Turning Back to Again Using Parallel Texts : Structuring the Semantic Domain of Repetition and Restitution

Sammanfattning: This study investigates expressions akin to ‘again’, which inhabit the semantic domain of repetition and restitution, from a cross-linguistic perspective. Using massively parallel corpora as the primary source of data the aim of this study is to investigate whether the encoding of repetitive and restitutive meaning is a cross-linguistically valid difference and if there are any patterns in the language specific variation of the repetitive and restitutive domain. By using Multi-Dimensional Scaling and Partitioning Around Medoids to investigate how the expressions ‘third time’, ‘second time’, ‘again’, ‘back’ and ‘return’ make up the semantic space of the domain, it was determined that the domain in question forms a continuum of meanings. This scale, named the TURN-hierarchy, is comprised of repetitive expressions like ‘third time’ to the far left, ambiguous expressions like ‘again’ in the intermediate section and restitutive expressions such as ‘return, back’ to the far right. Furthermore, the results show that repetitive and restitutive meaning is encoded differently in a majority of the sample languages, and that there is asymmetry in the encoding of repetition and restitution where repetitive meaning is privileged. Thus,it is proposed that all languages have at least one exclusively repetitive expression.