A corpus and lexical analysis of the Spanish idiom a conciencia

Abstract The aim of this study is to make a detailed description of the polysemic structure of the phraseme a conciencia. The methodology is based on an understanding of lexical semantics including the parameter of frequency of use in corpora (see Sinclair 1991), with data drawn from Corpus del Espanol del Siglo XXI (CORPES XXI). I will first discuss briefly certain issues relating to polysemy that will arise in the analysis; second, I will make an initial approach to the meaning of a conciencia based on lexicographic information, to be followed by a presentation of the corpus analysis itself. Finally, I will consider the semantic study of this particular phraseme by considering its combinability as seen in the contexts studied. In the conclusions I will try to show the internal structure of the form.