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Article published In: Functions of Language
Vol. 23:3 (2016) ► pp.279–304

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Measuring the degree of near-synonymy of Spanish verbs of putting

A multivariate corpus analysis of poner and meter

 | University of Ghent
Published online: 16 February 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.23.3.01com
The present article presents a corpus-based study of two near-synonymous verbs in Spanish: the locative verbs of putting poner and meter. Starting from the universal principle of linguistic economy, the paper aims to empirically identify potentially influencing variables that determine the native speaker’s choice between the two verbs. It is investigated whether and to what extent the choice is governed by a set of variables related to the nature of the locative movement itself and the characteristics of the participants taking part in the event. The difference between the near-synonyms is shown to be determined mainly by the direction of the locative movement, the semantic nature of the participants (animacy, concreteness), the reflexiveness of the event, as well as the cognitive construal of the locative event (the possibility of a container-reading).
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Kocher, Anna
2018. Epistemic and evidential modification in Spanish and Portuguese. Languages in Contrast 18:1 ► pp. 99 ff. DOI logo
Belov, Vadim Alekseevich
2017. Synonymic relations in language and utterance. Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin 7:6 ► pp. 263 ff. DOI logo

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