基于COCA语料库的动词“Facilitate”的扩展意义单位研究

A Corpus-Based Study of the Extended Unit of Meaning of the Verb “Facilitate” in COCA

摘要: 近年来，语言研究愈发趋向科学化，注重真实性与应用价值，基于扩展意义单位理论并结合语料库的研究方法已成为语言学领域的重要范式。本研究以美国当代英语语料库(COCA)为数据支撑，选取实义动词“facilitate”作为研究对象，通过系统性分析其扩展意义单位，深入探究该词的搭配规律、类联接模式、搭配词的语义偏好及语境所呈现的语义韵特征。研究发现，“facilitate”可与名词、形容词、副词等词性构成多元类联接模式，搭配词呈现社会发展与个人能力提升的语义偏好，从整体语境来看，该词呈现出明显的积极语义韵特征。本研究不仅深化了对语言单位形式与意义交互机制的理解，为揭示语言使用规律和意义建构路径提供了新视角，同时也为英语词汇教学及学习者词汇习得提供了实证依据与理论参考。

Abstract: In recent years, linguistic research has increasingly focused on scientific approaches, emphasizing authenticity and applicability, making the combination of the Extended Unit of Meaning (EUM) theory with corpus linguistics a prominent paradigm. This study employs the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) to investigate the extended unit of meaning of the lexical verb “facilitate”, analyzing its collocational features, colligational structures, semantic preferences of collocates, and semantic prosody in context. The results reveal that “facilitate” forms diverse colligational patterns with nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, with collocates demonstrating semantic preferences for social development and personal enhancement, and the context generally exhibiting a positive semantic prosody. This research not only deepens the understanding of the interplay between the form and meaning of linguistic units, providing new insights into language use patterns and meaning construction mechanisms, but also offers empirical guidance and theoretical references for vocabulary teaching and second language vocabulary learning.