Quantity approximation in business language : a contrastive, corpus-driven approach (Dutch, English, French)

This thesis explores the linguistic items expressing quantity approximation in Business English, French and Dutch (e.g. around 500, environ 500, ongeveer 500). Based on a solid empirical basis, a descriptive and comparative investigation of these linguistic items is carried out. This study uses an onomasiological approach, starting from the notion of 'quantity approximation' to identify the linguistic devices expressing this notion (called 'approximators'). A corpus-driven method was adopted: computerized corpora of business language were used as a starting point, without starting from pre-established lists of approximators. The approximators identified in the corpora and their collocational patterns are compared in corpora representing three different genres in Business English: business news reporting, academic business papers and spoken business meetings. The contrastive chapters of the thesis focus on the comparison of the grammatical and semantic features of approximators in English, Dutch and French business news reporting. The translation of approximators in translation corpora of journalese and in bilingual dictionaries is also examined.