A corpus-based analysis of adjective suffix rivalry in the english language /

The subject of this research paper is adjectives ending in -ic/-ical, -ive/-ory and -able/-ible. The aim is to analyse adjective doublets in the English Web Corpus and the OED. The objectives to achieve the aim include exploring theoretical insights into adjectives and suffix rivalry, exploring the rivalry among adjectives-forming suffixes in order to identify the factors contributing to the predominance of certain suffixes over others and collecting the frequency of adjectives in the English Web Corpus and the OED. In order to achieve the objectives, quantitative and qualitative methods were applied. Qualitative method was applied to analyse the morphological structure of adjective doublets and suffixes. Quantitative method was used to conduct the corpus-based analysis in order to collect the frequencies of adjective doublets. The results of the morphological analysis in the English Web Corpus revealed that the predominant suffixes are -ical, -ive and -able and factors such as flexibility, frequency and collocations contribute to their predominance. The results of the corpus-based analysis correspond to the findings of the morphological analysis, mainly the predominance of -ical and -able adjectives. The case of adjectives ending in -ive/-ory maintain neutral with no clear preference form of usage. The corpus-based analysis revealed two patterns that determine the predominance of an adjective. The first pattern is the predominance of adjectives that occurred earlier in the language. The second pattern belongs to the later occurred adjectives, showing a trend of predominance over the earlier occurred adjectives.

Grantor dc:publisher

Institutional Repository of Vilnius University

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Andriušaitytė, Leta,

• adjective, suffix, rivalry, corpus, morphology, būdvardis, priesagos, konkurencija, tekstynas, morfologija

Statement dc:rights

• info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Language dc:language

eng

Repository record dc:identifier

https://repository.vu.lt/VU:ELABAETD210587090&prefLang=en_US

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vu.lt:elaba:210587090