Abstract The paper presents an attempt to develop a procedure of researching functional transposition in English. Functional transposition is interpreted as a diachronicsynchronic functional process and its outcome, which presupposes the ability of lexical units, by means of grammaticalization and lexicalization and without application of any morphological and/or syntactical markers, to acquire and realize functions inherent to other word classes. The procedure consists of four major stages which cover the entire process of transposition of each lexical unit from its origin and up to the current use. The main methods include: definition and componential analyses, historical analysis of origin, diachronic corpus analysis, and synchronic corpus analysis. In the present paper, the procedure is verified with a case study of the lexical unit ‘IN’. It has been established that in the case of ‘IN’, functional transposition started from the category of prepositions. The tendency of its development shows that after a gradual decrease and stabilization, observed in Early and Late Modern English, respectively, functional transposition of ‘IN’ has undergone a dramatic increase in Present-Day English. It is explained by formation of new sociocultural situations and institutionalization of numerous patterns of functionally transposed ‘IN’ in the language.

中文翻译：

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英语功能转置分析程序

摘要 本文试图开发一种研究英语功能转置的程序。功能转置被解释为一个历时同步的功能过程及其结果，它以词汇单元的能力为前提，通过语法化和词汇化，无需应用任何形态和/或句法标记，获得和实现其他词类固有的功能。该程序由四个主要阶段组成，涵盖每个词汇单元从其起源到当前使用的整个换位过程。主要方法包括：定义和成分分析、起源历史分析、历时语料库分析和共时语料库分析。在本论文中，该程序通过词汇单元“IN”的案例研究得到验证。已经确定，在“IN”的情况下，功能转置从介词的类别开始。其发展趋势表明，在早期和晚期现代英语中分别观察到逐渐减少和稳定之后，“IN”的功能转置在现代英语中经历了急剧增加。它可以通过新的社会文化情境的形成和语言中众多功能转换的“IN”模式的制度化来解释。“IN”的功能转置在现代英语中经历了急剧增加。它可以通过新的社会文化情境的形成和语言中众多功能转换的“IN”模式的制度化来解释。“IN”的功能转置在现代英语中经历了急剧增加。它可以通过新的社会文化情境的形成和语言中众多功能转换的“IN”模式的制度化来解释。