DFI-Comunicaciones a Congresos, Conferencias...
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Ítem Main features of English predicative prepositional phrases in ICE-GB(CILC2011, 2011) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper is aimed at identifying which are the main characteristics of those English prepositional phrases which perform the function of subject complement in the British component of ICE. Such is the case of "She first fell in love with Will when she was eighteen, and she adores him still" (ICE-GB:W2F-019 #47:1 ). After introducing the notions of prepositional phrase and subject complement, these structures will be described from the morphological, syntactic, semantic, lexical, and socio-pragmatic points of view and examples will be provided. Although in terms of frequency this is not the syntactic function prepositional phrases more often perform, they are taken into account because of their complexity and due to the lack of detailed analyses. In most cases they are described as isolated examples and this phenomenon is not considered to be a very productive one. Morphologically speaking, prepositional phrases can be defined as those phrases headed by a preposition which requires another unit following it and acting as its complement. Even though there is a wide range of units that can perform the function of complement of a preposition, attention will only be paid to noun phrases. They can be very simple (consisting of a single noun, as "on fire") or more complex (for instance, "in the pink of health"). From the syntactic point of view, prepositional phrases usually perform the functions of adverbial, postmodifier of noun phrases and complement of adjective and prepositional phrases. Nevertheless, they can also behave as subject and object complements: "That is of no importance" (Quirk et alii, 1985: 732) and "I don't consider myself at risk" (op.cit.: 733). As far as semantics is concerned, when acting as subject and object complements, prepositional phrases convey meanings which are similar to those of adjectives, since they express qualities or characteristics. Thus "on cloud nine" and "in the doldrums" can be replaced by "very happy" and "depressed", respectively. Lexically speaking, some of the examples under analysis are idiomatic, their meaning being metaphorical. Such is the case of "(be) on tenterhooks", which is defined as follows in OALD6 (1340) as "(to be) very anxious or excited while you are waiting to find out sth or see what will happen". More information is provided as regards its origin: "From tenterhook, a hook which in the past was used to keep material stretched on a drying frame during manufacture". As far as socio-pragmatics is concerned, sometimes these structures are selected because they allow speakers to express the same meaning by means of a lower number of words. This is the case of "in hand", defined as "receiving attention and being dealt with" (OALD5: 537). Moreover, many of these structures are labelled as "colloquial", "informal", "old-fashioned", or "slang" in dictionaries. In sorne cases they can even convey two different meanings, one being neutral and the other, informal; the phrase "on the job" in OALD6 (697), is thus defined as "while doing a particular job" and "(BrE, slang) Having sex".Ítem Main syntactic features of English predicative prepositional phrases(Universidad de Valencia, 2019) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper is aimed at analyzing the main syntactic features of predicative prepositional phrases (henceforth, PPPs) in English. Little attention has been paid to them so far since neither their relevance nor their frequency are supposed to be enough. Different examples illustrating those syntactic characteristics will be obtained from the BNC and the ICE-GB as well as from various grammars and monolingual dictionaries. First of all, they can be described as those phrases which are headed by a preposition whose Complement (C) is a Noun Phrase (NP) and which perform the function of Subject Complement (Cs) at clause level. Such is the case of “of value” in [1]: [1] It can be concluded that Adomnan's life of Columba is of value for the structure of society which seems not to have changed greatly between Columba's time and Adomnan (ICE-GB:W1A-002 #115:1). Thus, there is an intensive relationship between the Subject (S) and this unit since the latter predicates something of the S, thus conveying a condition, feature, quality, or state which is attached to the S. Secondly, depending on the nature of the meaning they express, the examples in italics below can be replaced by the Adjective Phrases, Verb Phrases, and clauses included between square brackets: [2] If you do not listen your responses may be "off beam" [wrong] and you may appear to others to be rather stupid (BNC:EEB 603). [3] Mary then came to see me and was at this point in tears [crying] over the incident and her treatment by Mr Smith (ICE-GB:W1B-021 #72:5). [4] He was a little out of breath [breathing fast and with difficulty], having hurried to the town meeting (BNC:CFJ 311). Moreover, it is possible to find examples of PPPs in coordination, what is an argument proving the similarities between them and Adjective Phrases: [5] Doctors at the hospital say Mr Crowther is continuing to show signs of slight improvement although he's still in intensive care and in a critical condition (BNC:K22 1981). [6] She is young and in good health (Quirk et alii, 1985, p. 732). Many examples of PPPs are the result of a previous process of ellipsis (whereby some words have been omitted from a given structure; e.g. “an aspect” after the copulative verb “is” in [7]) or fronting (for instance, [8]): [7] And uh o one particular aspect <,> o of the delays uh i is uh uh of considerable relevance uh on this occasion <,> (ICE-GB:S2A-063 #7:1:A). [8] At odds with the mayor remain the rendents of the condos, who are willing to fight a long battle over the additional taxes (Huddleston & Pullum, 2002, p. 1389). In addition, there are examples of stranded prepositions in exclamative, interrogative, and relative clauses, as shown in sentences [9]-[11]: [9] What a mess she was in […] (ICE-GB:W2F-003 #107:1). [10] What stature is she of? (Jespersen, 1909-49, vol. III, p. 398). [11] But I think Heseltine's got what it takes to win the next election and get us out of this mess that we are in (ICE-GB:S2B-003 #77:1:M). Finally different conclusions will be drawn on the previous analysis. It can be highlighted, among others, that the syntactic behaviour of PPPs is very similar to that of Adjective Phrases.Ítem Similarities between English predicative prepositional phrases and adjective phrases(Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, 2013) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper is aimed at identifying which are the main similarities between English predicative prepositional phrases and adjective phrases. First of all, predicative PPs are defined as those groups of words which are headed by a preposition and which perform the function of subject complement; such is the case of “She first fell in love with Will when she was eighteen, and she adores him still” (ICE-GB:W2F-019 #47:1). These structures will be described from the morphological, syntactic, semantic, and socio-pragmatic points of view and examples will be provided highlighting the similarities between these two types of phrases. Morphologically speaking, rather than classifying different words as “adjectives” as opposed to other word classes, a gradation should be established so that certain units are “central adjectives” whereas others are considered as “peripheral”, depending on the number of characteristics they share. It is also possible to describe different predicative prepositional phrases along that continuum. From the syntactic point of view, many adjective phrases as well as some prepositional phrases can occur in both attributive and predicative positions, thus performing the functions of subject complements and premodifiers of the head of a noun phrase, respectively. As far as semantics is concerned, the fact that certain prepositional phrases can act as subject and object complements, among other functions, proves that they convey meanings which are similar to those of adjectives. Thus “in the doldrums” and “on cloud nine” can be replaced by “depressed” and “very happy”, respectively. As for socio-pragmatics, sometimes the prepositional structures are selected because they allow speakers to express subtle nuances which may not be conveyed by the adjective phrases available for those meanings. This is the case of “in La La Land”, defined as “silly or unreasonable” but also labelled as “informal”.Ítem Substitution of English predicative prepositional phrases by other structures(Universidad de Jaén, 2017) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper is aimed at analyzing the different units which can replace predicative prepositional phrases (henceforth, PPPs) in English, a group of structures which have received little attention so far since neither their relevance nor their frequency are supposed to be enough. They can be defined as those phrases which are headed by a preposition whose Complement (C) is a Noun Phrase (NP) and which perform the function of Subject Complement (Cs) at clause level. Such is the case of “under arrest” in [1]: [1] The vessel remained under arrest from September the twenty-sixth until October the nineteenth (ICE-GB:S2A-065 #18:1:A). Therefore, there is an intensive relationship between the subject and this unit since the latter predicates something of the subject, thus expressing a quality, condition, state, or feature which is attached to the subject. However, this does not imply that they should always be substituted by adjectives. Depending on the nature of the meaning they convey, the examples in italics in the following sentences can be replaced by the adjective phrases, verb phrases and clauses included between square brackets: [2] Again, supplier's catalogues will be of help [helpful] when determining distances and pinouts (BNC:C91 1000). [3] My Lord <,,> as far as his credit and the importance of his credit is concerned it also [sic] is of relevance [relevant] when considering the evidence given by Mr Holt <,> because there is a clear conflict between the two of them (ICE-GB:S2A-068 #40:1:A). [4] Mary then came to see me and was at this point in tears [crying] over the incident and her treatment by Mr Smith (ICE-GB:W1B-021 #72:5). [5] When officers arrived he had climbed into the back yard and the Volvo was seen to be on fire [burning] (BNC:K47 313). [6] But before my brain got into gear [started working in an efficient way] after finding you'd cleared the wardrobe in the lobby of your belongings and I realised you'd gone, I went through half a dozen possibilities before I rang Reception (BNC:JYF 2472). [7] He was a little out of breath [breathing fast and with difficulty], having hurried to the town meeting (BNC:CFJ 311). Many more examples will be included and they will also be classified according to other morphological, syntactic and semantic criteria which will be underlined. These examples will be obtained from the BNC and the ICE-GB as well as from different monolingual dictionaries whose descriptions of the structures under study will also provide us with more information for further research. Finally different conclusions will be drawn on the previous analysis. Some of them are closely related to the economy principle, that is to say, certain examples prove that PPPs are chosen by speakers because they allow them to convey a given idea by means of a more reduced number of words.Ítem Synonymous and antonymous predicative prepositional phrases(Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, 2012) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper is aimed at analyzing the phenomena of synonymy and antonymy in English predicative prepositional phrases obtained from the BNC and ICE-GB corpora. These structures can be defined as those phrases which are headed by a preposition whose complement is a noun phrase and which perform the function of subject complement at clause level, that is to say, there is an intensive relationship between the subject and this unit since the latter predicates something of the subject, thus expressing a quality, condition, state, or feature which is attached to the subject. As far as the first group is concerned, attention will be paid to the similarities between these types of phrases regarding their structure, syntax and meaning. That is the case of, for example, out of a job and out of work in "They might all be out of a job if the Factory Commission came and shut the place down" (BNC: AEB 3300) and "Put your head above the parapet in the European Commission and you're out of work <,> (ICE-GB:S2B-040 #105:3:A)", respectively. From the point of view of forrn, the structure of these prepositional phrases consists of "preposition" + "zero article or a"+ "noun". Semantically speaking the above-mentioned examples can be replaced by "unemployed" in these sentences. Nevertheless, from the pragmatic point of view these predicative prepositional and adjective phrases are not completely interchangeable since there are different nuances which are conveyed by the prepositional structures which cannot be found, for instance, in the word ''unemployed". As for the second, it is possible to express the opposite meaning in four main different ways: i) by means of the opposite prepositíon (such is the case of in control vs out of control in "The Iraqis said they had held off all of those attacks and were still in control of the island <,>" (ICE-GB:S2B-018 #67:2:B) and "Yet, at a pest control conference in 1989, scientists were told that four of the majar weed pests of cereals were out of controf' (ICE-GB:W2B-027 #97: l)); ii) by means of the opposite noun (for instance, in order vs in disorder in "What is happening is is [sic] perfectly in order" (ICE-GB:S 1B-051 #16: 1 :C) and "Everything was in disorder, but I could not see that anything had been taken" (BNC:HGS 2995)); iii) by using the opposite adjective (such is the case of general and private in "I used to do criminal work when I was in general practice but I haven't done criminal work now for about four or five years" (BNC:CMS 1397) vs "Most are in prívate practice, though several thousand work in commerce, industry, local and central government" (BNC:HAJ 48)); iv) other processes such as the insertion of the determiner no between the preposition and the noun: "In Germany, most companies are partnerships, rather than quoted companies, and they are exempt from disclosing information which could be of use to competitors" (BNC: AMK 99) vs "In others, central research laboratories produce wonderful results which are of no use to the business" (BNC:K9J 611 ).