基于COCA语料库的动词“Cook”的扩展意义单位研究

A Study on the Extended Units of Meaning of the Verb “Cook” Based on the COCA Corpus

摘要: 随着语言学研究的深入，词汇研究不再局限于孤立词义解读，转而强调结合真实语境把握词汇的整体使用内涵。本研究基于Sinclair的扩展意义单位理论，依托COCA语料库，以“cook”为节点词，从搭配词、类联接、语义倾向、语义韵等四个维度逐层展开分析。研究发现：动词cook的显著搭配以名词为主，典型搭配词有minutes、food、add、heat、dinner、meal等，其中add等虽然也是cook的显著搭配词，但由于它们往往与cook不在同一个扩展意义单位之中，因此暂时没有考虑；句法上存在三类核心类联接V np、V (np) (for) np与V (np) over np。就语义倾向而言，V np中的np主要有“食物”(food)和“餐(食)”(meal)；后面两种类联接中括号里的np如果出现的话，与第一种类联接中的np基本相同；V (np) (for) np中括号外的np的中心名词都表示“时间”(如minutes)，而V (np) over np中括号外的np的中心名词基本都是“heat”。该词多用于陈述客观烹饪行为，仅个别语境搭配产生积极语义色彩，无固有消极语义韵。综合上述共选特征，可归纳出四类典型扩展意义单位型式：cook meal (abstract)、cook tomatoes (concrete)、cook for + num minutes、cook over low (medium/high) heat。本研究可为日常动词的EUM扩展意义单位分析、二语词汇教学及词典编纂提供实证参考。

Abstract: With the deepening of linguistic research, lexical research is no longer confined to the interpretation of isolated word meanings. Instead, it emphasizes grasping words’ holistic usage connotations in authentic contexts. Grounded in Sinclair’s theory of the Extended Unit of Meaning (EUM), this study conducts a corpus driven analysis of the verb cook as the node word using the COCA corpus, across four dimensions: collocation, colligation, semantic preference, and semantic prosody. The findings reveal that prominent collocates of cook are predominantly nouns, with typical examples including minutes, food, add, heat, dinner, and meals. Although items such as add also rank as prominent collocates of cook, they frequently fall outside the same Extended Unit of Meaning and are therefore excluded from consideration. Syntactically, three core colligations are attested: V np, V (np) (for) np, and V (np) over np. In terms of semantic preference, the np in V np mainly denotes “food” and “meal”. Where the bracketed np appears in the latter two colligations, it is largely identical to the np in the first colligation. The head noun of the unbracketed np in V (np) (for) np invariably refers to “time” (e.g., minutes), while the head noun of the unbracketed np in V (np) over np is almost always heat. Primarily employed to describe objective cooking actions, cook gains positive semantic colouring only in a small subset of contexts via collocates and possesses no inherent positive or negative semantic prosody. Synthesizing the aforementioned co-selection features, four typical patterns of the Extended Unit of Meaning can be generalized: cook meal (abstract), cook tomatoes (concrete), cook for + num minutes, and cook over low (medium/high) heat. This study offers empirical references for EUM based analyses of everyday verbs, second language vocabulary instruction, and lexicographical practice.