Н.Н. Николаева
20
Functioning of the indefinite pronouns “somebody”
and “someone” in the modern English language:
biocognitive approach
© N. N. Nikolaeva
Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Moscow, 105005, Russia
The article considers the functioning of the indefinite pronouns ‘somebody’ and ‘some-
one’ in the modern English language. It describes procedures, discussions and the results
of the comparative and contrastive analyses based on the biocognitive approach. Cogni-
tive and functional analyses are applied to learn and interpret native speakers’ choices of
the pronouns in everyday communication and to reveal the aspects causing these choices.
A random sampling technique and a corpus-driven approach are shown to be appropri-
ate for obtaining and analyzing the empirical data. After carrying out a detailed and mul-
tifaceted analysis, the author formulates and demonstrates some rules, principles and
cognitive reasons for choosing ‘somebody’ or ‘someone’ in different referent situations.
The conclusions drawn in the article can be especially useful for the English language
learners because there is no comprehensive and detailed information explaining the dif-
ference between ‘somebody’ and ‘someone’ in both English grammar books and diction-
aries of English usage.
Keywords:
cognitive linguistics, biocognitive approach, English language, reference,
indefinite pronoun, pronouns somebody/someone.
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