Starting with the small words: Patterns, lexis and semantic sequences

Hunston, Susan

doi:10.1075/ijcl.13.3.03hun

Article published In: Patterns, meaningful units and specialized discourses
Edited by Ute Römer-Barron and Rainer Schulze
[International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 13:3] 2008
► pp. 271–295

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Starting with the small words

Patterns, lexis and semantic sequences

Susan Hunston | University of Birmingham

Published online: 17 September 2008

https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.13.3.03hun

This paper proposes a concept of ‘semantic sequences’, that is, series of meaning elements that can be demonstrated to occur regularly either in a general corpus or in one comprising specific types of text. Semantic sequences may be identified by examining the co-text of a lexical item such as make sure, but are also recognisable if grammatical words such as prepositions are treated as the object of investigation. It is argued that semantic sequences are useful for characterising discourses of particular kinds.

Keywords: pattern grammar, epistemology, modal meaning, semantic sequence

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