The master’s thesis is devoted to the comparison operators as and like, comparison being their first and basic meaning. Over the course of time they have undergone various metaphorical transfers, which have led to their polysemy. According to the authors of dictionaries and English grammars, the word as can function as a conjunction (denoting comparison, time, cause, condition, concession, manner, purpose), preposition, adverb, pronoun. As regards the word like, it can function as a conjunction, preposition, particle, adverb (discourse marker). The author attempts to present the diachronic sense development of the two lexemes with the help of etymological dictionaries and books on the history of English. The word as is described as a precedent linguistic unit, which involves the transfer of meaning from basic comparison to new situations. The thesis examines the pragmatic and socio-linguistic aspects of the development of the word like, as they are presented in the works of Russian and foreign linguists. The peculiarities of grammaticalization and subjectification of the English word like, owing to which it has acquired the function of a discourse marker, are also described. The following pragmatic functions are identified: metalinguistic, emphatic, hesitational, quotative, examplificatory, approximative. The thesis also presents a comparative analysis of the usage of the words as and like in fiction and scientific prose (with reference to the British novel Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding and the journal Nature).
Английские слова AS и LIKE как грамматические инструменты логической операции сравнения: магистерская диссертация
Чиглинцева, Е. С. (Author). 2016
Tesis doctoral: Master's Thesis