“I guess anyone would do that wouldn’t they?”

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stine Hulleberg Johansen
Keyword(s):  
English Speakers ◽  
Speech Corpus ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Hedging Strategies ◽  
Pragmatic Function ◽  
Cognitive Verbs ◽  
Using Data

Abstract Hedging is a complex phenomenon with an indefinite number of potential realisations. The complexity and versatility of hedging strategies make them particularly interesting to study across languages. This contrastive study compares the realisations of the pragmatic function of hedging in everyday Norwegian and English conversations using data from four corpora of Norwegian and English informal spoken conversations (the Norwegian Speech Corpus, the Nordic Dialect Corpus, the BigBrother corpus, and the BNC2014). The results show that speakers of both languages mainly use pragmatic particles, adverbs, and first-/second-person pronouns + cognitive verbs [1/2 pers. + Cog. V] to express hedging. Furthermore, English speakers use significantly more [1/2 pers. + Cog. V] and modal verbs than Norwegian speakers, who use significantly more adjectives, prepositional phrases and clauses to hedge their utterances.

scholarly journals Nominal suffixes as markers of information structure in Basketo

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-120
Author(s):  
Hideyuki Inui
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Short Form ◽  
The Other ◽  
Information Function ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Pragmatic Information ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Pragmatic Function ◽  
Zero Anaphora ◽  
Subject Pronoun

This paper deals with the information function of two nominal suffixes, -i appearing in all nouns, and -n- in first- and second-person pronouns in Basketo, a North Omotic language predominantly spoken in the Basketo Special Woreda in Ethiopia. The suffix -i is often described as nominative. However, object nouns without definite marker can be marked by -i, and as a result -i can appear in both subject and object in the same sentence. We analyze morpheme -i as a marker of specificity. Suffix -n- distinguishes short and long forms of the first- and second-person subject pronoun. The short form is the same as the possessive. In general, the possessive does not bear any pragmatic information in discourse. Therefore, short pronouns also show no pragmatic function, but show what is subject or agent in a clause. On the other hand, long pronouns are morphologically and pragmatically marked. We analyze morpheme -n- as the foregrounded topic in discourse in contrast with zero anaphora.

Subject and adjacency effects in the Old Northumbrian gloss to the Lindisfarne Gospels

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARCELLE COLE
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Person Plural ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Lindisfarne Gospels ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Third Person

The subject and adjacency effects found to condition the distribution of present verbal morphology in northern Middle English, and commonly referred to as the Northern Subject Rule (NSR), are generally regarded to be an Early Middle English development that did not condition the distribution of verbal morphology in northern varieties of Old English (Isaac 2003; Pietsch 2005; de Haas 2008; de Haas & van Kemenade 2015). Using data taken from the tenth-century interlinear gloss to the Lindisfarne Gospels, this study considers variation between the present-tense markers -ð and -s in Late Old Northumbrian and discusses evidence which indicates that the subject and adjacency effects at the crux of the NSR were already operative in Old Northumbrian with different morphological material. The findings also debunk the traditional conviction that -s spread first to second-person plural contexts and only subsequently to the third-person plural and singular (Holmqvist 1922; Blakeley 1949/50; Stein 1986).

Evidence for the C-domain in early Interlanguage

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 7-34
Author(s):  
Laurent Dekydtspotter ◽  
Bonnie D. Schwartz ◽  
Rex A. Sprouse ◽  
Audrey Liljestrand
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Universal Sentence ◽  
Performance System ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Embedded Clause ◽  
Processing Mechanisms

On the basis of Hindi-English Interlanguage data, Bhatt and Hancin-Bhatt (2002) advance the Structural Minimality hypothesis in which C-domain categories are not licensed in early second language (L2) acquisition, and claim that this leads early L2 learners to misconstrue Prepositional Phrases in the immediate vicinity of the complementizer that introducing an embedded clause. We show, however, that the Structural Minimality thesis is conceptually weak and the argumentation seeking to establish it flawed in three areas: experimental design, reporting of results, and interpretation. Using data from Garcia (1998), we report asymmetries — in the construal of PPs immediately preceding the complementizer versus PPs immediately following the complementizer — that show that knowledge of the C-domain is necessarily implicated in L2 English. We argue that these asymmetries are rooted in the performance system, and we present additional supporting evidence from English-French Interlanguage that is, moreover, highly revealing of the precise, universal sentence processing mechanisms involved. Bhatt and Hancin-Bhatt’s (2002) proposal, in contrast, simply fails to explain any of these asymmetries.

scholarly journals A contrastive study on thanking in Arabic dialects and English

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Rana Jamal Al-Maznaei
Keyword(s):  
Arabic Language ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Specific Factor ◽  
Contextual Variables ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Data Collection Instrument ◽  
The Face ◽  
Pragmatic Communication ◽  
Arabic Dialects ◽  
Arabic And English

Cross-Cultural Pragmatics (CCP) is a field of study that focuses on the interaction of people from various cultures. It is to clarify cultural distinctions between languages that acquire meaning through context and sociocultural embedding, resulting in a pragmatic communication failure. This study determines whether the Arabic language, because of dialectical variation, contains more thanking methods than English. Additionally, it aims to investigate the face-threatening strategies used by Arabs and native English speakers. Besides, it aims to determine whether contextual variables affect thanking expressions. The data collection instrument was an open-ended questionnaire in two versions Arabic and English. The results were then analyzed quantitatively using SPSS software version 26.0, following Cheng's classification of thanking. The findings indicate that dialectical diversity is not associated with an increase in thanking strategies that are more prevalent in English. Additionally, religion affects the Arabs speaking, their manner of thanking does not exclude religious expressions, which are their preferred method of expressing their politeness and gratitude. In terms of face-threatening strategies, both native Arabic and English speakers preferred negative politeness to positive politeness, which focuses on minimizing the FTA's particular imposition. Concerning contextual variables such as familiarity and social status, both affect how the thanking speech act is performed. It will be worthwhile to investigate thanking in Arabic and English with a specific factor such as social distance. Additionally, it is beneficial to examine thanking in Arabic dialects regarding civilization's cultural influence and the dialect's proximity to standard Arabic.

scholarly journals Lexicogrammar through colligation: Noun + Preposition in English and Norwegian

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-161
Author(s):  
Hilde Hasselgård
Keyword(s):  
Search Method ◽  
The Other ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Parallel Corpus ◽  
Part Of Speech ◽  
Using Data

This study compares sequences of noun and preposition in English and Norwegian using data from the English-Norwegian Parallel Corpus. One purpose is to test the use of sequences of part-of-speech tags as a search method for contrastive studies. The other is to investigate the functions and meanings of prepositional phrases in the position after a noun across the two languages. The comparison of original texts shows that the function of postmodifier is most frequent in both languages, with adverbial in second place. Other functions are rare. English has more postmodifiers and fewer adverbials than Norwegian. Furthermore, the prepositional phrases express locative meaning, in both functions, more frequently in Norwegian than in English. The study of translations reveals that the adverbials have congruent correspondences more often than postmodifiers, particularly in translations from English into Norwegian.

scholarly journals Modal Auxiliaries as Stance-Taking Devices in Linguistics Research Articles: A Functional Contrastive Analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Moafian ◽  
Amrollah Talati-Baghsiahi ◽  
Nahid Yarahmadzehi
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Hedging Strategies ◽  
Group Research ◽  
Modal Auxiliaries ◽  
The Individual

The current paper is to report a study on modal auxiliaries as stance-taking devices applied in English linguistics research articles by native and Persian non-native writers. In doing so, 20 (10 in each group) research articles were selected. The corpora were detected for the occurrences of modal auxiliaries both mechanically and functionally. The obtained data was analyzed and the frequency and proportionate distribution of the individual modals with respect to each other were determined. The results uncovered some similarities and differences between the two groups of writers. Both groups of writers used modal verbs in the epistemic functions more than their deontic ones. Moreover, they preferred hedging strategies to boosting ones. Native writers, however, used modal verbs far more frequently than nonnative ones. The proportion of modal verbs did not follow a similar pattern in the two groups of texts. The findings offered some implications for English language education system contributors including material developers, lecturers, teachers and researchers. The interpretations and implications of the study were discussed with respect to the obtained results.

scholarly journals English Adjectives in Online Comments of Algerian English Speakers

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khadija Belfarhi
Keyword(s):  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Online Comments ◽  
Pragmatic Function ◽  
And Function

Adjectives are central in any use of language due to their role in providing descriptions to the aspects of the noun. The role of adjectives becomes more and more important with the emergence of computer-mediated communication (СMС). The aim of the present paper is to shed light on the use of adjectives in СMС. It is assumed that adjectives in online comments do not keep the same linguistic structure and function like in spoken English and new forms emerge as the result of using СMС. It analyses adjectives used by non-native English speakers through collecting a corpus of fifty utterances obtained from comments posted publically in Facebook. The results demonstrate that adjectives take different forms by means of combining with non-linguistic forms, and express functions other than just modifying nouns in the narrow sense. Adjectives combine with non-linguistic forms to reinforce their function, and a pragmatic function seen in implying the description.

scholarly journals Predicting Evolutionarily Stable Strategies from Functional Responses of Sonoran Desert Annuals to Precipitation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William S. Cuello ◽  
Jennifer R. Gremer ◽  
Pete C. Trimmer ◽  
Andrew Sih ◽  
Sebastian J. Schreiber
Keyword(s):  
Sonoran Desert ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Bet Hedging ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Evolutionarily Stable Strategies ◽  
Seed Survival ◽  
Hedging Strategies ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Yield Responses ◽  
Evolutionarily Stable

AbstractFor many decades, researchers have studied how plants use bet-hedging strategies to insure against unpredictable, unfavorable conditions. We improve upon earlier analyses by explicitly accounting for how variable precipitation affects annual plant species’ bet-hedging strategies. We consider how the survival rates of dormant seeds (in a ‘seed bank’) interact with precipitation responses to influence optimal germination strategies. Specifically, we incorporate how response to resource availability (i.e. the amount of offspring (seeds) generated per plant in response to variation in desert rainfall) influences the evolution of germination fractions. Using data from 10 Sonoran Desert annual plants, we develop models that explicitly include these responses to model fitness as a function of precipitation. For each of the species, we identify the predicted evolutionarily stable strategies (ESS) for the fraction of seeds germinating each year and then compare our estimated ESS values to the observed germination fractions. We also explore the relative importance of seed survival and precipitation responses in shaping germination strategies by regressing ESS values and observed germination fractions against these traits. We find that germination fractions are lower for species with higher seed survival, with lower reproductive success in dry years, and with better yield responses in wet years. These results illuminate the evolution of bethedging strategies in an iconic system, and provide a framework for predicting how current and future environmental conditions may reshape those strategies.

contrastive study of discourse markers used by native and Chinese L2 English speakers across speech context

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-126
Author(s):  
Binmei Liu
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Explicit Instruction ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
The Impact

Discourse markers (DMs) are difficult even for advanced L2 speakers compared with L1 speakers because of their special linguistic features. The influence of contextual factors on the use of DMs has not been examined in detail in the literature. The present article investigates the impact of speech contexts (interview vs conversation) on the use of DMs by native and advanced Chinese speakers of English. Data for the study were gathered using individual sociolinguistic interviews and group conversations. A quantitative analysis revealed that native English speakers used and and just more frequently in the interviews than in the conversations at a significant level; the Chinese speakers of English used oh, ok, and uh huh significantly more often in the conversations than in the interviews. A qualitative analysis showed that the functions of well varied across the contexts by both groups. The article further analyses the reasons for these differences: they can be due to different functions of individual markers across contexts or influence of L2 speakers’ native language (Mandarin Chinese), etc. The results indicate that the advanced L2 English speakers may not have acquired some DMs used by the native English speakers in terms of frequency and functions across the speech contexts. The article suggests that explicit instruction of functions of DMs which are difficult for L2 speakers of English can be strengthened in EFL/ESL (English as a foreign/second language) classrooms.

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