reversibility / historical linguistics / genre / frequency / etymology / corpus / Historical Linguistics / etymolgoy

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examined word pairs (WPs) in the form of "A and B" from early Middle English (ME) through late ME to early Modern English (ModE), using the Helsinki Corpus. The main results are the following: (1) it was difficult to discern the relation between genres from early ME to late ME and ModE because of lexical reorganization in ME and skewed genres in early ME while the use of WPs in late ME and early ModE was found to be similar; (2) WPs were found to be correlated with genres in late ME and early ModE concerning their frequency and etymological makeup. Legal and administrative documents shows highest frequency of WPs especially with etymological makeup of OF (Old French) + OF while scientific documents show little use. Bible and its related documents show frequency between two aforementioned genres with highest rate of OE (native word) + OE WPs.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] 中英語における定型表現－binomials の場合 (2017)
  • Author(s): 谷明信
  • Journal Title: Conference Handbook 35 (日本英語学会） Volume: 35 Pages: 206-211
• [Presentation] 中英語における定型表現－binomials の場合 (2017)
  • Author(s): 谷明信
  • Organizer: 日本英語学会
• [Presentation] Caxton’s use of binomials for printing or translation? (2014)
  • Author(s): TANI Akinobu
  • Organizer: 18th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics
  • Place of Presentation: Leuven, Belgium
  • Year and Date: 2014-07-16