Quantity approximation in English and French 147
business news reporting contains some direct reported speech (DRS), which tends
to be less formal than actual news writing. Table 4 reveals that there is a greater
number and proportion of combinations of approximations and numbers in direct
speech reporting in FRENews than BENews. This seems to indicate that quantity
approximation is more closely associated with the less formal DRS sections in the
French corpus (see Example 1), which, as has been suggested, probably exhibits a
higher overall degree of formality than the English corpus.
(1) Selon Nout Wellink, le président du comité de Bâle, Bâle III nécessitera “des
centaines de milliards [d’euros]”. “J’hésite un peu à donner des chiffres parce
que cela concerne une période d’adaptation très longue qui prendra environ
huit ans et que les chiffres changeront avec le temps”, a-t-il précisé sur la radio
néerlandaise Radio 1. (FRENews)
Table 4. Combinations of approximators + numbers denoting quantities
in direct reported speech (DRS)
BENews FRENews
Tokens in DRS 95 120
Proportion of approximators and numbers
in DRS 4.3% 7.0%
Tokens in non-DRS 2,123 1,587
Proportion in non-DRS 95.7% 93.0%
- Semantic tendencies in BENews and FRENews
A semantic analysis of the approximators uncovered in BENews and FRENews
reveals that the approximation of quantities is not limited to expressing an approx-
imated amount which is equal to more or less a certain quantity (Examples 2 and
3). Several other semantic patterns are represented in both the English and the
French corpus used: approximators expressing a minimum quantity (Examples 4
and 5), a maximum quantity (Examples 6 and 7), an interval (Examples 8 and 9)
or a quantity that is either n or n (Examples 10 and 11):
(2) Il a investi quelque 160 millions d’euros pour l’ensemble de ses sociétés privées
(hors EasyJet)... (FRENews) [‘some’]
(3) Around 1,350 jobs will be lost from 20,000 in total. (BENews)
(4) La dette publique, qui dépasse les 150% du PIB, ne devrait pas refluer avant
- (FRENews) [‘exceed’]