scholarly journals Effects of L2 usage and L1 transfer on Turkish learners’ production of English verb-argument constructions

2019 ◽  
pp. 107-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ute Römer ◽  
Selahattin Yilmaz
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
English Usage ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
Using Data ◽  
English Verb ◽  
National Corpus

Using data from the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE) and the British National Corpus (BNC), this article examines what Turkish learners of English know about a set of frequent verb-argument constructions (VACs, such as ‘V with n’ as illustrated by ‘I like to go with the flow’) and in what ways their VAC knowledge is influenced by native English usage and by transfer from their first language (L1), Turkish. An ICLE Turkish analysis gave us access to dominant verb-VAC associations in Turkish learners ́ English, and provided insights into the productivity and predictability of selected constructions. Comparisons with the BNC and other ICLE subsets (ICLE German and ICLE Spanish) allowed us to determine how strong the usage effect is on Turkish learners’ verb-VAC associations and whether Turkish learners differ in this respect from learners of other typologically different L1s. Potential effects of L1 transfer were explored with the help of a large reference corpus of Turkish, the Turkish National Corpus (TNC).

scholarly journals The Use of the Thai Final Particle Na by Japanese Learners of Thai

MANUSYA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-54
Author(s):  
Sumintra Maklai ◽  
Theeraporn Ratitamkul ◽  
Thanasak Sirikanerat
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Final Particle ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Linguistic Input ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Japanese Learners ◽  
National Corpus

This research aims to analyze communicative functions of the Thai final particle na and to explore the use of na by Japanese learners of Thai, comparing to that of native speakers. The study consisted of two parts. The first part involved an analysis of na using data from the Thai National Corpus (TNC). The findings showed that na had three main communicative functions. It was used to soften the tone of an utterance, to emphasize an utterance, and to mark a topic of an utterance. The second part of this research concerned conversational data in a pair discussion task of 10 Japanese learners of Thai and 10 native Thai speakers. The results showed that, when different functions and contexts were considered, the use of the Thai final particle na by the Japanese learners was similar to that of the native Thai speakers. That is, both groups used na most frequently to emphasize an utterance and least often to mark a topic of an utterance. This could result from a positive transfer from the learners’ first language. However, it was found that the Japanese learners showed significantly fewer instances of na as a topic marker than the native Thai speakers. It is possible that its marked position and low frequency in the learners’ linguistic input as suggested by the corpus data made na in this function difficult to acquire. This research also pointed to the importance of proficiency in a second language as a factor affecting learners’ use of final particles in conversation.

scholarly journals Detecting innovations in a parsed corpus of learner English

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerold Schneider ◽  
Gaëtanelle Gilquin
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Phrasal Verbs ◽  
Scale Method ◽  
T Score ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
Qualitative Analyses ◽  
National Corpus

In research on L2 English, recent corpus-based studies indicate that some non-standard forms are shared by indigenized (ESL) and foreign (EFL) varieties of English, which challenges the idea of a clear dichotomy between innovation and error. We present a data-driven large-scale method to detect innovations, test it on verb + preposition structures (including phrasal verbs) and adjective + preposition structures, and describe similarities and differences between EFL and ESL. We use a dependency-parsed version of the International Corpus of Learner English to automatically extract potential innovations, defined as patterns of overuse compared to the British National Corpus as reference corpus. We measure overuse by means of collocation measures like O/E or T-score, and compare our results with similar results for ESL. In both quantitative and qualitative analyses, we detect similarities between the two varieties (e.g. discuss about) and dissimilarities (e.g. accuse for, only distinctive for EFL). We report more verb/adjective + preposition combinations than previous studies and discuss the roles of analogy and transfer.

“Surely you knew!”

2001 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Downing
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Personal Pronouns ◽  
Broad View ◽  
Sources Of Knowledge ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Epistemic Stances ◽  
National Corpus

A broad view of evidentiality is adopted, based on Chafe (1986) and Haviland (1987) which goes beyond the grammatical marking of the speaker’s or writer’s perceived sources of knowledge and reliability of these sources to encode, not only what the speaker knows and how s/he knows it, but also what can be taken to be an addressee’s state of knowledge. According to this view, evidentials are contemplated as interactive devices or resources for redefining common ground between interlocutors. They go beyond referential content to signal such meanings as confrontation and contradictory assumptions. They are necessarily situated in social contexts and have an indexical function. They may also overlap with epistemic stances and with affect, ranging in the case of surely from surprise, disbelief, doubt and disapproval to persuasion and an invitation to share beliefs or to agree on future courses of action. Using data from the British National Corpus, I analyse a sample of concordances of surely with subject personal pronouns, with the aim of providing a preliminary characterisation of the range of interpersonal attitudes expressed by surely and the determining factors which trigger these apparently contradictory stances.

scholarly journals Constructional schemas in variation

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olli O. Silvennoinen
Keyword(s):  
Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Multiple Correspondence Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
Using Data ◽  
National Corpus

Abstract This paper discusses constructional variation in the domain of contrastive negation in English, using data from the British National Corpus. Contrastive negation refers to constructs with two parts, one negative and the other affirmative, such that the affirmative offers an alternative to the negative in the frame in question (e.g. shaken, not stirred; not once but twice; I don’t like it – I love it). The paper utilises multiple correspondence analysis to explore the degree of synonymy among the various constructional schemas of contrastive negation, finding that different schemas are associated with different semantic, pragmatic and extralinguistic contexts but also that certain schemas do not differ from each other in a significant way.

scholarly journals Extracting Significant Words in Engineering Texts for Specialised Language Descriptions

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 5862-5868
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Multivariate Technique ◽  
Technical Vocabulary ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
Language Needs ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
Potential Tool ◽  
National Corpus

The academic discourse of a specialised language is characterised by specialised and technical vocabulary, and lexicogrammar. Studies on language description suggest the need to explore and determine the specific characteristics of the academic discourse of each specialised language, to serve the language needs of the learners. This study demonstrates an exploration of this discipline specificity by looking at the nouns used in a specialised language - an Engineering English. It attempts to integrate a multivariate technique, i.e. the Correspondence Analysis (CA), as a tool to extract significant nouns in a specialised language for any further language use scrutiny. CA allows visual representations of the word interrelationships across different genres in a specialised language. To exemplify this, an Engineering English Corpus (E2C) was created. E2C is composed of two sub-corpora (genres): Engineering reference books (RBC) and online journals articles (EJC). The British National Corpus (BNC) was used as the reference corpus. 30 key-key-nouns were identified from the E2C, and the frequency lists of the words were retrieved from all the corpora to run the CA. The CA maps of the nouns display how these corpora are different from each other, as well as, which words characterise not only E2C from a general corpus (BNC), but also the different genres in E2C. Thus, CA proves to be a potential tool to display words which characterise not only a specialised corpus from a general corpus, but also the different genres in that specialised corpus. This study promises more informed descriptions of a specialised language can be made with the identification of specific and significant vocabulary for any academic discourse investigations.

scholarly journals Aspectual and quantificational properties of deverbal conversion and -ing nominalizations: the power of context

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARIOS ANDREOU ◽  
ROCHELLE LIEBER
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
State Activity ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
Using Data ◽  
National Corpus

In this article we explore the range of aspectual and quantificational readings that are available to two kinds of deverbal nominalizations in English, conversion nouns and -ing nominals. Using data gathered from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and the British National Corpus (BNC), we examine the range of readings available for the conversion and -ing forms of 106 English verbs in context. We distinguish eventive versus referential readings, looking at instances of both count and mass quantification for the two kinds of nominalizations. Within the eventive readings we also distinguish bounded versus unbounded aspectual readings, and within bounded readings two types that we call ‘completive’ and ‘package’. We argue that the quantificational properties and aspectual intepretation of both conversion and -ing nominalizations are not rigidly or even loosely determined by the form of the nominalization, but that the lexical aspect of the base verb (state, activity, accomplishment, achievement, semelfactive) plays some role in circumscribing aspectual readings. We argue that the strongest role in determining quantificational and aspectual readings is played by factors arising from the context in which conversion forms and -ing nominalizations are deployed. The aspectual interpretation of conversion and -ing nominalizations can be influenced by the presence of temporal and quantificational modifiers, by surrounding tenses, as well as by encyclopedic knowledge. We conclude with a consideration of the theoretical implications of our findings.

scholarly journals Modal Verbs Hedging: The Uses and Functions of “Will” and “Shall” in Nigerian Legal Discourse

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Bashir ◽  
Kamariah Yunus ◽  
Tamer Mohammed Al-Jarrah
Keyword(s):  
Legal Discourse ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
True Value ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
Court Proceedings ◽  
Law Reports ◽  
National Corpus

This is a corpus-based study on the uses and functions of modal verbs “will” and “shall” in the Nigerian legal discourse. It aims at examining their pragmatic functions as hedges in the legal discourse. It specifically aims to investigate how hedges are used in the legal texts to indicate precision and uncertainty. To achieve these objectives a specialised corpus was constructed which we named as “Nigerian Law Corpus” (NLC). The compilation of NLC is based on the Nigerian court proceedings and law reports. Hence, the compiled NLC corpus contains 546,313-word tokens. Meanwhile, reference corpus of law with 2.2 million word tokens based on the British National Corpus (BNC) is retrieved for comparison with NLC. To this end, two concordance tools were utilised to analyse the data of this study viz. “AntConc version 3.5” a semi-automated computer-aided tool and a web-based tool “Lextutor version 7”. Based on the frequency distribution the results revealed that model verb “will” featured in 493 instances in the NLC and 7,711 instances in the BNC Law, while, “shall” occurred at 401 instances in NLC and 1,348 instances in BNC Law. The results also indicated that “shall” was an overused element in NLC than in BNC Law with standardised concordance hits per million (NLC=734, BNC Law =589) while, “will” is the least used element of NLC (902 instances per million) compared to BNC Law (3,369 instances per million). The study also enumerated different semantic and pragmatic functions of “will” and “shall” in legal discourse, citing examples from both tag corpus (NLC) and reference corpus (BNC Law). Some of the functions as hedges (conveying a truth value of a proposition) are epistemic meanings: politeness, obligation, precision, duty, intention, and permission. In nutshell, the results indicated that “will” and “shall” are used by legal practitioners more especially lawyers in a courtroom to achieve precision in their argument in a case to persuade the court by showing the true value of commitment of the proposition.

scholarly journals A Corpus-Based Analysis Of The Complementation Patterns Of The Adjective “Ashamed”

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-50
Author(s):  
Sylvia Dimitrova ◽  
◽  
Temenuzhka Seizova-Nankova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
The Other ◽  
Full Description ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
National Corpus

The paper presents a corpus-based analysis of the predicative use of the adjective “ashamed” giving a full description of its complementation patterns with the help of the Valency Theory (VT – Herbst et al., 2004). The findings are based on a reference corpus extracted from the British National Corpus (BNC) by using the SkE software. The analysis reveals the advantages of the approach used for learners at levels B1 and B2 while, on the other hand, it shows the insufficiency of information found in the main English dictionaries (OALD, LDCE, etc.). It also demonstrates how both language learning and teaching, and materials production could be optimized using the corpus-based analysis.

Measuring grammatical status in Chinese through quantitative corpus analysis

Corpora ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-342
Author(s):  
Linlin Sun ◽  
David Correia Saavedra
Keyword(s):  
Binary Logistic Regression ◽  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language Models ◽  
Diversity Measure ◽  
Token Frequency ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
Using Data ◽  
National Corpus

This paper applies a quantitative model developed for measuring grammatical status, using data from the Lancaster Corpus of Mandarin Chinese (lcmc). The model takes into account four quantitative factors (token frequency, collocate diversity, colligate diversity and deviation of proportions) and uses them as predictors in a binary logistic regression in order to compute a score of grammatical status between ‘0’ (lexical/non-grammatical) and ‘1’ (highly grammatical) for each given element. The results of the lcmc model are then compared to those of a similar study of the British National Corpus (bnc). The comparison suggests that token frequency emerges as one of the most relevant parameters for quantifying degrees of grammatical status in both language models, together with the collocate diversity measure when using a broad window span. On the other hand, the colligational measures (left- or right-based) and the other collocate diversity measures using small spans (left- or right-based) contribute very differently to the two languages due to their typologically distinctive structures.

OBSERVING THE EMERGENCE OF CONSTRUCTIONAL KNOWLEDGE

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 1089-1110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ute Römer ◽  
Cynthia M. Berger
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Comparable Data ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
English Usage ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
English Verb

AbstractBased on writing produced by second language learners at different proficiency levels (CEFR A1 to C1), we adopted a usage-based approach (Ellis, Römer, & O’Donnell, 2016; Tyler & Ortega, 2018) to investigate how German and Spanish learner knowledge of 19 English verb-argument constructions (VACs; e.g., “V with n,” illustrated by he always agrees with her) develops. We extracted VACs from subsets of the Education First-Cambridge Open Language Database, altogether comprising more than 68,000 texts and 6 million words. For each VAC, L1 learner group, and proficiency level, we determined type and token frequencies, as well as the most dominant verb-VAC associations. To study effects of proficiency and L1 on VAC production, we carried out correlation analyses to compare verb-VAC associations of learners at different levels and different L1 backgrounds. We also correlated each learner dataset with comparable data from a large reference corpus of native English usage. Results indicate that with increasing proficiency, learners expand their VAC repertoire and productivity, and verb-VAC associations move closer to native usage.

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