English abstract nouns as conceptual shells : : from corpus to cognition / / Hans-Jorg Schmid.

• Author: Schmid, Hans-Jorg.
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, New York : : Mouton de Gruyter,, 2000.
• Year of Publication: 2000
• Language: English
• Series: Topics in English linguistics ; 34
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (427 pages)

Table of Contents

Foundations: Theory, terminology and methodology -- Approaching shell nouns -- The term shell noun -- Defining shell nouns and shell-content complexes in functional terms -- A brief note on the theoretical stance -- The links between shell nouns and contents -- Triggering co-interpretation -- Lexico-grammatical patterns of shell-noun uses -- From identity of reference to experiential identity -- The semantic contributions of different types of complements: a survey of the evidence from verbal complementation -- Basic functions of shell-noun typical patterns -- The systematic investigation of shell nouns -- The From-Corpus-to-Cognition Principle -- Data retrieval -- Cleaning up the data -- Systematic misses of the corpus inquiry -- A survey of the results of the corpus inquiry -- Semantic prerequisites -- Abstractness -- Extensional abstractness and classes of abstract entities -- Stylistic abstractness and grammatical metaphor -- Unspecificity and structure-inherent semantic gaps -- The use of shell nouns -- Describing shell-noun uses -- Degrees of typicality -- Explaining the meanings of shell-noun uses: features and frames -- Factual uses -- Neutral uses -- Causal uses -- Evidential uses -- Comparative uses -- Partitive uses -- Attitudinal factual uses -- Linguistic uses -- Propositional uses -- Illocutionary uses -- Assertive uses -- Rogative uses -- Directive uses -- Commissive uses -- Expressive uses -- Mental uses -- Conceptual uses -- Psychological-state uses -- Creditive uses -- Dubitative uses -- Volitional uses.