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The conceptual semantics of English ‘speak’ (and why it matters)

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Abstract
This study investigates the conceptual semantics of the English verb speak, using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to semantic analysis. The analysis is corpus-assisted, relying mainly on two corpora: one very large (enTenTen21, more than fifty-two billion words), the other small and purpose-built (about 500 ‘speak’ sentences from twelve recent novels). Using the traditional “definitional” criterion for polysemy, the analysis recognises four senses of English speak, which form a polysemic web or network of meanings and usages. A range of supporting lexicogrammatical evidence is adduced, such as the proposed polysemic meanings having distinctive morphosyntactic properties, collocational profiles, and associated derivatives and phraseology. The paper also raises an ethnoaxiological question for linguistics as a discipline: To what extent has the discourse of mainstream Western linguistics been guided or shaped by an Anglo-English metapragmatic model of speaking, whereby “saying” is framed as individual, purposeful, contentful, and oral/aural?
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction and thematic literature review
    • 1.1Literature review (from Vorlat 1982 to Levisen 2025)
  • 2.Theory and methodology
    • 2.1Theoretical and methodological framework
    • 2.2Corpora used in the present study
  • 3.Polysemy and phraseology of English ‘speak’
    • 3.1Speak-1
    • 3.2Speak-2 (“speak to someone”)
    • 3.3Speak-3 (“speak to someone about something”)
    • 3.4Speak-4 (“say some things to some people”)
    • 3.5Fixed phrases and phraseological constructions with ‘speak’
  • 4.An Anglo-English metapragmatic model of ‘speaking’
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (28)
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