A corpus-based approach to teaching polysemous verbs in French institutional discourse

Abstract

Nuanced differences of quasi-synonymous verbs tend to be hard to identify, because dictionary definitions are naturally non-contextual; this obscures the complex power dynamics and attitudinal nuances essential for near-native competence, particularly when navigating the rigid registers of professional and institutional discourse. This study investigates the functional and sociolinguistic distinctions between these two verbs within the authoritative discourse of the French Ministry of Education. Utilizing a specialized corpus extracted from the French Web Corpus 2023 (frTenTen23), the research employs a multi-layered analytical framework combining lemmatization, collocation extraction, and semantic tagging (USAS) to map the semantic prosody of each term. The findings reveal that these verbs function as administrative antonyms rather than synonyms. “Mettre à disposition” is characterized by a “rhetoric of enablement,” and “fournir” is governed by a “rhetoric of compliance.” The study argues that these lexical choices construct distinct administrative realities: one of support and one of judgment. Drawing on these findings, the paper proposes an Institutional Corpus-Based Pedagogy (ICBP) model. This framework offers a systematic approach for educators to transition learners from simple lexical definition to sociolinguistic precision, using data-driven and corpus-based learning to decode the hidden curriculum of institutional French.