Adverbs and Particles: Part-of-speech Homonymy in Corpus Data and Media Discourse

Abstract

The study addresses the part-of-speech homonymy between adverbs and particles in Slovak, with a focus on linguistic data from corpora and media discourse. Four lexemes were analysed: absolútne, konečne, očividne and prirodzene, examining differences in their frequency, collocations, and contextual functions. The results revealed that lexical and pragmatic factors are crucial for distinguishing adverbs from particles, and that the meaning of the context plays a significant role in their interpretation. The study contributes to the debate on the exact criteria for distinguishing parts of speech and highlights the importance of a comprehensive approach in corpus and media linguistics.