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This paper tries to apply Michael Hoey’s Lexical
Priming Theory to a language other than (and
structurally different from) English: German
The focus will only be on polysemy and how words
differ based on corpus-led investigations
Based on the findings, key issues these pose for
learners / translators will be highlighted.
ABOUT…
1) Can polysemantic clues be found in German that are in
line with Hoey’s claims with regards to
disambiguation?
2) Can genre-specific pointers be seen as issues of
priming (in this particular research)?
3) How can such knowledge assist learners / translators?
The Research Questions
The focus is on the items-
Steuer and Hut (cf. Helbig and Buscha, 1984: 275).
Each appears with two different gender formations.
Their meanings differ accordingly: das Steuer (n) refers
to the “steering wheel” of a vehicle; die Steuer (f),
means “tax”.
Der Hut (m) is “the hat”; die Hut (f) refers to “care” or
“(be on one’s) guard”.
These two words are only orthographically the same.
Target Words
Reden der deutschen Bundespräsidenten:
EU Parlament Reden (EU Parallel Corpus de):
Google n-grams Deutsch:
HUT: 0.00067%; STEUER 0.00152%
The corpora
Total Tokens
N HUT / %
N STEUER / %
2,336,690
17 / 0.00073
29 / 0.00124
Total Tokens
N HUT / %
N STEUER / %
53,260,432
285 / 0.00054
1690 / 0.00317
1. Where it can be shown that a common sense of a polysemous word
is primed to favour certain collocations, semantic associations
and/or colligations, the rarer sense of that word will be primed to
avoid those collocations, semantic associations and colligations. The
more common use of the word will make use of the collocations,
semantic associations and colligations of the rarer word but,
proportionally, less frequently. (Hoey 2005: 82)
2. (a) Priming occurs, in principle, within specific domains and/or
genres. (Hoey 2005: 20)
2. (b) Very importantly, all the [Lexical Priming] claims are in the first
place constrained by domain and/or genre. They are claims about
the way language is acquired and used in specific situations.
(Hoey 2005: 13)
Lexical Priming Theory: 2 claims
Duden (1991):
1) Hut, der, Hüte (Kopfbedeckung) 2) Hut, die (Schutz,
Aufsicht); “auf der Hut sein”.
1) Hat (headdress) 2) (*protection, *supervision)
1) Steuer, das (Lenkvorrichtung); 2) Steuer, die (Abgabe)
1) (steering device) 2) Tax (*contribution)
My data confirms why I should be weary of pre-corpus
dictionaries …
Bear with me.
Textbook entries–
and inflection realities
die Steuer, von der Steuer relating to “tax”
das Steuer, von dem Steuer relating to “steering device”
-> further nesting pointers clarify differentiation
der Hut, mit dem Hut, die Hüte relating to “hat”
die Hut, auf der Hut sein relating to “being careful” or “on one’s
guard”
-> bigrams are the same, hence further nesting pointers / elements
in lexical item needed to clarify differentiation
-and inflection realities
- and usage realities (1)
1. Der graue Hut -> literal sense
2. Auf der Hut sein -> 2nd sense “to be careful”
3. Ein alter Hut; Hut ab -> transferred
(metaphorical) meaning
4. … Hut tragen -> ambiguous and needs
further elements
-and inflection realities
- and usage realities (2)
Amongst the speeches of German presidents, the L1 for
“Steuer” seem to give a balanced picture:
*3/4 uses of “das Steuer” are
figuratively used.
However:
a) Steuer + N (i.e. Tobin-Steuer; Steuer- und Arbeitsrecht) : N= 20
b) Eine Steuer (indef. Article version of “die Steuer”): N= 2
STEUER in political speeches:
predictably taxing
D
ie Steuer
D
as Steuer
N=3
N=4*
Steuer
(f) : tax
Steuer
(n) steering device
25 (86%)
4 (14% of all tokens
“Steuer”)
So, when and how is the “steering device” used?
STEUER in political speeches:
European Parliament
D
ie Steuer
D
as Steuer
N=165
N=29
Steuer
(f) : tax
Steuer
(n) steering device
1579 (93.4%)
111 (6.6%
)
D
as
-
am
-
Alkohol
/
Trunkenheit
am -
ans
-
jenes
-
dem
-
hinter
dem
-
Steuer
n (lit)
4 61
36 5 0 7 7
Steuer
n (fig)
25
6 2 1
“dem Steuer” is always “hinter dem Steuer”. Prodsody seems neutral.
“am Steuer” refers to being inebriated/on drugs while driving. Prosody
rather negative.
“das Steuer”: “übernahm er einmal das Steuer”: lit, positive vs.
“das Steuer übernehmen”; “das Steuer herumwerfen”: fig. negative.
European Parliament
When and how is the “steering device” used?
Das
-
Das
-
herumwerfen
Das
-
übernehmen
D
as –
fest in
der Hand
am
-
Alkohol
/
Trunkenheit
/
Drogen
am -
Steuer
n
(lit)
4 61 40
Steuer
n
(fig)
25
3 3 2 6
1) “Steuer-” (i.e. “Steuer- und Sozialpolitik) is the most used form: N=331 (19.6%)
The final noun determines the use of gender.
2) “Steuer auf” N=317 (18.8%). “Steuer auf Finanztransaktionen” N=99
3) “eine (Adj.) Steuer” N=217 (12.8 %). “eine solche Steuer” N=50; “eine
europäische Steuer” N=33; “eine neue Steuer” N=17)
4) “eine Steuer” N=194 (11.5%). “Eine Steuer auf” N=98
5) “einer (Adj.) Steuer” N=157 (9.3%).
6) “einer Steuer” N=143 (8.5%). “Einer Steuer auf” N=101: “Einführung einer
Steuer” N=57.
7) “die Steuer” N=165 (9.8%); “die (Adj.) Steuer” N=56 (3.3%)
European Parliament
Nesting and use of Steuer as tax
Steuer as “tax” has a propensity to come in a
multiple-noun descriptor (tax-and social politics).
strongly uses tax on (goods or services)
strongly prefers an indefinite article to a definite
article in L2 or L1.
does NOT appear in any figurative use.
European Parliament
Nesting and use of Steuer as tax
There are far fewer instances of this item in all corpora. Its usage
patterns are, however, far more varied and discourse-driven.
The only literal use of “der Hut” are “zieht Friedrich II seinen Hut”;
“einen Hut und Haut schützende Kleidung trägt”
“die Hut” as an item is not recorded in contemporary German corpora
“auf der Hut” – to be aware / to be careful (to avoid) usage is almost
universally as a strong warning – see below.
HUT (hat):
rhetorical figures for speakers,
literal descriptions in prose
HUT
,
m. lit
HUT, m. fig
“die
Hut”
A
uf der Hut ,
f.
In
guter
Hut, f.
TOTAL
Bundespräsidenten
1 13 (76.5%)
0 1 (5.9%)
2 (11.8%)
17
EP DE corpus
2
223 (78.2%)
0 60 (21.0%) 0 285
BS
unter einem Hut
alter
Hut
in guter Hut Auf der Hut
N
=
9 2 2 1
HUT: Bundespräsi Speeches (BS) vs
Google Books (GOB)
AUF DER HUT appears 5 times as often as
ALTER HUT in Google Books.
EP HUT N
A
uf
der HUT (f.)
Lit. “HUT” (m.)
Fig. “HUT” (m.)
285 60 2 223
HUT: EP speeches are rhetorical
flourishes (1)
PHRASE
N
auf der Hut
sein – statement – (be careful) 38
A
uf der Hut zu sein – Infinitive - (to be careful) 4
S
eien sie / sei auf der Hut - directive / exclamation - (be careful / look
out!)
7
Ich
bin auf der Hut - statement – ( I am aware of) 3
Wir
sollten auf der Hut sein - statement - (we should be careful) 2
“Die Hut” has a clear collocation and colligation structure
The item only ever appears as a phrase
This phrase, without variation, contains “auf der Hut”
It is only the prime verb “be” which presents grammatical pointers.
EP HUT N
A
uf
der HUT (f.)
Lit. “HUT” (m.)
Fig. “HUT” (m.)
285 60 2 223
HUT: EP speeches are rhetorical
flourishes (2)
M
ost commonly found PHRASES N
unter
einen Hut zu bringen (to reconcile)
87
unter
einen Hut bringen [gebracht; bekommen] (reconcile)
35
den
Hut ziehen vor / Hut ab vor (taking my hat off to X)
28
e
inen anderen Hut tragen [aufsetzen, abnehmen] / trage meinen Hut als
etc.
(wear another hat: fulfil in a different role / office)
15
e
in [der] alter Hut / einen alten Hut (an old hat / the old hat) 12
den Hut [
zu] nehmen (“to take one’s hat”: to resign)
10
aus
dem Hut gezaubert (pulled out of a hat; create out of nothing) 7
d
en Hut herumreichen (to pass the hat around: collect money) 5
EP rhetoric
Apart from using the adjective “alter” to create the item “old hat”
(5.4%), the majority of phrases with “der Hut” have post-positioned
verbs.
“Einen anderen Hut tragen” is special as “Hut tragen” (wear a hat)
could be literal. The nesting (conditional, other etc.) disambiguates
the meaning and indicates figurative use.
These are used to create fixed, idiomatic, figurative phrases.
The most commonly occurring phrase (122 out of 223, 54,5%) means
to reconcile. Amongst all uses of Hat (122 out of 285, 42.8%) it is the
predominantly used form.
Looking at the context where these phrases occur, the prosody has
to be seen as negative.
The exception is, however, “den Hut ziehen vor” (hat of to).
GooB
Data
Ca. 9/10 uses of “Steuer” in political texts refer to tax.
20% of references to tax are complex compound nouns (“Steuer- und
Sozialpolitik); nearly 19% are tax on (Steuer auf).
Steuer (f) has a preference of L – indef. article, and R2: noun.
Where they refer to steering wheel, the literal usage is almost exclusively
intoxicated AT the wheel (“Trunkenheit AM Steuer”)
Where it is “das Steuer” the usage is predominantly figurative.
Steering Wheel references tend to have a negative prosody in speeches.
Almost 80% of all uses of “Hut” are “der Hut” (m), used in a figurative
sense.
“die Hut” (f) almost always occurs in the fixed phrase “auf der Hut”.
“Der Hut” is almost exclusively used was part of fixed, figurative phrases.
Amongst these, over half are “unter einen Hut bringen” – to reconcile
Summary: What does this all mean?
On the surface of it
Hoey (2005) looked at consequence and reason. The words “Hut” and
“Steuer” should be seen as disambiguated not by collocates but by the
the gender-specific structure of the words.
However, in line with Hoey’s theory, “Steuer” = tax, and “Hut” = hat, are
the more common use.
More common usage patterns differ clearly in collocation and colligation
structures from less common patterns; the nesting and pragmatic
prosodies also help to disambiguate (i.e. for “anderer Hut”).
Yet, as reference to the Google Books n-grams shows, such a preference
is genre-specific.
It can be seen as genre-specific priming to have overwhelmingly
rhetorical constructions amongst political speeches – whereas prose, for
example, prefers literal uses.
Apart from “ich ziehe meinen Hut vor” all Hut (m, fig.) occurrences show
a clear negative prosody.
Summary: What does this all mean?
With regards to Lexical Priming
In German it is not just the grammatical gender that differentiates
polysemious words.
Dictionary entries like “die Hut” are, at best, confusing, at worst
confounding. While there are older texts where this bigram exists,
contemporary German usage almost exclusively refers to “auf der
Hut” .
As described by Hoey (2005, Cpt. 5), word meanings become clear
when their nestings – collocation, colligation, semantic and pragmatic
associations – are taken into account. There is a tendency to have a
more common and a far less common usage.
The results presented here also highlight that these particular
frameworks are extremely genre-specific.
Overall, it can be said that the findings presented here back up what
Hoey has shown to be evidence of Lexical Priming in English.
Summary: What does this all mean?
With regards to translation
Questions, requests, criticism: michael.pace-sigge@uef.fi
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Der Duden, zwanzigste Auflage. 1991. Mannheim / Leibzig / Wien / Zürich: Meyer’s Lexikonverlag.
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learner Finnish”. In S. Granger, G. Gilquin and F. Meunier (eds) Twenty Years of Learner Corpus Research: Looking back,
Moving ahead. Corpora and Language in Use – Proceedings 1. Louvain-la-Neuve. Presses universitaires de Louvain. 235-
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Helbig, G. and Buscha, J. (1984). Deutsche Grammatik. Ein Handbuch für den Ausländerunterricht.. Leibzig: VEB Verlag
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case of a psycholinguistic theory that generates corpus-linguistic hypotheses for two unrelated languages”. In Simon
Smith, Bin Zou & Michael Hoey (eds) Corpus linguistics in China: theory, technology and pedagogy. Houndmills,
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Pace-Sigge, M. (2013). Lexical Priming in Spoken English Usage. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
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References
Hut – divergent frq in GOOB
