A Corpus-Based Contrastive Study Of Semantic Prosodies Of Near Synonyms

Semantic prosody is an important language phenomenon discovered and studied by corpus linguists. Based on data from SBNC (Sub-British National Corpus) and CLEC (Chinese Learner English Corpus), this paper tries to find the semantic prosodic differences of a group of near synonyms AFFECT, effect, impact and INFLUENCE reflected by native English speakers and Chinese English learners, and explore the possible reasons that cause these differences.With the aid of Wordsmith 3.0 and Excel Program, this thesis first proceeds from analyzing the semantic prosodic features of AFFECT, effect, impact, INFLUENCE in SBNC, then goes on to the analysis of the semantic prosodic features of these near synonyms in CLEC. After that, it makes a contrast between the two corpora, discovering the similarities and differences of semantic prosodies reflected by Chinese English learners and native English speakers.It is found that in SBNC, all the four synonyms present neutral semantic prosodies, which include a number of positive and negative collocates as well as neutral ones. Chinese learner English does exhibit different semantic prosodic features as well as similarities compared with the native English. For instance, Chinese English learners are aware of the neutral semantic prosodic features of effect and INFLUENCE but not that of AFFECT and impact. On the contrary, they tend to express AFFECT and impact in negative contexts. In addition, adequate evidence also indicates that there are distinct differences in terms of colligational patterns and collocational behaviour. Chinese English learners tend to overuse one colligation while neglect other colligations and they prefer to repeatedly employ some general and simple words with a lack of more specific and vivid collocates. What's worse, they even use some unnatural expressions in their writings.Finally four reasons are provided that may cause these similarities and differences. The traditional English language teaching methods at home, language negative and positive transfer, misleading bi-lingual dictionaries and the efforts students make play important roles in their use of the four synonyms. This research will enrich the study of semantic prosody, and provide some pedagogical implications for foreign language teaching, especially the teaching of English near synonyms, translation practice and dictionary compiling.It is hoped that the present study will be of great help to increase students'awareness of semantic prosody and improve their English proficiency level.