scholarly journals Coatsandbrasandjeans– andclothes, too: lexical contrast between hyperonyms and hyponyms

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-499
Author(s):  
ANU KOSKELA
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Prototype Structure ◽  
Real Language ◽  
Special Case ◽  
Category Prototype

A special case of lexical contrast involves contrasting a hyperonym and a hyponym (as inclothes and socks), leading to the narrowing of the hyperonym's sense. However, not all hyperonym/hyponym pairs are amenable to contrast (e.g.?animals and cats). While category prototype structure forms a strong motivating and constraining factor for hyperonym/hyponym contrast (e.g. Lehrer 1990), what is lacking in previous work is a systematic consideration of the co-hyponyms in real language use. To that end, data from the GloWbE corpus (Davies 2013) were used to investigate which terms for items of clothing (e.g.coat,bra,jeans) can be contrasted with their hyperonym (eitherclothesorclothing). While marginal members of theitem of clothingcategory (e.g.belt,hat) have a stronger potential for contrasting with the hyperonym, even prototypical hyponyms (e.g.shirt,jeans) contrasted withclothes/clothingin at least some contexts. Language users can therefore manipulate category boundaries to meet their discourse needs, exploiting a range of dimensions of difference to create contrast. Many clothing terms were also found to contrast more readily withclothesthan withclothing, suggesting that the meaning ofclothesis generally narrower than that of its near-synonymclothing.

scholarly journals Discovering Language Properties through Corpus-Based Dictionary Data Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-70
Author(s):  
Paul Lyddon ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Language Use ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Language Teacher ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
Large Samples ◽  
Widespread Availability ◽  
Real Language

To reveal underlying patterns in real language use, linguists have increasingly come to rely on corpus analyses, involving the evaluation of statistical frequencies in generally sizable bodies of natural linguistic data. However, accessing and analyzing large samples of raw language is neither always practical nor even truly necessary, especially in cases pertaining to structural characteristics. In fact, the requisite data can oftentimes be gleaned from a state-of-the-art (i.e., corpus-based) dictionary. Moreover, given the widespread availability of easily searchable electronic dictionaries nowadays, almost any language teacher or learner can use one to answer a number of these types of queries. This paper illustrates this claim with a step-by-step analysis of corpus-based dictionary data for the purpose of formulating the sound-symbol relations in English words with vowels preceding –gh.

Do we teach the real language?

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-241
Author(s):  
Yevgen Matusevych ◽  
Ad Backus ◽  
Martin Reynaert
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Real Language ◽  
Recurrent Patterns

This article is about the type of language that is offered to learners in textbooks, using the example of Russian. Many modern textbooks of Russian as a foreign language aim at efficient development of oral communication skills. However, some expressions used in the textbooks are not typical for everyday language. We claim that textbooks’ content should be reassessed based on actual language use, following theoretical and methodological models of cognitive and corpus linguistics. We extracted language patterns from three textbooks, and compared them with alternative patterns that carry similar meaning by (1) calculating the frequency of occurrence of each pattern in a corpus of spoken language, and (2) using Russian native speakers’ intuitions about what is more common. The results demonstrated that for 39 to 53 percent of all the recurrent patterns in the textbooks better alternatives could be found. We further investigated the typical shortcomings of the extracted patterns.

“It’s like herding butterflies”

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-80
Author(s):  
Joanna Marhula
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Rhetorical Figures ◽  
Complementary Role ◽  
Global Discourse ◽  
Academic Lectures ◽  
Real Language ◽  
Discourse Functions ◽  
Dialogic Interaction ◽  
Communicative Discourse

Abstract This study focuses on simile in real language use. More specifically, it examines the explanatory power of similes in dialogic interaction where speakers are trying to bring their intimate experiences closer to others. The material under analysis comes from BBC Radio 4 “Woman’s Hour” programmes and is characterized by a relatively high simile frequency compared with other spoken genres, for example, academic lectures (Low, 2010). In view of this fact, the study aims to explore the discourse functions of similes in radio talk: are they one-off rhetorical figures which cater for local discourse needs only, or do they also form extensive explanations with more global discourse functions? Apart from examining how simile-type comparisons are employed in radio conversations, the study also explores the interplay between similes and metaphors as well as their complementary role in realizing communicative discourse goals.

Corpus Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition – the use of ACORN in the teaching of Spanish Grammar

2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guadalupe Ruiz Yepes ◽  
Ramesh Krishnamurthy
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Grammar Teaching ◽  
Real Language ◽  
Authentic Language

AbstractWith increasing demands for the use of authentic language in the teaching of a second language, the potential role of corpora has been an important issue of discussion in the last two decades. Corpora have helped to reveal patterns of real language use and uncovered discrepancies between the language portrayed in textbooks and the language used in real life.This article focuses on corpus-driven as well as corpus-based grammar teaching, summarising the experience of applying ACORN (the Aston Corpus Network) in the teaching of Spanish Grammar to students in the School of Languages and Social Sciences at Aston University. Our main goals were to show the students a large number of examples taken from authentic language texts, in order to support the grammar explained in class, and to provide them with a very useful resource that they can use while writing essays, preparing for exams, etc.

scholarly journals Sprachgebrauch und Spracheinstellungen in der Deutschschweiz. Pfarrpersonen als sprachbewusste Sprecherinnen und Sprecher im Fokus

2017 ◽  
Vol 85 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Oberholzer
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Language Awareness ◽  
Specific Group ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Swiss German ◽  
German Dialects ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Real Language ◽  
High Degree

The relation between Swiss German dialects and Standard German has been subject to public and scholarly debates for over 100 years. Among the most frequently discussed points are the appropriateness of spoken Standard German in different contexts and the attitudes of Swiss people towards the two varieties. This paper summarises the results of a completed research project (Oberholzer in Vorb.), which surveyed language use and language attitudes in Swit-zerland for a specific group of speakers: pastors and priests working in German-speaking Switzerland. The paper shows how pastors and priests make use of the diglossic situation and the possibility to code-switch in Sunday services. The use of Standard German emerges as an important communicative resource in German-speaking Switzerland. In addition, real language use and intended language use match to a high degree; this shows the degree of language awareness of this particular group in a diglossic situation. Furthermore, a relatively new approach – the assumption that several mental models of High German coexist – helps to show differentiated language attitudes and to contradict some of the most common stereotypes regarding Standard German in German-speaking Switzerland. The attitudes towards Standard German in this study are significantly more positive than those observed in previous studies.

scholarly journals TASK-BASED LEARNING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL) CLASSROOM: WHAT, HOW AND WHY?

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-146
Author(s):  
Muhammad Badrus Sholeh ◽  
Kisman Salija ◽  
Sahril Nur
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Real Language ◽  
English Classroom ◽  
Authentic Language

Task-based Learning is increasingly prevalent worldwide. It emphasizes on authentic language use and asks students to perform meaningful tasks. English teaching by tasks is considered useful in a language classroom because the students are expected to learn better the target language when tasks are used in language teaching. The tasks are designed to establish a real language use objectives and to create a natural language acquisition setting. Task-based Learning, often considered being the powerful Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) version, gradually becoming second-language learning. This article describes the Task-based Learning definition, to recognize the principles and characteristics of Task-based Learning, to examine how to implement Task-based Learning in the English classroom, and to clarify the advantages of this approach.

The Method of Language-Games as a Method of Logic

2019 ◽  
pp. 142-179
Author(s):  
Oskari Kuusela
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Game ◽  
Logical Analysis ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Correct Method ◽  
Special Case

This chapter develops an interpretation of Wittgenstein’s method of language-games as a method of logic that exhibits continuities with Frege’s, Russell’s, and the early Wittgenstein’s conceptions of logic and logical analysis as the method of philosophy. On the proposed interpretation, the method of language-games is a method for isolating and modelling aspects of the uses of linguistic expressions embedded in human activities that enables one to clarify complex uses of expressions by gradually building up the complexity of clarificatory models. Wittgenstein’s introduction of the language-game method constitutes an attempt to overcome certain limitations of calculus-based logical methods, and to extend the reach of logical methods, so as to make accessible areas of language use and thought that are not accessible by means of calculus-based methods. Rather than rejected, calculus-based methods are retained as a special case of logical methodology. The method of language-games is thus compatible with the employment of calculus-based methods in logic and philosophy, and the method of language-games involves no exclusive claim to being the correct method.

Vague words in Law in Order: Special Victims Unit

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
Jonnathas Vieira ◽  
Paula Lança
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Real Language ◽  
Tv Shows ◽  
Vague Language ◽  
Tv Show

TV series have been a source of input for English language learners, especially the ones interested in real language use. There are studies that show how close to real life some TV shows are (ORFANO, 2010). For this study a corpus of a TV series - Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) - was compiled. This corpus is composed of 6 episodes (44.400 words). The analysis considered that every Law and Order episode carries investigation and court scenes. The main point of this investigation is to analyze the use of vague words such as any, anything, anyone, anybody, anyway, and anywhere in the TV show. An analysis of the episodes showed that these words occurred 139 times with a frequency distribution that varied in the investigation and court scenes. The results may reveal that more formal contexts, represented in the TV series by the court scenes, do not favor the use of vague language. In such argumentative contexts speakers tend to be more precise.

Choosing a liturgical language

1993 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony J. Liddicoat
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Planning ◽  
Religious Language ◽  
Liturgical Language ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
Special Case

Religious language use in a multilingual community represents a special case of language planning. The choice of a liturgical language is determined both by religious and practical considerations and is based, in part, on the ways in which people view sacred activities. The Catholic Church has at various times during its history promoted and condemned the celebration of the Mass in vernacular languages. The language policy of the Church has been a response to two factors: the need for uniformity and integrity of doctrine and the need for the worshipping community to have access to the meaning of the words of the liturgical action. These two factors have received different emphases at different times in the history of the Church with the consequence that the Church has supported either plurality or uniformity in the choice of the liturgical languages of the Mass.

Gesprekken Tussen Vrouwen en Mannen

1997 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 33-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Huls ◽  
Christien Roovers ◽  
Hannie Spierings
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Language Use ◽  
The Other ◽  
Talk Shows ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Cultural Approach ◽  
Current Affairs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
Special Case

With respect to gender differences in language use, two theoretical positions can be distinguished: the cultural approach and the dominance view. In the first approach, communication between women and men is regarded as a special case of intercultural communication. In the second perspective, the social superiority of men is reflected in the details of everyday conversations, while women play a more submissive role. Although these two views can be seen as complementary in many respects, there is at least one point of contrast. In the dominance view, the typically male and female conversational styles are especially prominent in cross-sex conversations. In the cultural approach, the male and female styles are not considered to be sensitive to the sex of the addressee. With these two theoretical positions in mind, we analysed interviews from Dutch talk shows and current affairs programs. In both types of interviews, politeness strategies were analysed in relation to the sex of the addressee. The interviews in the current affairs programs were also analysed with respect to turn-taking mechanisms. Results show that two analyses confirm the dominance view, while the other two confirm neither the cultural approach nor the dominance view. In conclusion, no evidence was found for the position that communication between women and men is a special case of intercultural communication.

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