This study examines expressions such as razor sharp and argues that they should be analysed as compound forms of adjectival similes (C-forms). In the existing literature, these expressions are typically treated as noun-adjective compounds, while their semantic nature often remains back-grounded. It is argued that such an approach relies primarily on formal properties and that neglecting the semantic aspects of C-forms obscures their nature. The paper provides a theoretically grounded cognitive account of C-forms and explains why they are best viewed as extensions of conceptual adjectival similes. The theoretical claims are supported by corpus data from the original British National Corpus and the British National Corpus 2014. The data show that established C-forms often occur with higher frequencies than their corresponding as-forms (e.g. sharp as a razor), while constituting a smaller set of unique types, since not every conceptual adjectival simile is realised in the C-form. Conversely, some conceptual adjectival similes, particularly those expressing colours, are attested exclusively in C-forms. The relatively high frequencies of C-forms help explain why conceptual adjectival similes persist in the lexicon despite the limited use of their prototypical as-forms.
This article examines how limitations of scholarly research are communicated in Czech research articles. Using the Corpus of Academic Czech, the study analyses instances of limitations with a fo cus on two aspects: (1) the rhetorical structure of limitation statements and (2) strategies used to compensate for these limitations. The analysis identifies three key steps in the rhetorical move: de scribing the limitation, identifying its influence on the analysis or results, and compensating for the limitations of the study. Five distinct strategies for operationalizing the compensation step are specified: (a) explaining the limitation’s underlying cause, (b) claiming the minimal or non-impact of the limitation on the validity of the results, (c) pointing out the presence of the limitation in sim ilar studies, (d) highlighting the study’s strengths and merits, and (e) suggesting directions for fur ther research. These strategies are often accompanied by linguistic hedging, serving to weaken the limitation’s impact.
This article examines a proposed lexical-semantic category of elative adjectives, which express a high degree of a given property in the positive (i.e. non-comparative and non-superlative) form. The term elative is adopted from Hoeksema's (2012) study of elative compound adjectives in Dutch (e.g. pijlsnel 'arrow-fast'). Building on his Dutch data and drawing on an original survey of English and Czech, the article provides an inventory of elative adjectives in the three languages. Elative adjectives fall into two basic structural types: compounds and derivatives (both prefixal and suffixal). Their degree interpretation is motivated either by a conventionalised comparison (simile; 'as fast as an arrow') or by the presence of an intensifying affix(oid) (e.g. Dutch oer-sterk 'ultrastrong', English over-critical, Czech p & rcaron;e-kr & aacute;sn & yacute; 'superbeautiful'; maxi-, hyper-, mega-). The conclusion summarises the survey findings and offers tentative arguments for recognising this adjectival subset. This is not to suggest that elatives are necessarily widespread across languages, much less universal; however, their attestation in several languages makes them a promising target for further comparative research.
This paper presents a synchronic and diachronic description of the complementation profile of would (’d) rather based on the BNC, the BNC2014, COCA and COHA corpora. The semantics of would rather triggers the use of the present subjunctive, whose distribution varies in American and Brit ish English. The data from COCA show that in American English the present subjunctive has lost its formal connotations and has become the most preferable choice, whereas in British English its use is rather limited, especially in negative contexts. From a diachronic perspective, both varieties of English show a substantial rise in past indicatives and a decline in modals during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Indicatives, however, have never gained such a strong foothold in Ameri can English, and modals exhibited a more stable level until the mid-20th century, when they began to be replaced by productive subjunctive forms.
