




































Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

182                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

 
 

        
   Volume 5, Nomor 2, Agustus 2020 

          ISSN 2442-8965 (P) ISSN 2442-8973 (E) 

 

Semantic Prosody Study of 'Talking a lot’ Words 

Andiani Rezkita Nabu 
arezkita.nabu@iaingorontalo.ac.id 

IAIN Sultan Amai Gorontalo, Indonesia 
 
 

ABSTRACT 

Due to sentence formation, the lexicon choice appears as a crucial phase of writing. Moreover, it 

is caused by the emptiness of words set that are perfectly synonymous and can be 

interchangeable. In order that it leads the needed for meaning, sense and evocative value 

identification in the choice of the lexicon. Furthermore, the main objective of this research is to 

examine the value (sense) of several lexicons, which means 'talking a lot' such as talkative, 

loquacious, chatty, gossipy, garrulous, talky, and conversational, by using cognitive-linguistic 

and corpus linguistic approaches. In this case, the researcher examined the lexicon values based 

on the distinguishing semantic features and semantic prosody of the lexicons. As a linguistic 

corpus study, this study involved a number of data derived from COCA (Corpus of 

Contemporary American English), the Oxford dictionary (online), and the Merriam-Webster 

dictionary (online). Hence, this study found that the distinctive features of the lexicons are the 

subject, the object, the type of communication, the type of information, and the causes. 

Therefore, the semantic prosody in translation practices applies in corpus-based approach 

translation. It can facilitate a translator to comprehend new words and improve the quality of 

translation work. 

Keywords: Semantic Prosody; Translation Approach; COCA; Corpus; Collocation. 

 

 

A. INTRODUCTION 

Vocabulary is a part of lexicogrammar that always represents the word choice of 

language user, and the ability of language user to mean a word (OKeeffe et al., 2007). 

Furthermore, the development of languages in the world appeared by the increasingly of 

vocabulary diversity. This diversity eventually led to the emergence of various words 

that have same relation meaning or synonym. The words, in addition, can be used to 

explain the same meaning, but cannot be truly exchanged one another. According to 

Bloomfield (Potter & Ullmann, 1963), each form of language has a constant and 

http://u.lipi.go.id/1421293761
mailto:a.rezkita@mail.ugm.ac.id


Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

183                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

specific meaning. Then, if the forms of language are phonemically different, they also 

have different meanings. In order that, the hypothesis about the existence of absolute 

synonym will be incompatible with the general view of language. Consequently, It 

happens as the result of there are no synonym pairs that are perfectly same in meaning, 

which can be exchanged in all contexts without changing their objective meaning, taste, 

or evocative value (Potter & Ullmann, 1963). 

On the other hand, the lexicon choice is a very crucial part in formatting a 

sentence. This lexicon choice can lead to the emergence of positive or negative 

meanings. Moreover, the existence of near synonym words sometimes leads to the 

vagueness in choosing words of arranging a sentence, especially for EFL students. In 

addition, it will make EFL students more complicated to arrange sentences. Hence, it 

should lead to the needed of meaning, sense and evocative value identification in the 

choice of lexicon. Regarding to differentiate each near synonym words, many 

researchers use the idea of semantic prosody or semantic preference through the 

collocation to help identifying the broad meaning of words (McEnery & Wilson, 2001; 

Nugroho, 2018; Partington, 2004; Prihantoro, 2015; Xiao & McEnery, 2006). Semantic 

prosody or semantic preference is a relationship between word lexeme and its meaning 

and it usually affects to the collocation and emotional factor of the hearer (Partington, 

2004; Stubbs, 2001). In order that, semantic prosody also purposes for expressing 

language users’ attitude through words (Biber & Reppen, 2015).   

As far as the discussion about semantic prosody emerges, the corpus linguistic 

became a best source of data used for this problem (Liu, 2010; Nugroho, 2018; 

Partington, 2004). Instead of using other source of data, every words can be studied 

easily in corpora by concerning the words phraseological structure, words genre, words 

variety, and words frequency (Charles, 2011). Furthermore, the studies about 

differentiating near synonym had been done by many researchers. The first study is a 

study conducted by Liu (2010) entitled “Is it a chief, main, major, primary, or principal 

concern?: A corpus-based behavioral profile study of the near-synonyms”. This study is 

intended to examine the internal semantic feature of five near synonym words namely 

chief, main, major, primary, and principal. This study finally affirmed the use of 

behavioral profile approach in corpus study. 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

184                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

Prihantoro (2015) with his study entitled "Semantic prosody of words of effects in 

Indonesian". This study aimed to examine the semantic prosody of the meaningful 

entries of words mean ‘effects’ such as hasil, efek, konsekuensi, dampak and akibat by 

using corpus linguistic approach . From this research, it was found that only the word 

hasil has a positive prosody. Meanwhile, the word konsekuensi has a positive, and the 

derivation of akibat, dampak, and efek has a positive and negative prosody. However, 

akibat, dampak, and efek are more likely to have a negative tendency than positive 

tendency (Prihantoro, 2015). 

In addition, another research has also been done by Yuliawati (2016) with her 

research entitled “Profil semantik nomina perempuan dalam korpus majalah berbahasa 

Sunda (Majalah Mangle, 1958 – 2013)”. This study discussed the collocation and 

meaning of some Sundanese words such as awewe, istri, mojang, pemajikan, and 

wanoja by using corpus linguistic approach. As a corpus linguistic study, this study 

found that the use of words has different frequencies. However, by considering the 

collocations, each word is always associated with certain topics (Yuliawati, 2016).  

Nugroho (2018) in his study also give another example of semantic prosody study 

through corpus. The study entitled “A corpus linguistics investigation of two near-

synonymous words: rich and wealthy” is emerged from the English learners’ confusion 

to some near synonym words. In order that, although rich and wealthy shared some 

semantic features but they cannot exchangeable in certain context (Nugroho, 2018).  

Another research has been carried out by Zahradeen (2020) entitled “Componential 

analysis of English ‘Crying’ terms”. This study was intended to find out the distinctive 

features of ‘crying’ terms through componential analysis. Therefore, the presence and 

absence of features can influence the meaning of words (Tijjani Zahradeen, 2020). 

The development of semantic prosody studies also has been done by Sanguan-Boon 

& Tangkiengsirsin (2019) entitled “A Semantic Prosody and Grammatical Patterns 

Analysis of Near-Synonym Pair Quit and Stop in the COCA”. This study aimed to find 

out the semantic prosody and grammatical pattern of near synonym words namely quit 

and stop. Therefore, the study found that quit and stop had neutral semantic prosody, 

but they cannot be used interchangeably because they had some different grammatical 

patterns (Treechayawong et al., 2019). 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

185                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

Hwungsookkasem & Sompong (2019) (in Treechayawong et al., 2019) in their 

study entitled “A Corpus-Based Study of English Synonym: Goal, Purpose, and Aim” is 

another newest study about semantic prosody through near synonym words. This study 

focused on investigating the similarities and differences of three synonym words 

namely goal, purpose, and aim. The similarities and differences of the words were 

examined by concerning the meaning aspects, grammatical patterns, and collocations of 

words. In this case, the data from Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) 

were compared with lexical meaning in some dictionaries. Finally, it found that the 

synonym word namely goal, purpose, and aim had some shared similar grammatical 

patterns and collocations. However, they also had some different grammatical patterns 

and special collocations for each word. 

Based on the description above, the study entitled semantic prosody analysis of 

‘talking a lot’ words is different with some previous study above. Therefore, this study 

aimed to examine and focus on the lexicon values of words ‘talking a lot’, such as 

talkative, loquacious, chatty, gossipy, garrulous, talky, and conversational. The lexicon 

values will be concerned on distinguishing semantic features and semantic prosody of 

the lexicon. In order that, this study will give a new insight of the use of near synonym 

words ‘talking a lot’ based on the aura of the lexicon through the appropriate genre and 

appropriate context. 

 

B. RESEARCH METHOD 

The term of prosody in corpus linguistic studies refers to the tendency of a word 

towards positive or negative meaning (McEnery & Hardie, 2011). Meanwhile, the 

attribute 'semantics' is usually added to the word 'prosody' for emphasizing that the 

prosody depends on the context of the sentence, and it is also influenced by word 

features and their collocation (Prihantoro, 2015). Hence, Louw (Stewart, 2009) states 

that semantic prosody is the aura of meaning that is consistently formed based on the 

collocation of words and determined by the lexicon or grammar. 

In providing data, researchers used data from Corpus of Contemporary American 

English (COCA) (Corpus of Contemporary American-English (COCA), n.d.) and 

compile it with the data from The Oxford Dictionary Online (Definitions, Meanings, 

Synonyms, and Grammar by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.Com, n.d.) and The 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

186                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online (Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America’s 

Most-Trusted Online Dictionary, n.d.). In this case, Corpus of Contemporary American 

English (COCA) became the primary source of data, and The Oxford Dictionary Online 

& The Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online became the secondary data to support the 

data from COCA. Additionally, the dictionaries were used for bring the literal meaning 

into the discussions.  

In order to use another corpus data, this study preferred using COCA based on some 

considerations. Firstly, COCA is the largest English corpus that contains amount of data 

in different genres such as spoken language, academic writing, newspapers, fiction, 

magazines, and etc. However it contains million corpus data, it is free and accessible by 

every people. Besides, the corpus data are updated regularly in order that it suits as a 

main source of data, especially for studying the current use of English words in many 

genres. 

Furthermore, the data are analyzed in two ways, namely analyzing the words by 

using componential analysis, and analyzing the collocation that exists between lexicons. 

In the first step, this study used componential analysis to find out the meaning and the 

distinctive meaning between words. Moreover, the meaning of words from The Oxford 

Dictionary Online and The Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online will be analyzed by 

concerning the distinctive feature of words.  

After that, to make the deep analysis of words this study compiles it with collocation 

analysis in COCA. In this case, the semantic prosody will be seen in lexical index and 

lexical profiles which are in corpus linguistics. In exploring the corpus, the investigation 

will focus on identifying semantic collocations and preferences that are usually accessed 

through word profiles or concordance. According to Hoey (Stewart, 2009), collocation 

is a term used to describe the relationship between a lexical part and parts that appear 

regularly in a textual context. In other words, Firth (Stewart, 2009) implied that 

collocation is basically quantitative, entailing statistical significance and not only a 

juxtaposition. After that, the data can be analyzed at the level of semantic 

prosody. Finally, the results and discussions will be presented in a combination of 

simple statistics, tables, collocation data, and qualitative descriptions. 

 

 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

187                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

C. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 

Findings 

Based on searches in the Merriam-Webster and Oxford dictionaries, it was 

found that the meaning of talkative, loquacious, chatty, gossipy, garrulous, 

conversational, and talky lexicon can be seen in the table below. 

Table 1.The Meaning of Lexicons 'Talking a lot' 

 

From the data collections, it was found that the characteristics of shared 

meaning components in the lexicon of talkative , loquacious, chatty, gossipy, 

garrulous, conversational, talky, were [+SUBJECT ANIMATE] [+SUBJECT 

SINGLE-PLURAL] [ANIMATE-INANIMATE OBJECT] [SINGLE-PLURAL 

OBJECT] [ONE WAY COMMUNICATION]. In other side, some distinctive 

features that distinguish the near-synonym words that mean ' talking a lot', were in 

Words Meaning 1 (Merriam-

Webster) 

Meaning 2 (Oxford) 

Talkative tending to talk a lot or to 

enjoy having conversations 

with people  

Fond of or given to talking. 

Loquacious liking to talk and talking 

smoothly and easily 

Tending to talk a great deal 

talkative. 

 Chatty tending to talk a lot; 

fond of chatting, having an 

informal style that is similar 

to friendly speech 

Readily engaging in informal 

talk; (of a conversation, letter, 

etc.) informal and lively. 

Gossipy characterized by, full of, or 

given to gossip 

Characterized by casual 

conversation or reports about 

other people; derogatory 

Enjoying talking about other 

people's private lives 

 Garrulous fond of talking or 

conversation pointlessly or 

annoyingly talkative 

Excessively talkative, especially 

on trivial matters 

Conversational tending to do informal talk 

involving two people or a 

small group of people 

As used in conversation not 

formal; Consisting of or relating 

to conversation. 

 Talky tending or wanting to talk 

 having a lot of talking 

(of a film, play, novel, etc.) 

containing a great deal of talk or 

dialogue; (of a person) inclined 

to talk at length; talkative 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

188                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

terms of the subject (actor), object (patient), type of communication, and the type of 

information involved, and causes of communication as shown in the appendix 1. 

Discussion 

Semantic Prosody 

To determine the semantic prosody of the lexicon such as talkative, loquacious, 

chatty, gossipy, garrulous, conversational, talky, the data are analyzed by looking at 

the collocation around the lexicon. As Louw (Stewart, 2009) stated that a semantic 

prosody is established through some familiar themes such as the consistency of 

semantic collocation, and the attitudinal function of semantic prosody. In other 

words, a semantic prosody appears as the result of the relationship between the word 

and the collocates. In this case, three types of prosody were found in this study, 

namely positive prosody, negative prosody, and neutral prosody. 

a. Positive Prosody (Amelioration) 

Positive prosody as the meaning that generated in speech which is 

positive or as same as its expected (Prihantoro, 2015) . In this case the lexicon 

that has a positive sense or prosody among others is talkative, loquacious, 

chatty, and talky. 

In the COCA corpus, the word talkative is widely used in fiction and 

newspapers genre rather than in oral, magazine, and academic 

genre. Furthermore, by considering its significant collocates, it can be grouped 

into a number of forms, for instance, those which is related to gender (lady), 

and manner means (friendly, lively, cooperative, cheerful, energetic, relaxed). 

Consequently, it shows that talkative is relate to woman more than to man.  



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

189                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

 

Figure 1. General Collocates of talkative 

On the other hand, the data about top twenty collocates of talkative shows that it 

collocates with some adjectives such as friendly, outgoing, cooperative, lively, 

energetic, and cheerful. The collocation in this lexicon shows that the collocations are 

positive in extreme, because it does not collaborate with negative meaningful 

adjectives. As a result, talkative can be categorized as in positive prosody 

(amelioration). 

The same thing is also seen in loquacious, which is more widely used in the 

genre of magazines and newspapers than in spoken, fiction, and academic genre. The 

general collocates of Loquacious can be seen on the table below. 

 

Figure 2. General Collocates of Loquacious 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

190                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

In addition, by considering the general collocates above, collocates can be 

grouped into several groups such as, words related to gender (i.e ladies), words related 

to speech (i.e articulate, silent, affable, speechless, candid, pause, normally, loud), and 

words related to communication objects (i.e vendor, companion). In order that, it shows 

that loquacious is an adjective which relates to woman than man. Furthermore, it 

usually speaks of something in real with normal articulation and occurs in two way 

communication. 

Specifically, loquacious looks more collocating with other adjectives, such as 

articulate, candid, affable, silent, and speechless. In order that, there is not negative 

meaningful words are found around this lexicon. 

As well as talkative and loquacious, chatty is also categorized in positive 

prosody. It usually used in fiction and newsletters genre, compared to spoken, 

magazines, and academic genre. Then, the general collocates of chatty can be seen on 

the table below. 

 

Figure 3. General Collocation of Chatty 

Furthermore, by considering the general collocates above, collocates can be 

grouped into several groups such as, words related to the subject (i.e. girl, guy, driver, 

letters, phone), words related to speech (i.e. friendly, normally, outgoing, relaxed, 

casual), and words related to the object of conversation (i.e. mood, style). Based on this 

classification, it shows that chatty is not only related to women, but also men. The 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

191                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

meaning of the speech in this adjective is a simple and familiar style of speech. In order, 

the conversation is becoming relaxed. 

Specifically, lexicon chatty more collocating with other adjectives such as, 

 friendly, cheerful, charming, casual, downright, outgoing. As a result, it categorized in 

positive prosody because it is surrounded by positive meaningful adjectives. 

Finally, another lexicon that has a positive prosody is talky. This lexicon is more 

widely used in magazines and fiction genre than in spoken language, letter, and 

academic genre. The general collocates of talky can be seen on the table below. 

 

  

Figure 4. General Collocation of Talky 

Moreover, by considering the general collocates of talky, they can be grouped in 

words related to purpose (i.e. play, socialism), words related to the way (i.e. long, static, 

engaging, surprisingly, along, badinage-based), words related to object form (i.e. 

comedy, over the heads, anecdote-shares-in, docudrama),and words related to the 

subject (i.e. somebody, aides). In order that, talky emphasizes the features speaking 

method used rather than the gender preferences of subject. Then, it usually relates to the 

objects of comedy, anecdotes and drama. 

Additionally, the adjectives collocations of talky are only static, long, engaging, 

talky, walky. Moreover the adjectives only contained positive meanings. Therefore, 

talky is categorized as a positive prosody lexicon. 

 

 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

192                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

b. Neutral Prosody 

Prihantoro (2015) states that the neutral prosody is an aura meaning which is 

neutral generated. Based on the data, it was found that some lexicon 'talking a 

lot' which has neutral prosody are garrulous and conversational. 

Firstly, garrulous is more used in fiction and magazine genre than in other 

genres. The general collocates of garrulous can be seen on the table below.  

 

Figure 5. General Collocates of Garrulous 

As a result of considering the general collocates of garrulous, they can be 

grouped into several groups such as words related to the cause of the conversation (i.e. 

nature, drunk, personality), words related to the subject conversation (i.e. old, man, 

veteran, uncle), words related to speech (i.e. articulate, positively, vague, relaxed, 

sociable, friendly), and words related to the frequency of events (i.e. usual, normally, 

extraordinarily).In order that, it shows that garrulous is mostly done by older men than 

women. Usually this trait arises purely because of the personality of the object. 

However, specifically the adjectives around garrulous are usual, friendly, 

relaxed, old, drunk. On the other hand, there are three adjectives in positive meaning, 

namely usual, friendly, and relaxed. Meanwhile old, drunk, are considered in negative 

meaning. In order that, garrulous can be a flexible lexicon because it can be positive or 

negative. Therefore, this lexicon is categorized as a neutral prosody lexicon. 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

193                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            

Figure 6. General Collocates of Conversational 

As well as garrulous, conversational is also categorized in neutral prosody. This 

lexicon is more widely used in the academic magazines genre rather than others. This 

lexicon is surrounded by its significant collocates that can be grouped into words related 

to speech features (i.e. tone, speech, style, language, skills, voice, topic), words related 

to speech forms (i.e. narrative, samples, interaction, interview, task, gambits), words 

related to place (i.e. interface), and words related to language (i.e. English, Spanish). In 

order that, conversational emphasizes the speaking features used rather than the gender 

preferences. Then, the general collocates of conversational can be seen on the table 

below. 

In addition, the surrounded adjectives of conversational are English, Spanish. In 

order that, conversational lexicon tends to be neutral in nature because it is surrounded 

by adjectives that are neither positive nor negative. Hence, it cannot be in positive or 

negative prosody adjectives, but rather in neutral. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

194                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

c. Negative Prosody (Pejoration) 

Negative Prosody refers to an aura of lexicon which has negative meaning or not 

as expected. In this study, it was found that there is only one lexicon that has negative 

prosody, namely gossipy. Gossipy is used more in fiction and magazine genre than other 

genre. As a result of considering the general collocates of gossipy, they can be grouped 

into words related to place (i.e. magazine, lunches, book, account, industry), words 

related to the form of conversation (i.e. conversation, written, writing), words related to 

subject of conversation (i.e. seller, neighbor), and words related to negative issues (i.e. 

tidbits, fussy, notoriously, superficial, erotic, weakness). In order that, it shows that 

gossipy is mostly done in the neighborhood and sellers. In this lexicon, gender 

preference is not dominant. Furthermore, the speech form is not only in oral form, but 

also in written form. Moreover, the content of this talk is usually negative issue based 

on the general collocations. 

 

However, gossipy categorized in negative prosody as a result of the negative 

adjective collocations around it. In addition, the adjectives are superficial, erotic, 

and fussy. 

The Implications of Semantic Prosodies through Translation Practices 

Talking about the aura of near-synonym or words semantic prosody is always 

related to translation studies and practices. In this case, the implication of semantic 

prosody can be seen in the use of corpus-based approach in translation practice. It can 

Figure 7. General Collocates of Gossipy 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

195                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

be used in world level translation and also above word level translation. Corpus-based 

approach in translation is usually not only used for investigating the difference between 

the source language text and target language text, but how genres affect the translation 

work (Zanettin, 2014). 

As well as above, the semantic prosody’s implication through translation practice 

also shows in the analysis of semantic prosody in near-synonym ‘talking a lot’ words. In 

this talk, the collocations of words can show some systematic features of words. 

Furthermore, the aura or connotative meaning of near-synonym words obtained by 

corpus-based approach is indirectly showed that the corpus-based approach can be used 

well as an option in translation practice. 

Therefore, the translators cannot only transfer word per word meanings, but also the 

values and cultures within the words. Due to above,  the corpus-based approach is not 

only able to detect and analyze the systematic features of translation, but also can 

identify and provide the appropriate tools to test norms and regularities hypotheses in 

translated texts (Zanettin, 2014). The example of corpus-based approach in translating 

practice ‘talking a lot’ word can be seen on the table below. 

Table 2. Example of gossipy corpus-based translation 

Word Collocation 

Related to place Related to 

conversation 

form 

Related to 

conversation 

subject 

Related to 

negative 

issues 

Gossipy magazine, 

lunches, book, 

account, industry 

conversation, 

written, 

writing 

seller, 

neighbor 

tidbits, fussy, 

notoriously, 

superficial, 

erotic, 

weakness 

 

The word gossipy above is not only translated as a casual conversation, but it 

transfers some values and auras of word such as its genre, form, subject, and negative 

values. In order that, gossipy can be translated as a casual conversation which is used 

more in magazine genre than other genre. It has usually done by the neighbor and 

sellers, meanwhile the content always relates to negative issue.  

Along with the discussion of semantic prosody implication through translation 

practice was emerged, the corpus methodology in translation practice was first 

introduced by Baker in 1993 (Baker, 2018). Baker suggested that translation study and 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

196                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

practice can be done well by elucidating translated text through its construction, in order 

that the observations can be done through the relative frequencies of specific words, 

word classes, collocations and lexico-syntactic structures (Malmkjær, 2018). However, 

the translation approach is not basically well-developed in Indonesia translation 

practice. This is because it requires more technologies in translating text, such as some 

corpus data (COCA, BNC, COHA, GloWbE), Computer-Assisted Rranslation software, 

AntConc, Sketch Engine, and etc. In addition, the corpus-based approach is generally 

mastered by advanced translators more than by beginner translators. Hence, corpus-

based approach is very feasible to use in Indonesia translation studies and practice. For 

this reason, it is useful to facilitate foreign language learner and foreign language 

translator in comprehending new words. Identically, corpus-based approach can 

improve the quality of translation work, especially the accuracy level in meaning 

transference.  

 

D. CONCLUSIONS 

To sum up, all near-synonym adjectives which mean ‘talking a lot’ are not in 

perfect synonym. They have to be used agree with the context. Based on the research 

above, it can be concluded that the distinctive features of the adjectives mean 'talking a 

lot' are subjects, objects, types of communication, types of information, and causes of 

communication. Besides, some lexicon such as talkative, loquacious, chatty, and talky 

are categorized as lexicon which have positive prosody in 

extreme. Moreover, garrulous and conversational are neutral, because they can be 

positive or negative depending on the context. On the other hand, gossipy is the only 

lexicon that tends to have negative prosody. Hence, the words semantic prosody is 

always related to translation studies and practices through corpus-based approach. It 

facilitates foreign language learner and foreign language translator in comprehending 

new words, and improves the quality of translation work. 

 

 

 

 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

197                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

REFERENCES 

 

Baker, M. (2018). In other words:A coursebook on translatoin. In Development (Vol. 

134, Issue 4). Routledge. 

Biber, D., & Reppen, R. (2015). The Cambridge handbook of English corpus 

linguistics. In The Cambridge Handbook of English Corpus Linguistics. 

https://doi.org/10.1007/9781139764377 

Charles, M. (2011). The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics. System. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2011.01.004 

Corpus of Contemporary American-English (COCA). (n.d.). http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/ 

Definitions, Meanings, Synonyms, and Grammar by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com. 

(n.d.). Retrieved May 2, 2020, from 

https://www.lexico.com/?search_filter=en_dictionary 

Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America’s most-trusted online dictionary. (n.d.). 

Retrieved May 3, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/ 

Liu, D. (2010).  Is it a chief , main , major , primary , or principal concern?: A corpus-

based behavioral profile study of the near-synonyms . International Journal of 

Corpus Linguistics, 15(1), 56–87. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.15.1.03liu 

Malmkjær, K. (2018). The Routledge Handbook of Translation Studies and Linguistics. 

In The Routledge Handbook of Translation Studies and Linguistics. Routledge. 

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315692845 

McEnery, T., & Hardie, A. (2011). Corpus linguistics: Method, theory and practice. In 

Corpus Linguistics: Method, Theory and Practice. 

https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511981395 

McEnery, T., & Wilson, A. (2001). 7. Corpus linguistics: An introduction. Corpus 

Linguistics: An Introduction. 

Nugroho, D. Y. (2018). A Corpus Linguistics Investigation Of Two Near-Synonymous 

Words: Rich and Wealthy. English Education : Journal of English Teaching and 

Research, 3(2), 118–127. https://doi.org/10.29407/JETAR.V3I2.12568 

OKeeffe, A., McCarthy, M., & Carter, R. (2007). From Corpus to Classroom. In From 

Corpus to Classroom. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511497650 

Partington, A. (2004). “Utterly content in each other’s company”: Semantic prosody and 

semantic preference. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. 

https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.9.1.07par 

Potter, S., & Ullmann, S. (1963). Semantics. An Introduction to the Science of 

Meaning. The Modern Language Review. https://doi.org/10.2307/3720401 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

198                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

Prihantoro. (2015). Semantic prosody of words of effects in Indonesian. Indonesian 

Journal of Applied Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v5i1.837 

Stewart, D. (2009). Semantic prosody: A critical evaluation. In Semantic Prosody: A 

Critical Evaluation. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203870075 

Stubbs, M. (2001). Words and Phrases: Corpus Studies of Lexical Semantics. 

Tijjani Zahradeen, N. (2020). Componential Analysis od English “Crying” Terms. In 

International Journal of Advanced Academic Research | Arts, Humanities and 

Education| (Vol. 6, Issue 2). 

Treechayawong, A., Tangkiengsirisin, S., Intamano, B., Sappapan, P., Kaewchum, C., 

Suriyatham, W., Ongsara, F., Rimkeeratikul, S., Da, H., Koowuttayakorn, S., 

Hwungsookkasem, J., Sompong, M., Jongjit, J., Sitthikul, P., Daji, K., Sappapan, 

P., Wongrat, K., Simasangyaporn, N., Jullanan, K., … Aiyarakarnajanakul, W. 

(2019). Board of 8 th LITU International Graduate Conference Proceedings (P. 

Sappapan & S. Koowuttayakorn (Eds.); pp. 5–605). Language Institure 

Thammasat University. 

Xiao, R., & McEnery, T. (2006). Collocation, semantic prosody, and near synonymy: A 

cross-linguistic perspective. Applied Linguistics. 

https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/ami045 

Yuliawati, S. (2016). Profil Semantis Nomina Perempuan dalam Korpus Majalah 

Berbahasa Sunda (Mangle, 1958-2013). In Kongres Internasional Masyarakat 

Linguistik Indonesia. 

Zanettin, F. (2014). Corpora in Translator Education. In Corpora in Translator 

Education. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315760162. 



Andiani Rezkita Nabu 

199                                                   http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/alAvailable online at   

 

© 2020 Al-Lisan: Jurnal Bahasa (e-Journal) 
 

Appendix. Componential Analysis and Distinctive Features Table 

No Words Subject Object  Types of 

Communication 

Types of Information Causes 

  
A

n
im

at
e 

In
an

im
at

e
 

S
in

g
u
la

r 

P
lu

ra
l 

 

M
al

e 

F
em

al
e 

N
eu

tr
al

 

A
n
im

at
e 

In
an

im
at

e
 

S
in

g
u
la

r 

P
lu

ra
l 

 

M
al

e 

F
em

al
e 

N
eu

tr
al

 

O
n
e 

W
ay

 

T
w

o
 W

ay
s 

F
o
rm

al
 

In
fo

rm
al

 

P
o
si

ti
v
e 

is
su

e 

IN
eg

at
iv

e 
is

su
e 

N
eu

tr
al

 

W
ri

tt
en

 

S
p
o
k
en

 

G
en

er
al

 

S
p
ec

ia
l 

C
o
n
sc

io
u
s 

U
n
co

n
sc

io
u
s 

1.  Talkative + - + + - + - + + + + + + + + - + + + + + - + + - + - 

2.  Loquacious + - + + - + - + + + + + + + + + + - - - + - + + + + - 

3.  Chatty + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + - - + + + + + + - + + - 

4.  Gossipy + + + + - - + + + + + - - + + + - + - + - - + - + + - 

5.  Garrulous  + - + + + - - + + + + + + + + - - + + - + - + + - - + 

6.  Conversati

onal 

+ + + + + + + + + + + - - + + + - + + - + + + + + + - 

7.  Talky + + + + + + + + + + + - - + + + + + + - + + + + - + - 

 


