Motivated patterns of phrasal verbs and learner’s dictionaries

Abstract

Phrasal verbs have always been considered problematic for English language learners due to their polysemy and the apparently random combination of verbs and particles. Situated within the cognitive linguistic framework, the present study examines the complex interaction of lexical, semantic, syntactic and pragmatic aspects of phrasal verbs and argues for a holistic description of their phraseological and conceptual patterns, with a view to improving their representation in learner’s dictionaries. The proposed integrated approach brings together three theoretical frameworks: Corpus Pattern Analysis, Frame Semantics, and Conceptual Metaphor and Metonymy Theory. A case study of selected related phrasal verbs (walk away with, walk off with, run away with and run off with) illustrates how corpus-linguistic and cognitive-linguistic principles combine in identifying, comparing and associating phrasal verb lexical units. The resulting unified representation of the phrasal verb construction walk/run away/off with something is compared to the representation offered by monolingual learner’s dictionaries and practical suggestions for improvement are offered.

Keywords

• phrasal verbs
• Corpus Pattern Analysis
• Frame Semantics
• Conceptual Metaphor and Metonymy Theory
• pedagogical lexicography