Within this section, the prevalence of grammatical items may provide a clue as to the structures in which cultivated is found, and the function it performs within a given clause or sentence. The table below shows the data from both datasets:
METAPHOR NON METAPHOR
R Collocate Freq. (ptw) Left Freq. Right Freq. R Collocate Freq. (ptw) Left Freq. Right Freq.
1 THE 21.55 140 82 1 THE 27.66 195 90 2 AND 20.29 109 100 2 AND 17.18 81 96 3 OF 17.67 121 61 3 OF 16.6 117 54 4 A 13.69 115 26 4 IN 8.15 36 48 5 TO 6.70 35 34 5 A 6.41 50 16 6 IN 6.51 40 27 6 IS 4.76 35 14 7 HIGHLY 4.08 42 0 7 TO 4.46 26 20 8 MIND 3.69 10 28 8 WELL 3.88 37 3 9 IS 3.50 20 16 9 AS 3.49 13 23 10 AS 3.40 10 25 10 FIELDS 3.4 1 34
Table 4.2. 10. Ten most frequent collocates in metaphoric and non-metaphoric datasets
The appears as the most frequent item in both corpora, with very similar left and right proportions (63.06% and 68.43% of instances occurring on the left in metaphoric and non- metaphoric data respectively). And is the second most frequent collocate in both datasets with a frequency of 20.29 and 17.18 per thousand respectively. The difference in its left and right positioning in relation to cultivated is also marginal. The most frequent position
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of and in the non-metaphoric data (R2), however, reveals a textual colligation which will be discussed following the concordance lines presented below:
Concordance 4.2. 5. Selection of cultivatedXand in non-metaphoric (adj.) dataset
When in R2 position, and is almost always preceded by a comma, marking a break in the sentence and the beginning of a new clause. In the selection of instances in the screenshot above, only two instances of and are followed by another noun; in the remaining lines and signals the start of a new clause. In total the figures are 6/30 (20.00%) of the structure cultivated X and are followed by a noun phrase and in 24/30 (80.00%) instances, the structure is followed by a new clause. This indicates a strong textual colligation which can be expressed as follows: cultivated (lands/field/hills/farms etc.), + and (new clause). Furthermore, in 17/24 (50.17%) of instances, the following verb phrase gives extra information regarding the situation or position of the cultivated land (e.g. …half an hour from the cultivated plain, and is surrounded by a most dreary barren War; …In front there are a few cultivated fields, and beyond them the smooth hill of coloured rocks).
The most frequent position of and in the metaphoric dataset is L1. Instances of and in L1 (metaphoric) are presented below:
Concordance 4.2. 6. Selection of andcultivated occurrences in metaphoric dataset
Cultivated is found in the metaphoric instances above as part of a combination of adjectives describing a single noun (capable and cultivated men, clever and cultivated persons, delicate and cultivated taste, disciplined and cultivated minds etc.). This structure, (adj.) + and cultivated + (noun), accounts for 37 out of 46 instances (80.43%) of and cultivated, showing a strong colligation. There is also evidence of textual colligation: the cluster (adj.) + and cultivated + (noun) most commonly occurs at the end of a sentence or clause, marked either by a comma (14/37) or a full stop (10/37). In total 64.86% of instances occur in this textual position.
By contrast, there is more adverbial modification of cultivated in the non- metaphoric data when and collocates on the left: 54.88% of non-metaphoric instances of cultivated are modified by an adjective or adverb when and occurs on the left compared to 23.36% of metaphoric instances. And + (adverb) + cultivated accounts for 30.49% of these and and well cultivated accounts for 36.00% of this figure:
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Concordance 4.2. 7. Selection of andXcultivated occurrences in non-metaphoric dataset
The collocates (of, is, to and as) differ minimally in position, frequency and left and right distribution across the metaphoric and non-metaphoric datasets. A and in are however, worthy of a further exploration. Firstly a, despite having similar distributional frequencies (5.8% difference between left and right), has the largest difference in frequency per thousand (13.69 in the metaphor set and 6.41 in the non-metaphor set). A statistical test of significant frequencies also supports this difference. Below, Table 4.2.11 presents log likelihood figures for A (tested to the 99.99th per centile). The figure for left distribution is
also given as it also has a score greater than 15.3 (99.99%):
Metaphor Non-met
Collocate Expected freq. Observed freq. Expected freq. Observed freq. Log likelihood
A (total) 103.47 141 103.53 66 27.84
A (L) 82.48 115 82.52 50 26.34
Table 4.2. 11. Ten most frequent collocates of cultivated with Log likelihood score of <5 in both datasets
As is shown, a is significantly more frequent in the sub-corpus of metaphoric usage. The higher use in the metaphors is perhaps counterbalanced by a higher use of the definite article in the non-metaphoric set. The figure for left distribution is also significant, meaning that a (…) cultivated is the most prevalent structure, hinting at a specific colligation. The largest minority (35.46%) are found in L1 in the metaphoric data. Examples of nouns modified by cultivated in this collocation a cultivated are shown below:
Concordance. 4.2. 8. Selection of acultivated occurrences in metaphoric dataset
The majority of nouns following the collocation are either relating to abstract qualities (intellect, understanding, character, etc.), or perception (eye, taste, mind), which echoes the earlier findings in the noun collocate analysis. In total, they make up 34/46 instances (73.91%). This can be contrasted to what happens when A is in L2 position in the same dataset:
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Concordance 4.2. 9. Selection of and X cultivated occurrences in metaphoric dataset
More often in this situation, the noun following the colligation and X cultivated refers to a person or a group of people, such as race, society and refined woman. Out of 15 instances of and X cultivated + noun phrase, 9 instances (60.00%) show this association. This is evidence of nesting, and despite the lower frequency of the latter colligation (and X cultivated), there is a characteristic difference between when cultivated is modified and when it is not. The modifying item (adjective or adverb) in and X cultivated also strengthens the association with refinement and improvement (e.g. more, highly, lovely). Thus the structure is important in terms of collocation, colligation and semantic and pragmatic association.
In comparison, a is more often found in a position further removed (L5) from the node word in the non-metaphoric data and more importantly, less fixed. Instances of a X cultivated make up only 21.21% of all collocation instances in the non-metaphoric data and reveal a semantically different use, as Concordance 4.2.10 shows:
Concordance 4.2. 10. Selection of andXcultivated occurrences in non-metaphoric dataset
The adverbs modifying cultivated within these clusters do not appear to show any shared semantic associations. More, loose, small and few refer to PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS, whilst magnificent, richly, highly and finely refer more to ABSTRACT JUDGEMENT.
Secondly, in is worthy of brief discussion due to the difference in distribution. Despite the relatively small difference in frequency between the datasets (1.64 per thousand words between the two frequencies) compared to other more starkly different collocates, in is more often found on the left of cultivated in the metaphoric data (59.7% of the time), but on the right in the non-metaphoric data (57.14% of the time). This finding potentially reveals a difference in function between the metaphoric and non-metaphoric uses. Specifically, the majority of non-metaphoric uses of in occur in R2 position (26.16 %). The majority of these (76.00%) form the colligation cultivated + (noun) + in (location/manner) as shown below:
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Concordance. 5.2. 1. Selection of cultivatedXin occurrences in non-metaphoric dataset
This can be contrasted with the metaphoric data, where cultivated forms a part of a prepositional phrase beginning with in: in precedes cultivated in L2, L3 and L4 position in the majority of cases (13.43% in each case). Instances of in in L2 and L3 position shown below reveal cultivated belonging to a prepositional phrase:
Concordance 4.2. 11. All instances of in in L2 and L3 position in metaphoric dataset
Although less prominent than the other findings, this suggests that in the majority of cases where in collocates with cultivated, cultivated forms part of a prepositional phrase and thus typically offers secondary information such as manner or place. This is a surprising finding as it means that contrary to expectation, the metaphoric uses of cultivated
performs a secondary function - the metaphor not characteristically being the main information of the clause/sentence. This could be a potential criterion for fossilisation: it could be the case that when cultivated is used metaphorically, it is expected or conventional. The two larger studies within this research may find this to be a trait of cultivated only, or it may support the findings for other metaphors.
Returning to the top ten most frequent collocates, highly and mind are the only items specific to the metaphoric data. These have been found to be statistically significant and have been discussed in the adverb/adjective and noun collocate analyses, but there is more to say in relation to colligation. As an adverb, highly is found only on the left of cultivated. 92.86% of these instances modify the adjective cultivated directly. The most common nouns following the collocation are race(s) and society (making up 25.64% of instances). The second most common item to follow the collocation is and (17.95% of instances), forming the colligation highly + cultivated + and. The similar colligation and + highly + cultivated accounts for 12.83% of all concordance lines. Adjectival phrases following highly cultivated and are: early matured, artistic, more civilised, unoffending, and brilliant. Adjectival phrases preceding and highly cultivated are: most picturesque, well-mannered, naturally strong, high bred, finely gifted and agreeable. Instantiations of both colligations create an impression of a person, a group of people, or an individual mind, with qualities of sophistication and refinement. Interestingly, with the exception of agreeable, all are adverb-adjective compounds associated with the latter colligation (and + highly + cultivated). The effect of elaborate extravagance can be said to be intimated through the hyperbolic language. In order to determine whether such associations are specific to the nineteenth century period, a comparison can be undertaken with the complete BNC written section. In the latter, there are only four instances of highly cultivated. Three of these are metaphoric (mind, man and English voice) and one is non- metaphoric (garden). There are no instances of other adjectives or adverb-adjective
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structures used in conjunction with highly cultivated, suggesting it is specific to the time period of the corpus, and as mentioned earlier reflective of a recurrent theme of refinement, notably characteristic (in literature in particular) of the period (c.f. Wilkes, 2010 for a discussion of this).
To summarise the analysis of the most frequent collocates, certain grammatical items have been found to be more frequently associated with either the metaphoric or non-metaphoric use of cultivated (adj.). This has shown that colligations also differ between the two datasets. In particular, where grammatical items share similar frequencies in both sets of data, there are colligations specific only to one dataset. This provides strong support, firstly, for the claim that corpus data can identify differences metaphoric characteristics, and secondly, for the claim that grammatical construction plays an important role in identifying metaphor (as much as isolated lexical items shown in the earlier collocation analyses). The following section will consider further colligations and nesting revealed in the cluster data.