R: [Corpora-List] cheerfully unaware

Tue Mar 21 08:35:12 UTC 2006

Monica,

interesting ...I, US-born, ony learnt this use of cheerfully from a Brit, in the form of 'cheerfully negligent'...

the main use is obviously ironic, as evinced I think by the semantic clash between the typical positive meaning of the adverb + adjectives with typically negative value. 

The meaning then seems to be
adjective + 'conscious'/deliberate treatment of 'adjective' as being of no importance (on the part of the entity being explicitly/implicitly described as negative whatever).

most of your examples, despite scant cotext, seem to fit this pattern.

one apparent exception, 
chef stands in good stead, his apron  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   stained, a generous plate of souvlaki in hand.

maintains the semantic clash, but the 'deliberate' aspect seems to be missing..or perhaps it's the 'indifference'-as-bad that's missing, but here I'm on very slippery territory. More cotext/context is needed to properly investigate differences here I'd say

Donna.

Chair of English Linguistics 
Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature
Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna

________________________________

Da: owner-corpora at lists.uib.no per conto di Monika Bednarek
Inviato: mar 21/03/2006 2.30
A: CORPORA at UIB.NO
Oggetto: [Corpora-List] cheerfully unaware

Dear all,

I have a question about the collocation of CHEERFULLY with negative and negated adjectives, such as:

carried on with the arrangement she was making,  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   unaware of how great a change in attitude that

and paper, she and Francis and a  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   unreliable string of volunteers threw together every month a

But her guest was  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   unrepentant."I forgot -- I was never

and you can eat the freshest of fish in  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   informal, unlicensed restaurants.Take your own wine

the style, the language are all put in  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   irreverent quotation marks and they are perceived against

The  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   ramshackle atmosphere of the King's Head is an unlikely

I was always completely but  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   rotten, however, and despite various faltering adult

"They were all  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   sick, enticed by the little paper bags, except

chef stands in good stead, his apron  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   stained, a generous plate of souvlaki in hand.

reaching the last four.No-one was more  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   downhearted than their Barbarian captain Kari Tapper,

She was just  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   fat, her obesity partly disguised by the fact that

The ristorante was  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   garish, with red-checked tablecloths, plastic flowers,

been stencilled with designs that were mildly but  cheerfully <http://es-otto.unizh.ch/cgi-binbnc2/disp6.pl?lemmaScheme=lancaster&thMode=M545%B7332%AA%AAAafter%B7P0%B7L%B7T%B7H545%AA%AAP45%B7500%B7479%AA%AAP50%B7450%B7437%AA%AAP50%B7400%B7387%AA%AAP50%B7350%B7341&qname=hq000342&ot=after&queryID=mbednarek11%20>   crazy so that to look at them for long made the eyes
(from BNC) 

Do these all share one meaning or are there subtle meaning differences? And if so, how would you best paraphrase this meaning/these meanings, or (even better) translate them into German? What kind of semantic shift from CHEERFUL ('happy' or 'giving you a feeling of happiness', according to OALD) is going on here?

Thanks very much - Monika Bednarek