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Article published In:
Orality: Language and interpreting challenges
Edited by Estefanía Flores Acuña and Pilar Rodríguez Reina
[Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 5:3] 2019
► pp. 241–258

Metatextual indicators and phraseological units in a multimodal corpus

Delimitation and essential characteristics of As the Saying Goes and implications for interpreting

| University of Málaga
The present work aims to address the combined use of phraseological units and metatextual indicators in spoken language, that is, the mechanisms used to introduce phraseological units to listeners. Exhaustive knowledge of how metatextual indicators are employed in discourse is, no doubt, highly valuable in identifying phraseological units in cases where immediacy is a main factor, as is common in different types of interpreting. The main characteristics of metatextual indicators are considered, along with their different categories to date, taking as a starting point such works as those of Čermák (2005) and Goddard (2009). An analysis is also provided of the 100 most recent uses of the metatextual indicator as the saying goes from a search in the multimodal NewsScape corpus. Studying these 100 uses leads to the general conclusion that this indicator tends to precede phraseological units – overwhelmingly proverbs – and that the phraseological units tend to be used without any modifying mechanisms. However, there are numerous cases, while still a minority, of quotations and, within them, allusions to elements that go beyond their classic conception – such as the notable inclusion of cases where the speaker manipulates the canonical meaning of phraseological units.
Keywords: metatextual indicators, phraseological units, spoken language, interpreting, corpus-based analysis
Article outline
  • 1.Difficulties identifying phraseological units in spoken contexts
  • 2.Use of metatextual indicators with phraseological units
  • 3.Using the multimodal NewsScape corpus to analyze metatextual indicators
  • 4.Case study: As the (old) saying goes and its variants
    • 4.1Frequency of use and relative position to the phraseological unit
    • 4.2Phraseological and non-phraseological uses
    • 4.3Indicator’s appearance alongside quotations
    • 4.4Non-automated phraseological units
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 October 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ttmc.00034.lei
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