scholarly journals Order of adjectives and adverbs in L2 English: Evidence from L1 Acholi speakers of Ugandan English

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-62
Author(s):  
Sarah Amarorwot ◽  
Bebwa Isingoma ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Business Community ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
British English ◽  
L1 English ◽  
Attributive Adjectives

L2 Englishes are quintessentially characterized by cross-linguistic influence at all levels of linguistic analysis as a result of contact phenomena. This study examines the contribution of the syntax of a Ugandan indigenous language (Acholi) to how its L1 speakers speak English and the extent of variability observed among them, taking into account two grammatical aspects, i.e. how multiple attributive adjectives are sequenced in a noun phrase and the placement of adverbs in a sentence. The findings of the study show notable differences from L1 English (e.g. Standard British English), as L1 Acholi speakers of English do not necessarily pay attention to the prescribed L1 English order of adjectives. At the same time, the position of adverbs in a sentence also seems to be modeled, to some extent, on what takes place in Acholi syntax insofar as some legitimate L1 English structures are rejected by L1 Acholi speakers of English (as L2). Crucially, the study also reveals interspeaker variability among L1 Acholi speakers of English in Uganda based on occupation, with students being the closest to L1 English norms (as opposed to teachers and the business community), most likely due to exonormative orientation imposed on students in Ugandan schools.

Niebieski ptak und cukier biały – Eine Klassifikation und Korpusanalyse der Funktion und Wortfolge polnischer Farbadjektive

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-133
Author(s):  
Christina Clasmeier
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Semantic Classes ◽  
Respective Function ◽  
Attributive Adjectives ◽  
Linguistic Reality

SummaryThis paper investigates the position of Polish color adjectives in their attributive function in the noun phrase. In general, Polish attributive adjectives may precede the noun (AN) or follow it (NA). There is rich literature on this issue, especially on the motivation for AN or NA order in particular semantic classes of adjectives or types of adjective-noun constructions. However, most of the contributions are theoretical in nature and account for only a part of linguistic reality but fail to capture the entire scope of data. One of the reasons for this might be that, so far, no systematic empirical analysis of this specific syntactical phenomenon has been conducted. This paper presents the results from a corpus analysis (NKJP) of 203 noun-with-color-adjective constructions and their AN/NA distributions. These constructions were classified based on the color adjective’s function (qualifying, classificatory, or part of an idiom). The results show that, regardless of its respective function, Polish color adjectives typically tend to appear in the AN order.

An Analysis of Indian English News Headlines

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samapika Roy ◽  
◽  
Sukhada ◽  
Anil Kr. Singh ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
News Article ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Indian English ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
British English ◽  
Sentence Construction ◽  
News Headlines

News Headlines (NHs) are of the most creative uses of natural languages in a media text. An NH is the frontline of a news article. Specific characteristics make NHs standout: for instance, article omission, use of active verbs, dropping the copula to save space and to attract the reader’s attention to the most significant words, etc. Some research has been done on linguistic analysis of British English NH, Hindi-Urdu NHs, but hardly any work has been conducted on IndENH. This paper attempts to analyze Indian English newspaper headlines (IndENH), and aims to contribute to the accuracy of News Headline parsing. This study determines the linguistic features of the IndENH, to improve the quality of the parsed output of NHs. This paper covers sentence construction, tense, punctuation marks, metaphors, etc. for linguistic analysis.

scholarly journals Adjectives in layers

Rhema ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 125-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
А. Pereltsvaig ◽  
O. Kagan
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Functional Structure ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Complex Patterns ◽  
Attributive Adjectives

This paper investigates the syntax and semantics of modifying/attributive adjectives in Russian, a language lacking articles but having complex patterns of case marking and agreement within a noun phrase. It has been claimed in the literature that due to its lack of articles, Russian has a completely different internal structure for noun phrases than in languages with articles. In this paper we argue against that claim and propose that there are six layers of functional structure within a noun phrase which modifying adjectives can occupy.

The Sociolinguistic Profile of English at the Grassroots Level: A Comparison of Northern and Western Uganda

2021 ◽  
pp. 49-69
Author(s):  
Bebwa Isingoma
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Northern Uganda ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
British English ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Grassroots Level ◽  
Linguistic Behaviour ◽  
Motorcycle Taxi ◽  
Western Uganda

This chapter delineates the sociolinguistic profile of two categories of speakers of English in Uganda, i.e. market vendors and bodaboda (motorcycle taxi) riders, who may voluntarily or incidentally use English, given the nature of their trade, which requires them to interact with customers who may not speak their L1 or an indigenous language of wider communication in their region. Using participant observations and recorded semi-structured interviews, the study details the quotidian linguistic behaviour of 30 grassroots users of English, their attitudes towards the use of English and their verbal repertoires. The results indicate different linguistic behaviours, with Northern Uganda recording more inclination to the use of English than Western Uganda, as well as displaying more positive attitudes towards its use and a richer verbal repertoire. Also, English at the grassroots depicts many of the innovative features present among acrolectal speakers of Ugandan English, that is, the speakers of grassroots English in Uganda cannot replace the innovative norms developed by the acrolectal speakers with or example Standard British English norms. Ugandan English may therefore be said to be both norm-developing as well as norm-providing in that the acrolectal sub-variety provides the grassroots sub-variety with the norms it has developed.

Noun Modifier Inflection in German: A Morphological System in Flux

1990 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-52
Author(s):  
Edward G. Fichtner
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Morphological System ◽  
Attributive Adjectives

ABSTRACTTraditionally, noun modifiers in German fall into two classes, the so-called der- and ein-words, and descriptive or attributive adjectives. In the noun phrase, members of these word classes are inflected by the addition of one or another of two sets of endings, i.e., the primary, strong, or pronominal endings, or the secondary, weak, or nominal endings, in highly predictable combinations. In the data collected by Ljungerud (1955), however, sequences of endings in noun phrases containing nine modifiers occur with noticeable departures from the norm, i.e., folgend, sämtlich, ander-, einig-, viel-, manch-, welch-, irgendwelch-, and solch-. It is concluded that the anomalous sequences of endings in phrases containing these modifers are motivated by the growing association of certain sequences of endings with the feature +/-Generality as a component of the meaning of the noun phrase as a whole.

The Practical Implications of A Minimum Machine Translation Unit

Babel ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-150
Author(s):  
Amber L. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Machine Translation ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Transfer System ◽  
Analyse Linguistique ◽  
Semantic Errors ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Professional Translator ◽  
Business Correspondence

Abstract A great deal of speculation dominates the translation industry with regard to the effectiveness of (MT) Machine Translation, or translation software. This project investigates the conclusions of Bennet (1994) about the size of the UT (unit of translation), based on the raw translations of a sample text as produced by four competitive PC programs. These programs are all transfer systems, which employ a minimum UT, such as a single noun phrase. The sample text is an authentic business correspondence text. A linguistic analysis of the four translations is performed. Results of the analysis show that numerous errors are committed which require the intervention of the professional translator. This research concludes that, for this type of text, a transfer system is not cost-effective because it will still require extensive human editing. The semantic errors particularly demonstrate the need to emphasize research towards the development of translation software which incorporates a larger UT. Résumé L'industrie de la traduction est soumise à de nombreuses spéculations en ce qui concerne l'efficacité de la traduction informatisée (TI) ou des logiciels de traduction. Dans cet article, l'auteur examine les conclusions de Bennet (1994) concernant la dimension de l'unité de traduction (UT), basée sur les traductions brutes d'un texte servant d'échantillons et produites par quatre programmes concurrentiels sur PC. Tous ces programmes sont des systèmes de tranfert qui emploient une UT minimum, par exemple une phrase nominale simple. Le texte d'échantillon est une lettre commerciale existante. Les quatre traductions obtenues sont soumises à une analyse linguistique, dont les résultats indiquent plusieurs erreurs exigeant l'intervention d'un traducteur professionnel. Cette étude permet de conclure que pour ce genre de textes, les systèmes de tranfert ne sont pas rentables du point de vue du coût puisqu'ils doivent être corrigés par une personne. Les erreurs sémantiques en particulier rélèvent le besoin de développer des logiciels capables d'incorporer une plus grande UT.

Using shallow linguistic analysis to improve search on Danish compounds

2006 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-90
Author(s):  
BOLETTE SANDFORD PEDERSEN
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Query Expansion ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Test Bed ◽  
Expansion Strategy ◽  
Search Results ◽  
Specific Search ◽  
Very High

In this paper we focus on a specific search-related query expansion topic, namely search on Danish compounds and expansion to some of their synonymous phrases. Compounds constitute a specific issue in search, in particular in languages where they are written in one word, as is the case for Danish and the other Scandinavian languages. For such languages, expansion of the query compound into separate lemmas is a way of finding the often frequent alternative synonymous phrases in which the content of a compound can also be expressed. However, it is crucial to note that the number of irrelevant hits is generally very high when using this expansion strategy. The aim of this paper is therefore to examine how we can obtain better search results on split compounds, partly by looking at the internal structure of the original compound, partly by analyzing the context in which the split compound occurs. In this context, we pursue two hypotheses: (1) that some categories of compounds are more likely to have synonymous ‘split’ counterparts than others; and (2) that search results where both the search words (obtained by splitting the compound) occur in the same noun phrase, are more likely to contain a synonymous phrase to the original compound query. The search results from 410 enhanced compound queries are used as a test bed for our experiments. On these search results, we perform a shallow linguistic analysis and introduce a new, linguistically based threshold for retrieved hits. The results obtained by using this strategy demonstrate that compound splitting combined with a shallow linguistic analysis focusing on the argument structure of the compound head as well as on the recognition of NPs, can improve search by substantially bringing down the number of irrelevant hits.

Phonetics and phonology of Cuzco Quechua declarative intonation: An instrumental analysis

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin O'Rourke
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Instrumental Analysis ◽  
Experimental Techniques ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Stressed Syllable ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
Initial Characterization

This paper offers an analysis of Cuzco Quechua intonation using experimental techniques to examine one of the acoustic cues of pitch, the fundamental frequency or F0. While previous descriptions in the literature are based on auditory impression, in the present study recordings were made of read declaratives produced by native Quechua speakers in Cuzco, Peru. This paper provides an initial characterization of high and low tones with respect to the stressed syllable, as well as information regarding the height and alignment of these tones. In addition, the intonational marking of intermediate phrases within an utterance is discussed. Research on Quechua intonation can be used to begin to address several issues regarding the intonation of languages in contact, as well as to provide data for a future cross-linguistic analysis of indigenous language intonation features.

scholarly journals The order of attributive adjectives in the history of Russian and the position of adjectives in the noun phrase

Rhema ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 72-108
Author(s):  
P. Grashchenkov ◽  
O. Kurianova
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Functional Structure ◽  
Old Russian ◽  
Semantic Classes ◽  
Attributive Adjective ◽  
History Of ◽  
Attributive Adjectives

The paper discusses ordering of different semantic classes of attributive adjectives and possible implications for the syntactic hierarchy based of the (non-)observed linearization. Two corpus-driven studies are presented: the first one considers Russian, the second one deals with the complex corpus, consisting of Old Church Slavonic and Old Russian texts from XI to XVII centuries. Although quantitative analysis shows the tendency towards ordering of attributive adjective, this tendency is not strong and regular enough. The paper concludes that attributive adjectives can be hardly viewed as representing syntactically ordered functional structure and soon argue in favor of attributive adjunction.

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