QUANTIFIERS EXPRESSING INDEFINITELY LARGE QUANTITYA GREAT DEAL OF / A LARGE AMOUNT OF IN BRITISHAND AMERICAN NEWSPAPER DISCOURSE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17308/lic/1680-5755/2026/2/118-126Keywords:
the category of quantity, indefinitely large quantity, quantifiers in English, syntagmatic properties, combinatory potentialAbstract
This paper is devoted to the study of combinatory potential of the English quantifiers a great deal of and a large amount of and the cultural peculiarities of the way they function in the UK and the USA newspaper discourse. The structures brought into focus belong to the micro-field of indefinitely large quantity. This research was conducted in order to investigate the differences in using the structures in the UK and the USA broadsheets, as well as to explore the main trends set by each culture. This paper draws on a sample of contexts collected from the articles of 6 British and American quality newspapers of 2021-2023. We employed comparative corpus analysis, combined with definition and statistical analyses of the collected data. The results of this research proved the fact that a great deal of tends to collocate with abstract nouns, whereas a large amount of is frequently used with concrete countable and uncountable nouns. Moreover, the findings revealed that the quantifiers function according to different patterns in both cultures. Both structures are more often used with abstract nouns denoting mental activity results or social phenomena in the USA broadsheets, whereas in the UK quality papers tend to collocate with abstract nouns of emotions more frequently. Apart from nouns, other types of objects included pronouns and nominal clauses, which also follow different patterns of usage in the UK and the USA newspapers. Taken together, these results supported the idea of cultural and discourse features affecting the choice of grammatical constructions.
References
1. Apresyan YU.D. Sistemoobrazuyushchie smysly «znat'» i «schitat'» v russkom yazyke [The system-forming meanings of "know" and "think" in Russian]. Russkij yazyk v nauchnom osveshchenii. Moscow, 2001. №1. P. 5-26.
2. Akimova T.G., Berkov V.P., Bondarko A.V. Teoriya funkcional'noj grammatiki: Kachestvennost'. Kolichestvennost' [Theory of functional grammar: Quantivity. Quality]. Ros. akad. nauk, In-t lingvist. issled. SPb.: Nauka: S.-Peterb. izd. Firma, 1996. 263 p.
3. Soldatova D.N. Kategoriya kolichestva v mezhkategorial'nom vzaimodejstvii imen i glagolov [The category of quantity in cross-category interaction of nouns and verbs]. Dis. kandidata filol. nauk. Mosow, 2022. 224p.
4. Newmark, P. A Textbook of Translation. – New York: Prentice Hall International, 1988. – 292 p.
5. Ivanova M.V. Mikropole neopredelenno bol'shogo kolichestva v raznostrukturnykh yazykakh (na materiale anglijskogo, russkogo i chuvashskogo yazykov) [Microfield of indefinitely large quantity in multi-structured languages]/ M.V. Ivanova, A.V. Stepanova // Vestnik CHuvashskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta im. I. YA. YAkovleva. – 2016. – № 1 (89). – S. 28-35.
6. Teoriya funktsional'noj grammatiki: Kachestvennost'. Kolichestvennost' [Theory of functional grammar: quality and quantity]/ T. G. Akimova, V. P. Berkov, A. V. Bondarko i dr.; Redkol.: A. V. Bondarko (otv. red.) i dr. - Ros. akad. nauk, In-t lingvist. issled. - SPb.: Nauka: S.-Peterb. izd. firma, 1996. – 263 s.
7. Akulenko V. V. Kategoriya kolichestva v sovremennykh evropejskikh yazykakh [Category of quantity in modern European languages]/ V.V. Akulenko, S.A. SHvachko, E.I. Bukreeva. - Kiev: Naukova dumka, 1990. - 182 s.
8. Turaeva Z.YA. Nekotorye osobennosti kategorii kolichestva (na materiale angliĭskogo yazyka) [Some peculiarities of the category of quantity (the study of the English language)]/ Z.YA. Turaeva, YA. G. Birenbaum // Voprosy yazykoznaniya. – Moskva, 1985.– № 4. – S.132–148.
9. Ovchinnikova N.I. Semantika i uzus anglijskikh kvantifikatorov neopredelenno bol'shogo kolichestva a great deal of/a large amount of / N.I. Ovchinnikova, V.D. Titova [Semantics and usage of english quantifiers expressing indefinitely large quantity a great deal of / a large amount of] // Vestnik Voronezhskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. – 2023. – №1. – S. 85-92.
10. Aksenova K.A. Osobennosti kachestvennykh parametrov i sintaksicheskogo povedeniya kvantifikatorov neopredelenno-bol'shogo i neopredelenno-malogo kolichestva v sovremennom anglijskom yazyke [Peculiarities of qualitative parameters and syntactic behaviour of quantifiers of indefinitely large and indefinitely small quantity in the modern English language]/ K.A. Aksenova // Filologicheskie nauki. Voprosy teorii i praktiki, 2014. - № 2 (32). - CHast' 2. - S.13-18.
11. Beketova S.V. Spetsifika gazetnogo diskursa [Peculiarity of newspaper discourse]/ S.V. Beketova // Universitetskie chteniya. – 2010. – №7. – S. 97-100.
12. Fomina S.B. Leksiko-semanticheskie kharakteristiki sovremennogo angloyazychnogo gazetnogo diskursa [Lexico-semantic characteristics of the modern English newspaper discourse]/ S.B. Fomina // Aktual'nye voprosy sovremennoj filologii i zhurnalistiki. – 2020. – № 2(37) – S. 137-144.
13. Bakhtin M.M. Problema teksta v lingvistike [The problem of text in linguistics]/ M.M. Bakhtin // Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 7. – 1991. – № 1. – S. 345
14. Lukanina M.V. Gazetnyj tekst cherez prizmu teorii kommunikatsij [Newspaper text through the theory of communication]/ M. V. Lukanina // Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 19. – 2003. – № 2. – S. 52 – 123.
15. Revzina O.G. Kognitivnaya organizatsiya gazetnogo diskursa [Cognitive structure of the newspaper discourse]/ O.G. Revzina // Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 10. – 2006. – № 2. – S. 42 – 49.
16. CHirko T.M. Sintagmatika aktual'nykh smyslov i ee paradigmaticheskie osnovaniya [Syntagmatics of relevant meanings and its paradigmatic reasoning]/ T.M. CHirko, T.M. Lomova // Vestnik VGU. Seriya lingvistika i mezhkul'turnaya kommunikatsiya, 2008. – №.3 - S.7-11.
17. Koprov V.YU. Situativno-strukturnyj podaspekt numerativnykh predlozhenij v russkom i anglijskom yazykakh [Situational-structural subaspect of quantitative sentences in the Russian and the English languages]/ V.YU. Koprov, O.I. SHapovalova // Vestnik VGU. Seriya lingvistika i mezhkul'turnaya kommunikatsiya, 2016. - №2. – S.108-111.
18. Macmillan Dictionary Online. – URL: https://www.macmillandictionary.com
19. Longman New Universal Dictionary. – Harlow: Longman, 1982. – 1158 p.
20. Quirk R. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language / R. Quirk, S. Greenbaum, G. Leech, J. Svartvik. – New York: Longman Inc., 1985. – 1779p.
21. Tolkovyj slovar' russkikh glagolov: Ideograficheskoe opisanie. Anglijskie ehkvivalenty. Sinonimy. Antonimy [Definition dictionary of Russian verbs: ideographic description. English equivalents. Synonyms. Opposites]/ Pod red. prof. L.G.Babenko. – Moskva: AST-PRESS, 1999. — 704 s.
22. Stepanov YU.S. Imena. Predikaty. Predlozheniya [Nominals. Predicates. Sentences]/ YU.S. Stepanov. – Moskva, 1981. – 361 s.
23. Frumkina R.M. Semantika i kategorizatsiya [Semantics and categorization]/ R.M. Frumkina, A.V. Mikheev, A.D. Mostovaya, N.A. Ryumina. – Moskva: Nauka, 1991. – 168 s.
24. CHernejko L.O. Lingvo-filosofskij analiz abstraktnogo imeni [Linguistic-philosophical analysis of abstract noun]/ L.O. CHernejko. – Moskva, 1997. – 320 s.
