scholarly journals Object Clauses in Academic Discourse: Genre Preferences

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 278-286
Author(s):  
Tatiana Ivanovna Steksova ◽  

The author of the article understands object clauses as a semantic type of sentences with a set of different ways of expressing semantics: polypredicative subordinate clauses, asyndetic clauses, monopredicative clauses, clauses with parenthesis. It is suggested that the set of constructions used in academic discourse depends on the genre of the academic text. The genres of article abstracts and thesis summaries as secondary texts (texts about texts) were chosen as a material for a comparative study. The author reveals the incomplete paradigm of object clauses in secondary academic texts. The analyzed language material allows us to state that the genre of the academic article abstract does not use the entire paradigm of the ways of expressing explanatory semantics, choosing only two models as the basic ones, with a higher frequency of the monopredicative model. In the genre of thesis summaries there is a lower frequency of monopredicative clauses with deliberative semantics and a higher frequency of polypredicative subordinate clauses containing hidden reflection of the author of the text. The analyzed material indicates that the hidden author’s reflection is more often manifested through the use of quasi-impersonal sentences. The author of the article believes that there is a tendency in the analyzed genres towards increasing impersonality, the elimination of the subjective author’s position, and the desire to objectify the presented information. The research has found out certain constructions which function actively in the genre of the academic article, but are not used in article abstracts and thesis summaries. It is noted that not all introducing predicates recorded in the academic literature function in the analyzed genres. This can be explained by the genre affiliation of the texts and their communicative task. The author determines a number of objectives of the further research.

2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (7) ◽  
pp. 95-140
Author(s):  
Federica Cognola ◽  
George Walkden

While there has been a substantial body of research on the asymmetry between main and subordinate clauses in terms of the licensing of pro-drop, potential differences between types of unembedded clause have received much less attention – despite the fact that competing theories of pro-drop make strong, clear predictions about the distribution of null subjects across clause types, especially with regard to interrogatives. This paper presents the first in-depth comparative study of pro-drop in both declaratives and interrogatives in two asymmetric pro-drop languages: Old High German and Old Italian. Based on a parallel corpus study using two translations of Tatian’s Diatessaron, we show that there is a clear difference in distribution between interrogatives and declaratives: null subjects are more frequent in declarative clauses than in interrogatives, and these also differ in terms of the persons in which pro-drop is licensed. Our results speak against the V-in-C licensing theory of asymmetric pro-drop of Benincà (1984) and Adams (1987), and in favour of an account based on an Agree relation with left-peripheral operators in the sense of Frascarelli (2007, 2018).


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Povolná

Abstract The role of English as a global lingua franca of academia has become indisputable in the on-going process of internationalization of all scholarship, even though the majority of writers and readers of academic texts are non-native speakers of English. Thus it is questionable whether there is any justification for imposing on international academic communication written in English the style conventions typical of the dominant Anglophone discourse community. Recommendations usually comprise qualities such as clarity, economy, linearity and precision in communication (cf. Bennett, 2015), which can be achieved, among other means, by certain overt guiding signals including conjuncts (Quirk et al., 1985). Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to reveal cross-cultural variation in the use of these important text-organizing means as it is believed that conjuncts can enhance the interaction and negotiation of meaning between the author and prospective readers of academic texts. The paper explores which semantic relations holding between parts of a text tend to be expressed overtly by conjuncts and which semantic classes, such as appositive, contrastive/concessive, listing and resultive conjuncts, contribute most to the interactive and dialogic nature of written academic discourse. The data are taken from research articles (RAs) selected from two journals, one representing academic discourse written by native speakers of English (Applied Linguistics) and the other representing academic texts written in English by Czech and Slovak scholars (Discourse and Interaction).


2007 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Jackson

AbstractThe term ‘Islamic terrorism’ has become a ubiquitous feature of Western political and academic counter-terrorism discourse in recent years. Examining over 300 political and academic texts and employing a discourse analytic approach, this article attempts to describe and dissect the central terms, assumptions, labels, narratives and genealogical roots of the language and knowledge of ‘Islamic terrorism’ and to reflect on its practical and normative consequences. It concludes that for the most part, political and academic discourses of ‘Islamic terrorism’ are unhelpful, not least because they are highly politicized, intellectually contestable, damaging to community relations and practically counter-productive.


2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Dontcheva-Navratilova

With the widespread use of English as the lingua franca of academia, there is a growing need of research into how non-native speakers striving to be socialized in target academic discourse communities deal with variation in meaning and organization of academic texts across fi elds, languages and cultures. An important indicator of competent linguistic production is the mastering of the register- and genre-specifi c formulaic expressions termed lexical bundles, which are defi ned as sequences of three or more words with frequent co-occurrence in a particular context (Biber et al. 1999). While recent studies have addressed disciplinary and novice-expert differences in the use of lexical bundles, cross-cultural variation in bundle use remains underexplored. This paper investigates lexical bundles indicating authorial presence in a specialized corpus of Master’s degree theses from the fi elds of linguistics and methodology written by German and Czech university students. The aim of the study is to compare how novice Czech and German authors use lexical bundles indicating authorial presence, to consider whether and to what extent the novice writers have adapted their writing style to the conventions of Anglo- American academic writing, and to discuss the role of the L1 academic literacy tradition and instructions received in writing courses for the modelling of novice writers’ academic discourse. The analysis shows that the variety and frequency of interpersonal bundles in Czech and German novice writers’ discourse do not approximate to the standard of published academic texts in English. The fi ndings also indicate that while the considerable similarities in the way Czech and German novice writers use the target structures for constructing authorial presence refl ect their common roots in the Central European tradition of academic discourse, the divergences may be attributed to a difference in the degree of adaptation to Anglo-American writing conventions.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Unnathi S. Samaraweera

Purpose This paper aims to engage with the concept of resilience as theorized by David Chandler in his book Resilience: The Governance of Complexity by drawing from the theory of governmentality presented by Michel Foucault and Jonathan Joseph. Design/methodology/approach Evolving from classical liberalism to neoliberalism and from natural sciences to social sciences, the term “resilience” raises many questions about its sustainability in terms of its meaning and complexity. While most scholars tend to underscore the significance and practicality of the term, a few scholars argue that it is a failed dogma with neoliberal characteristics. As this is a theory-based study, its methodology involves close readings of academic texts produced mainly by David Chandler, Michel Foucault and Jonathan Joseph. Findings The central argument in this paper is though Chandler convincingly explains the paradigm shift of the term resilience from classical to neoliberal, his theorizing lacks the understanding that the type of power and governmentality involved in individual freedom, autonomy and complexity are actually parts of the neoliberal state. Hence, the buzzword resilience today is actually an extension of the same neoliberal thought. Originality/value First, the author attempts to critically engage with the term resilience from a sociological point of view using purposively selected academic literature. Second, the paper attempts to bring Chandler’s conceptualization on resilience into the disaster context and evaluates its practicality within the tenets of neoliberalism by drawing on Joseph’s and Foucault’s theorizations.


2020 ◽  
pp. 205-223
Author(s):  
A. A. Ozonova ◽  

We analyze the structural and semantic types of Altai polypredicative explanatory construc-tions (in literary and academic texts). Explanatory relations are expressed by two types of constructions: monofinite (with the infinite predicate in the subordinate clause) and bifinite (with the finite predicate in the main and subordinate clauses and their relation being analyti-cally indicated by the linking unit or connector dep). The semantic-grammatical type of the predicate in the main clause defines the semantic distinctiveness of explanatory sentences and the structural models of constructions corresponding to the semantic types. The strategy choice of the subordinate sentence structure primarily depends on the semantics of the main predicate. The verbs of three lexical-semantic groups (thought, speech, and emotion) predom-inantly function as a predicate of the main predicate unit. These verbs have their peculiarities in semantics and usage. For example, speech verbs are actively used in bifinite poly- predicative constructions and much less in monofinite constructions. Verbs of perception sug-gest only sensory interpretations in monofinite constructions. However, in bifinite construc-tions, they also contain epistemic elements. The academic text specificity is characterized by the wide use of the verbs of thought and speech, deductive evaluative predicates as main pred-icates in polypredicative constructions. The functionally subordinate clauses may serve as ei-ther a subject or an object. In the Altai language, the subordinate clause, as a predicate object, contains possessive and case affixes of the accusative, dative, ablative, instrumental, and loca-tive cases. When being a predicative subject, a subordinate clause takes the form of a nomina-tive sentence with possessive affixes denoting the grammatical meaning of the action per-former person. Bifinite constructions with verbs from various lexical-semantic groups share a subordinate subject in nominative or accusative cases, while the monofinite construction subordinate subjects have genitive or nominative cases.


2018 ◽  
Vol III (III) ◽  
pp. 447-465
Author(s):  
Nazakat ◽  
Muhammad Safeer Awan

The language used in academic texts and pedagogy is referred as academic discourse. Being student and teacher, the researchers observed that mixing of home language with academic language was a common practice in many institutions. Some linguists appreciate it, while others resist it by claiming it detrimental to objectivity and neutrality. Chiang (2006) finds role of teacher’s discourse a determining factor in pedagogy. Current study was conducted to observe the phenomenon of hybridization in academic discourse and to assess it in the light of pragmatics. Pragmatic analysis is known as a useful method to infer covert and implicit meanings of language (Savignon, 2007) and the researchers deemed it appropriate for current research. The pragmatic analysis could provide a newer outlook on academic discourse. Data was collected through observation sheet from the classes. Questionnaire was also used to get relevant data from teachers. The findings revealed that teachers often relied on cultural and ideological underpinnings in their pedagogy. The individual conversational styles were also responsible for different mode of hybridization and subsequently reinforced diverse facet of discourse different in pragmatic nature. The data was first analyzed for hybridization followed by its pragmatic analysis. The study was important in the backdrop of one of many beliefs, that meaning never remains fixed and it resides in socio-cultural structures and lack of pragmatic knowledge among interlocutors impedes semantic proficiency. The study revealed utility of pragmatic competence in turning this mixing of discourses in a class into a continuum. It also found that knowledge of academic pragmatics could reinforce semantic proficiency.


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