研究习作: undergo and willingly undergo

[动态语法]

Two English samples for comparison.

Note: The examples are taken from a published paper.

Research questions: (1) how to characterize the semantic patterns
of each of the two items? (2) How do they differ?

Undergo:
http://forum.corpus4u.org/upload/forum/2005072914370616.jpg

Willingly undergo:
http://forum.corpus4u.org/upload/forum/2005072914372898.jpg

哪些本科生/研究生网友可以回答？

[patricx]

very interesting
"undergo" appears to follow "to" except the second sentence in the examples you have given.
the pattern seems to be: V+to+undergo+countable Noun( words concerning illness)
"willingly undergo" as a main verb in the sentences you have given.
the pattern seems to be:
willingliy undergo+Uncountable Noun(abstract noun)

it seems that we don't want to bear physical sufferings, but willingly put up with spirit bitterness.

this is my own ideas. i don't know if it is right. i hope it is useful.

[xiaoz]

undergo: neutral nominal collocations
willingly undergo: negative nominal collocations - a negative semantic prosody

[动态语法]

以下是引用 patricx 在 2005-7-29 15:05:25 的发言：
very interesting
"undergo" appears to follow "to" except the second sentence in the examples you have given.
the pattern seems to be: V+to+undergo+countable Noun( words concerning illness)
"willingly undergo" as a main verb in the sentences you have given.
the pattern seems to be:
willingliy undergo+Uncountable Noun(abstract noun)

it seems that we don't want to bear physical sufferings, but willingly put up with spirit bitterness.

this is my own ideas. i don't know if it is right. i hope it is useful.




I like the way you characterized the syntactic environments in
which they appear, and I think that's exactly right. The semantic part
is not as strong as the syntactic one, maybe?

[动态语法]

以下是引用 xiaoz 在 2005-7-29 21:13:12 的发言：
undergo: neutral nominal collocations
willingly undergo: negative nominal collocations - a negative semantic prosody


That's a good viewpoint.

However, what exactly is in the neutral category? Any further thoughts?

[xiaoz]

The syntactic bond between undergo and to is strong: in the BNC World, 281 instances of "undergo" are preceded by "to", out of a total of 613 (45.8%).

The semantic link for willingly undergo is also very strong.

[xujiajin]

"undergo", when used alone, does not bear any positive or negative (maybe with a negative semantic prosody if based on larger corpus data) sense. "willingly", however, presupposes a potential risk. So it is not surprise that we see “painful”, “severely”, “patiently”, “sins”, “difficult”, “struggle” in undergo's company.

"willingly" points to the volition of the agent. We have to look backward to the logical subject of "undergo" and what kind of difficulty or torture he/she has to or intends to brave. In this sense, it is not the collocation of “willingly + undergo” that bears a positive semantic prosody. Instead, it is the word “willingly” that controls the general tone of the sentence.

“willingly” and the hardship or risk keep a good balance semantically with “undergo” as a suspension point.

http://forum.corpus4u.org/upload/forum/2005072923563620.jpg

[xiaoz]

Good analysis.

[动态语法]

以下是引用 xujiajin 在 2005-7-29 23:55:08 的发言：
it is not surprise that we see “painful”, “severely”, “patiently”, “sins”, “difficult”, “struggle” in undergo's company.


Very useful observations.

[xujiajin]

I don't think the bond b/t an adverb and a verb is as strong as "verb + NP" is despite Xiao's corpus evidence of "willingly undergo" from BNC.

[xiaoz]

No, not at all. In fact, there is no occurrence of "willingly undergo" in the BNC. What I was saying is that there is a strong bond b/t "undergo" and "to".

[xujiajin]

undergo: neutral nominal collocations
willingly undergo: negative nominal collocations - a negative semantic prosody

However, what exactly is in the neutral category? Any further thoughts?

"go" or "undergo" basically denotes an action starting from the speakers, the deictic center, so to speak. It can develop or to be developed to a different state of doing or action. From this later state, very probably from the collocates "undergo" keep, we derive our either positive or negative interpretation.

This "go" or "undergo" is so "innocent" that it does not determine its own connotation.

[xujiajin]

以下是引用 xiaoz 在 2005-7-30 0:34:14 的发言：
No, not at all. In fact, there is no occurrence of "willingly undergo" in the BNC. What I was saying is that there is a strong bond b/t "undergo" and "to".


Sorry for my slip of the eyes.

[xiaoz]

Undergo denotes a PROCESS, which can be evaluated as good or bad, or neutral - restoration, police interrogation, process, test, change, etc.

[xujiajin]

以下是引用 xiaoz 在 2005-7-30 0:46:02 的发言：
Undergo denotes a PROCESS, which can be evaluated as good or bad, or neutral - restoration, police interrogation, process, test, change, etc.


Agree.

[动态语法]

以下是引用 xiaoz 在 2005-7-30 0:46:02 的发言：
Undergo denotes a PROCESS, which can be evaluated as good or bad, or neutral - restoration, police interrogation, process, test, change, etc.


That's it. All of the object head nouns indicate a non-punctual process of different kinds.

[动态语法]

以下是引用 动态语法 在 2005-7-29 14:39:21 的发言：
Two English samples for comparison.


Our online discussion has turned out some excellent material and insights. Earlier I
said that:


Note: The examples are taken from a published paper.


Now, here is the source of this paper:

http://www.uni-trier.de/uni/fb2/anglistik/Projekte/stubbs/largtext.htm

USING VERY LARGE TEXT COLLECTIONS TO STUDY SEMANTIC SCHEMAS: A RESEARCH NOTE
Michael Stubbs
FB2 Anglistik, Universität Trier, D-54286 Trier, Germany
stubbs@uni-trier.de

Michael Stubbs's web page is available from Corpus Linguistics VIPs on this Web site.

[patricx]

thanks, it's a good start to research and a good example for us.

[xiaoz]

Very intersting excercise, I love it.

So the semantic schema for undergo we outlined is slightly different from Stubbs'. For him, what is undergone is typically negative, but we found it is neutral - a change can be for better or worse, a medical examination or test is also quite neutral for me - and it is typically a durative process. We converge with Stubbs in connection with 'willingly undergo'.