Functional variation of lexical bundles in academic lectures and TED talks

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-208
Author(s):  
Chen-Yu Liu ◽  
Hao-Jan Howard Chen
Keyword(s):  
Functional Variation ◽  
Lexical Bundles ◽  
Academic Lectures ◽  
Discourse Functions ◽  
Ted Talks

Abstract This study explores the differences between academic lectures and TED talks by comparing their respective frequent four-word lexical bundles, and the discourse functions of those bundles in these two registers. The results indicate that academic lectures use more varied lexical bundles at a higher frequency than TED talks do. The functional distributions of the bundles further reveal that referential bundles are prevalent in both registers. However, TED speakers use more lexical bundles to organize their discourse and to guide the audience through their talks, while academic lecturers use more stance bundles to show their intentions and to inform the audience about upcoming events. The distinctive characteristics of academic lectures and TED talks are revealed via the divergent sets of lexical bundles in the two registers; the two registers are also shown to differ greatly in terms of the use of lexical bundles for different functions.

“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.

Formal and functional variation of lexical bundles in biomedical English

2013 ◽  
pp. 39-54
Author(s):  
Danica Salazar ◽  
Isabel Verdaguer ◽  
Natalia Judith Laso ◽  
Elisabet Comelles ◽  
Emilia Castaño ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Variation ◽  
Lexical Bundles

Lexical bundles and discourse signalling in academic lectures

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Nesi ◽  
Helen Basturkmen
Keyword(s):  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Lexical Bundles ◽  
Cohesive Devices ◽  
Discourse Relations ◽  
Academic Lectures ◽  
Cohesive Function

This paper discusses some approaches to the categorisation of cohesive devices with reference to spoken academic discourse, multi-word units, and strings of frequently co-occurring words (lexical bundles). It goes on to investigate the cohesive role of lexical bundles in a corpus of 160 university lectures (120 from the BASE corpus and 40 from MICASE). Like the bundles from the T2K SWAL teaching subcorpus, investigated by Biber, Conrad and Cortes (2004), the bundles in the lecture corpus included both ‘oral’ and ‘literate’ elements. The majority of frequently occurring bundles were found to be used to signal discourse relations, although their cohesive function was not necessarily obvious when listed out of context.

scholarly journals A Comparison of Two Genres: Lexical Bundles in the Discourse of Applied Linguistics

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-109
Author(s):  
Razieh Gholaminejad
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Functional Type ◽  
Lexical Bundles ◽  
Discourse Functions

The present article is a corpus-based descriptive/comparative study of lexical bundles (LBs) in two university genres: textbooks (TBs) and research articles (RAs) on applied linguistics. It aims to identify the LBs used in the two genres, compare them on the basis of their functional type and frequency and explore how they are related to genre. To this end, four-word LBs were identified in two corpora drawn from applied linguistics TBs and RAs. The comparative analysis revealed that there are interesting differences between the two genres in terms of discourse functions: the occurrence of LBs in the TBs was lower than in the RAs; attitudinal/modality LBs occurred more frequently in the TBs than in the RAs; epistemic LBs occurred more frequently in the RAs than in the TBs; discourse organizers occurred more frequently in the RAs than in the TBs; and time, place and text reference LBs occurred almost twice as frequently in the RAs. The findings build on research into the variations of genres in terms of the use and functions of LBs in discipline-specific corpora.

Lexical bundles in spoken academic ELF

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Wang
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Event Type ◽  
Lexical Bundles ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Speech Event ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Academic Lectures ◽  
And Function ◽  
Lexical Bundle ◽  
Recurrent Word

Abstract This corpus-based study explored the effects of two factors – genre (i.e. speech event type) and disciplinary variation – on spoken academic ELF, from the perspective of lexical bundles (i.e. recurrent word combinations). The material was drawn from a corpus of transcribed spoken academic lingua franca English (ELFA). The investigation involved a quantitative analysis of the use of four-word bundles, in terms of frequency, form, and function, across a range of genres (academic lectures and seminars) and disciplines (Medicine, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences). A qualitative analysis was also carried out to give an in-depth account of functional variations associated with one particular lexical bundle I don’t know if. The results demonstrated that genre and discipline are two important factors that cannot be ignored in understanding academic ELF communication and idiomaticity, and lexical bundles provide useful glimpses on genre and disciplinary variation that are worth following up.

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