Inchoative emotion verbs in Finnish : argument structures and collexemes

226 Pages·2019·2.127 MB·English

by  Murmann, Maximilian

9
Korpuslinguistik und interdisziplinäre
Perspektiven auf Sprache
Band
Maximilian Murmann
Inchoative Emotion
Verbs in Finnish
Argument Structures and Collexemes
CLIP 9
Korpuslinguistik und interdisziplinäre
Perspektiven auf Sprache
Corpus Linguistics and
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Language
Bd. / Vol. 9
Herausgeber / Editorial Board:
Marc Kupietz, Harald Lüngen, Christian Mair
Gutachter / Advisory Board:
Heike Behrens, Mark Davies, Martin Hilpert,
Reinhard Köhler, Ramesh Krishnamurthy, Ralph Ludwig,
Michaela Mahlberg, Tony McEnery, Anton Näf,
Michael Stubbs, Elke Teich, Heike Zinsmeister
Maximilian Murmann
Inchoative Emotion
Verbs in Finnish
Argument Structures and Collexemes
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Abstract
The present thesis investigates the syntagmatic relations of certain Finnish
emotion verbs that are formed by the derivational suffix -ua/-yä (e.g. suuttua
‘get angry’, pelästyä ‘get frightened’). Prototypically, the suffix expresses re-
flexivity, but in the case of the “inchoative” emotion verbs, it indicates a
change of state on behalf of the experiencer, from a non-emotional state to an
emotional state.
The starting point of the investigation is a discussion of different psychologi-
cal theories of emotion. The discussion shows that constructivist theories par-
ticularly emphasize the role of language and offer several links to the cogni-
tive, usage-based model of language that constitutes the theoretical framework
guiding the thesis. With regard to the usage-based model, special focus will
be put on the status of argument structures and the categorization of words.
Furthermore, the work draws on theoretical and methodological insights
from corpus linguistics, which is concerned with the description of linguistic
data on the basis of large text collections. The methodology chapter will pres-
ent some of the most central corpus linguistic concepts, as well as several
forms of co-occurrence analysis adapted in order to investigate the syntag-
matic relations of the verbs in question.
The empirical part of the study makes use of the Suomi24 corpus, which is
based on the eponymous Finnish discussion forum. Prior to the analyses, the
corpus was queried for the twenty most frequent inchoative emotion verbs.
The results of the first analysis, where the focus has been put on argument
realization (e.g. suuttua jostakin ‘get angry about something’ vs. pelästyä jotakin
‘get frightened by something’), suggests that the distribution of the different
argument realization patterns only partially reflects semantic similarities
among the verbs. In the second analysis, the main interest was the causes or
stimuli provoking particular emotional states (e.g. suuttua kritiikistä ‘get angry
about criticism’ vs. pelästyä ääntä ‘get frightened by noise’). The collexeme
analysis used in this context leads to the conclusion that emotion verbs with
similar semantics also co-occur with similar stimulus nouns. These semantic
preferences can be related to different aspects of the stimuli, such as their on-
tology (e.g. rakastua ‘fall in love’ + human beings), particular topics (e.g.
huolestua ‘get worried’ + health), or other semantic characteristics related to
them (e.g. yllättyä ‘get surprised’ + expectations). Thus, the quantitative meth-
ods used in the present work lead to results that cannot be obtained by exclu-
sively relying on a qualitative analysis.
Acknowledgements
This book grew out of my joint PhD thesis at the LMU Munich and the Uni-
versity of Helsinki. I will try to do my best to extend my appreciation to those
who accompanied me on this endeavor.
First of all, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the two supervisors of my
doctoral dissertation: Professor Elena Skribnik (LMU Munich) not only en-
couraged me to venture on this project, but also provided me with advice and
guidance throughout all the years. I’m deeply grateful that Professor Tiina
Onikki-Rantajääskö (University of Helsinki) agreed on the joint supervision
of the thesis. Her comments and suggestions, as well as our uplifting, inspir-
ing discussions in Helsinki and Munich were crucial to my research.
Second, I would like to thank Associate Professor Liina Lindström (University
of Tartu) and Professor Tuomas Huumo (University of Turku) for agreeing to
be the preliminary examiners of my thesis and for providing me with invalu-
able, thought-provoking feedback on the draft manuscript. As to the writing
of the thesis itself, many thanks go to Professor Hans-Jörg Schmid (LMU
Munich) and Professor Stefan Th. Gries (UCSB) who gave me advice on some
of the quantitative methods used in the analyses. I also wish to thank Jack
Rueter, PhD, for checking my English and for helping me with the translation
of the examples.
A special thank goes to Katri Wessel, Mária Kelemen and Tiia Palosaar who
taught me the intricacies of the three major Finno-Ugric languages, as well as
to Professor Gerson Klumpp (now University of Tartu) who sparked my in-
terest for linguistics back in 2006. During my doctoral studies, I have been
fortunate to be a member of the Graduate School Language & Literature Mu-
nich (Class of language; originally LIPP). The generous financial support of
the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes between 2014 and 2017 is gratefully
acknowledged.
Finally, my loving thanks go to my family and friends for their support and
encouragement.
Contents
Abstract ..................................................................................................................... 5
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 6
1. Introduction .................................................................................................... 11
2. Emotion and language .................................................................................. 15
2.1 What are emotions? ........................................................................................ 15
2.1.1 Basic emotion theory ...................................................................... 16
2.1.2 Appraisal theory ............................................................................. 17
2.1.3 Psychological constructionism ...................................................... 19
2.2 The linguistic perspective .............................................................................. 22
2.2.1 Natural semantic metalanguage ................................................... 23
2.2.2 Cognitive linguistics ....................................................................... 26
2.2.3 Corpus linguistics ........................................................................... 29
2.3 Emotions in Finnish ........................................................................................ 31
2.3.1 Prior research  .................................................................................. 31
2.3.2 A usage-based approach  ............................................................... 34
2.4 Summary .......................................................................................................... 39
3. Theoretical prerequisites .............................................................................. 41
3.1 The status of argument structures ................................................................ 41
3.1.1 Valency ............................................................................................. 42
3.1.2 Argument structure constructions ............................................... 45
3.1.3 Lexically-bound and phrasal argument structure
constructions ................................................................................... 47
3.2 Noun categorization ....................................................................................... 49
3.2.1 Entities .............................................................................................. 52
3.2.2 Qualities ........................................................................................... 57
3.3 Summary .......................................................................................................... 59
8 CONTENTS
4. (Quantitative) Corpus Linguistics .............................................................. 61
4.1 Empirical basis  ................................................................................................ 62
4.1.1 Suomi24 corpus  .............................................................................. 62
4.1.2 The verbs  ......................................................................................... 64
4.2 Colligation  ....................................................................................................... 68
4.2.1 Extended grammatical relations  .................................................. 69
4.2.2 Argument realization patterns  ..................................................... 73
4.3 Collocation ....................................................................................................... 75
4.3.1 Collostructional analysis  ............................................................... 77
4.3.2 Association measures  .................................................................... 81
4.3.3 Log odds ratio  ................................................................................. 83
4.4 Summary .......................................................................................................... 89
5. Argument Realization Patterns ................................................................... 91
5.1 Nominal arguments  ....................................................................................... 93
5.1.1 Partitive marking ............................................................................ 94
5.1.2 Elative marking ............................................................................... 97
5.1.3 Illative marking ............................................................................. 100
5.1.4 Allative marking ........................................................................... 104
5.2 Clausal arguments ........................................................................................ 106
5.2.1 General complementizer .............................................................. 107
5.2.2 Other free complementizers ........................................................ 110
5.2.3 Non-finite complementation markers ....................................... 113
5.3 Discussion of the results .............................................................................. 115
6. Covarying Collexemes ................................................................................ 119
6.1 Surprise  .......................................................................................................... 121
6.1.1 yllättyä ‘be surprised’ .................................................................... 121
6.1.2 hämmästyä ‘be astonished’............................................................ 125
6.2 Joy .................................................................................................................. 130
6.2.1. ilahtua ‘be delighted’ .................................................................... 130
6.2.2 innostua ‘get excited’ ..................................................................... 133
6.2.3 kiinnostua ‘get interested’ ............................................................. 137
CONTENTS 9
6.3 Love  ................................................................................................................ 140
6.3.1 ihastua ‘get infatuated’ .................................................................. 141
6.3.2 rakastua ‘fall in love’ ...................................................................... 143
6.3.3 mieltyä ‘become fond’ ................................................................... 146
6.4 Sadness ........................................................................................................... 149
6.4.1 pettyä ‘get disappointed’ .............................................................. 149
6.4.2 masentua ‘get depressed’ .............................................................. 153
6.5 Fear ............................................................................................................. 156
6.5.1 huolestua ‘get worried’ .................................................................. 156
6.5.2 ahdistua ‘get anxious’ .................................................................... 161
6.5.3 pelästyä ‘get frightened’ ................................................................ 164
6.5.4 säikähtää ‘get scared’ ..................................................................... 169
6.5.5 järkyttyä ‘be shocked’ .................................................................... 171
6.6 Anger............................................................................................................... 172
6.6.1 hermostua ‘get agitated’ ................................................................ 173
6.6.2 kyllästyä ‘get fed up’ ...................................................................... 177
6.6.3 suuttua ‘get angry’ ......................................................................... 180
6.6.4 ärsyyntyä ‘get irritated’ ................................................................. 185
6.6.5 raivostua ‘get furious’ .................................................................... 188
6.7 Discussion of the results .............................................................................. 190
7. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 193
References ............................................................................................................. 199
List of Tables ........................................................................................................ 219
List of Figures ...................................................................................................... 221
Abbreviations ...................................................................................................... 223