Choice Versus Meaning

This chapter explores the relationship between onomasiological and semasiological variation in corpus linguistics, demonstrating how choice-based approaches can illuminate meaning change in ways that traditional frequency analysis cannot. While onomasiological research examines how speakers choose between alternative expressions for the same meaning, semasiological research investigates how meanings of specific expressions change over time. The chapter argues these approaches should be understood as complementary rather than independent. Using the historical development of very in British English as a case study, the author demonstrates limitations of traditional semasiological analysis focusing solely on meaning shares – relative proportions of different senses within polysemous words. Through corpus analysis, he shows how very developed from primarily functioning as a particularising adjective ( very person ) to predominantly serving as an intensifying adverb ( very tall , very slightly ). The key contribution reveals that conventional semasiological share analysis conflates opportunity with choice, similar to the per-million-word frequency problem. When very + adjective constructions appear to increase their share, this could reflect genuine speaker preference or simply more opportunities to intensify adjectives. Only by establishing choice-based baselines – comparing very against other intensifying adverbs in identical positions – can researchers determine actual selection patterns. This integrated approach distinguishes between actual shifts in speaker preferences and apparent changes due to varying expression opportunities across corpus samples or time periods.