scholarly journals A Contrastive Study of Discourse Construction Features of Abstracts of Chinese and Foreign English Academic Papers From the Perspective of Contrastive Rhetoric

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Yilun Yang ◽  
Liping Chen
Keyword(s):  
English Abstract ◽  
Contrastive Rhetoric ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Multiple Functions ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Rhetorical Devices ◽  
Fourth Step ◽  
Writing Chinese ◽  
International English

Abstract is responsible for introducing research, attracting readers and other multiple functions, and has its own unique characteristics of discourse construction. Through objective analysis of the characteristics of discourse construction in abstracts published by Chinese and foreign scholars in international English journals, the accuracy of the expression of the articles can be increased. The author builds his own corpus and makes a contrastive analysis of the frequency, types and distribution of fuzzy restrictive language in each step of English abstracts in Chinese and foreign journals, and summarizes the unique short language types and textual functions of each step. The results show that the distribution trend of hedges in the fourth step of English abstracts in Chinese and foreign journals is generally the same, but there are significant differences in the types of use and the frequency of occurrence. Therefore, in English abstract writing, Chinese authors should properly use various types of rhetorical devices to enhance the diversity of language expression, so as to better obtain the recognition of readers.

scholarly journals A multi-dimensional contrastive study of English abstracts by native and non-native writers

Corpora ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Cao ◽  
Richard Xiao
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
English Abstract ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Communicative Functions

This article takes the multi-dimensional (MD) analysis approach to explore the textual variations between native and non-native English abstracts on the basis of a balanced corpus containing English abstracts written by native English and native Chinese writers from twelve academic disciplines. A total of 47 out of 163 linguistic features are retained after factor analysis, which underlies a seven-dimension framework representing seven communicative functions. The results show that the two types of abstracts demonstrate significant differences in five out of the seven dimensions. To be more specific, native English writers display a more active involvement and commitment in presenting their ideas than Chinese writers. They also use intensifying devices more frequently. In contrast, Chinese writers show stronger preferences for conceptual elaboration, passives and abstract noun phrases no matter whether the two types of data are examined as a whole or whether variations across disciplines are taken into account. The results are discussed in relation to the possible reasons and suggestions for English abstract writing in China. Methodologically, this study innovatively expands on Biber's (1988) MD analytical framework by integrating colligation in addition to grammatical and semantic features.

scholarly journals Morpho-syntactic variations in English and Spanish clipped words: a contrastive study

2018 ◽  
Vol 134 (3) ◽  
pp. 734-760
Author(s):  
Félix Rodríguez González ◽  
José A. Sánchez Fajardo
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Syntactic Features ◽  
Functional Motivations

Abstract Clipping and linguistic variation are inexorably interconnected. Shortened or elliptical words reflect a great deal of variability of the language, especially in the morphological and phonological levels. The object of this study is precisely to explore the phono-graphemic and grammatical variations occurred in the visible changes undergone by clipped words in Spanish and English. A contrastive analysis of this type reveals both expectedly different correspondences in terms of gender and number, and surprisingly parallel lexico-syntactic features. This suggests that clipped or elliptical units are not only necessarily dependent on intrinsic morpho-grammatical and phonological traits, but they are also characterized by regularities and universal patterns that might show disruptive or “corrupted” constructs. This analysis confirms the peculiarities of clipping and linguistic variations in both languages, in an attempt to comprehend the interconnection between functional motivations, and morphological and phonological changes.

The construction of attitudinal stance

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Pérez Blanco
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Descriptive Data ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Working Procedure

This paper is a corpus-based contrastive study of the realization of negative attitudinal stance in English and Spanish discourse through the use of evaluative adjectives. The main aim of the study is to analyse and compare the grammatical patterns in which negative evaluative adjectives occur in each language and discuss the observed cross-linguistic differences in terms of the effects that alternative linguistic realizations have in the construction of evaluative discourse. The working procedure follows a contrastive analysis methodology: description of empirical data, juxtaposition and contrast. The descriptive data have been extracted from a large comparable corpus of English and Spanish newspaper opinion discourse. The study has revealed interesting similarities and differences in the construction of Attitude in each language, which are inferred by contrasting its surface structural features.

scholarly journals Approval and Disapproval Expressions in English and Arabic: A Contrastive Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Abeer Hadi Salih
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
The World ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
To Come ◽  
And Linguistics

Any language in the world wide has different expressions and terms that convey approval or disapproval that language speakers may use in their daily life. English language for instance, is full of such expressions and can be found in any situation needs to. The present research studies approval and disapproval in English with their counterparts in Arabic as a contrastive study. It tries to search for those terms or sentences that are used to express approval and disapproval in English with their counterparts in Arabic. It aims to highlight the points of similarities and differences between those expressions that are used to state approval and disapproval in the two languages. Also the study includes a contrastive analysis to the expressions of approval and disapproval in English with their equivalents in Arabic in order to come up with the conclusions. It concluded that the approval and disapproval expressions in English language are similar to their counterparts in Arabic language but differ in two points. Firstly in Arabic language main verbs are used to convey approval and disapproval whereas in English are not. Secondly, in English language the exclamatory style is used to express approval in contrast, Arabic language is not. Researchers, teachers, translators and any who cares about English language and linguistics can get benefit from this study, precisely because it includes a comparison between two languages, English language and Arabic, with several types of expressions and terms that are being actually used to express approval and disapproval.

scholarly journals Interrogative Sentence: A Contrastive Study of Arabic and Indonesian

IZDIHAR ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khoirin Nikmah
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Interrogative Sentence ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

Involving first language (L1) in second language learning (L2) is considered as an effective method to be practiced. This research focuses on a contrastive study between Arabic and Indonesian. It aims to investigate similarities and differences of the two languages, especially about their interrogative sentence forms. It is descriptive qualitative research which applies two methods; observation and introspection method. Then, Contrastive Analysis (CA) is used to analyze the data. The result shows that similarity concept between Arabic and Indonesian is many shown on matā, ayna, limādzā, and hal. Meanwhile, differences between both of them are shown on mā, man, ayy, and kayfa. As a result, it may occur errors in the use of question, errors in translating interrogative sentence, and errors in understanding question.

scholarly journals Whites and Browns: A Contrastive Study of Metadiscourse in English Newspaper Editorials

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-42
Author(s):  
Muhammad Imtiaz Shahid ◽  
Hafiz Muhammad Qasim ◽  
Muhammad Hasnain
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Structural Properties ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Persuasive Writing ◽  
Contrastive Rhetoric ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Field Of Inquiry ◽  
Newspaper Editorials

Metadiscourse is an interesting field of inquiry which is believed to play a vital role in organizing and producing persuasive writing. It is a set of linguistic devices used to communicate attitudes and mark the structural properties of a text. The study aimed to investigate whether native and non-native varieties of English varieties are similar or different from each other from the perspective of interactional meta-discourse markers. The study as contrastive rhetoric research scrutinized a corpus of 900 newspapers editorials (450 written in native English newspapers and 450 written in non-native English newspapers). Editorials were culled from 15 native English newspapers belonging to three native English countries, England, America and New Zealand, and 15 non-native English newspapers belonging to three non-native English countries, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. Based on the model of metadiscourse given by Hyland (2005), interactional metadiscoursive resources were analyzed. The frequencies of interactional metadiscourse markers in both native and non-native varieties were counted and compared with each other. The results disclosed that there were worth-pointing differences between the native and non-native English editorialists in the use of interactional metadiscourse markers. Two different varieties of English editorials showed variations particularly in the use of hedging and self-mention markers. On the whole, findings suggested that the use of interactional metadiscourse markers in native English editorials were more frequent than those in non-native English editorials which made their writings more appealing and convincing. Keywords: metadiscourse, native, non-native, newspaper, editorials

scholarly journals Semi-Vowels in English and their Counterparts in Arabic, A Contrastive Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Inst. Mubdir Shihab Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
And Function ◽  
Shed Light

The present study attempts to shed light on a phonetic phenomenon in both English and Arabic related to what is called semi-vowels. The English semi-vowel /j/ and /w/ and the Arabic (و) and (ي) are either considered consonants or vowels depending on certain bases. Hence, this study tries to investigate these bases. The study aims at giving a description of the English and Arabic semi-vowels and showing whether both languages are similar or different with reference to their production and function. The study hypothesises that considering the English Semi-vowels as either consonants or vowels is determined phonetically or phonologically, whereas in Arabic such a case is determined by the phonological environment in which they occur. To realize the aims of the study and to prove its hypotheses, a description of semi-vowels in both languages is presented and a contrastive analysis is carried out. The study concludes that the semi-vowels in both languages are considered vowels in their production and like consonants in their function. Also, the study finds that there is no much difference as regards the production of the semi-vowels in both languages.

scholarly journals Translation as a source of information on text creation – the case of sentence openings in Norwegian and German

2020 ◽  
Vol LXXVI (76) ◽  
pp. 393-408
Author(s):  
Ewa Data-Bukowska
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Multiple Functions ◽  
Parallel Corpus ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
The Way

The paper examines the way declarative sentences are introduced in a text in two closely related languages – Norwegian and German. It aims to reveal to what extent the languages under investigation are similar when it comes to meaning construal in this respect and which mechanisms may be classified as language specific. For the purposes of the study, the Norwegian item DET, which possesses multiple functions in sentence openings, has been chosen as a point of departure in a detailed contrastive analysis based on translation data taken from a parallel corpus. The research shows clear similarities in word order between Norwegian and German in sentence openings. However, in German, the notional subject, complex adverbials and even objects, are clearly preferred as thematic and most prominent parts of an event, while they typically appear in the sentence-final position in Norwegian. These differences in meaning construal are explained on the basis of different perspectives adopted in German and Norwegian – a narrow point of view in the former and a distant one in the latter. Niniejszy artykuł analizuje sposoby rozpoczynania zdań oznajmujących w tekście w dwóch blisko spokrewnionych językach - norweskim i niemieckim. Ma na celu pokazanie w jakim zakresie badane języki są podobne pod tym względem, a jakie mechanizmy można zaklasyfikować jako specyficzne dla danego języka. W przeprowadzonym badaniu za podstawę szczegółowej analizy kontrastywnej, opartej na danych tłumaczeniowych, wybrano zdania zawierające w swojej inicjalnej części norweską jednostkę leksykalną DET, spełniającą wiele funkcji w tym języku. Analiza została przeprowadzona w oparciu o materiał językowy zaczerpnięty z wielojęzycznego korpusu równoległego. Badanie pokazuje wyraźne podobieństwa zachodzące między j. norweskim a j. niemieckim na poziomie inicjalnego szyku zdania w wypowiedzeniach w tekście. Jednak w języku niemieckim podmiot pojęciowy, złożone okoliczniki, a nawet dopełnienia są wyraźnie preferowane jako tematyczne i najbardziej wyraziste elementy zdarzenia, o którym mowa. W języku norweskim zwykle pojawiają się one natomiast w części finalnej zdania. Zaobserwowane różnice są wyjaśniane w oparciu o różne perspektywy preferowane w omawianych językach na płaszczyźnie konstruowania treści w tekście – postrzeganie zdarzenia z bliska w j. niemieckim i z oddalenia w j. norweskim. Wyrazy klucze: funkcjonalna perspektywa zdania, tłumaczenie dosłowne, analiza kontrastywna

scholarly journals The Expression of Indefiniteness in English and Arabic: A Contrastive Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inam Ismael Taher
Keyword(s):  
Common Core ◽  
Semantic Feature ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Language System ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Language Universals ◽  
Syntactic Function ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Similarity And Difference

Indefiniteness is a semantic feature expressed by grammatical devices to be used linguistically depending on pragmatic factors. So, the present study deals with indefiniteness syntactically, semantically and pragmatically. These levels are related to each other and it is not easy to draw lines between them. The study aims at (1)Pointing out how the concept of indefiniteness is expressed grammatically in English and Arabic, and show the role of articles in expressing the concept.(2)Showing the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic uses of the indefinite expression in English and Arabic.(3)Identifying the similarity and difference between the two languages at the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic levels which may help to get a common core that contributes to the belief in the existence of language universals. The procedures followed in this study include an introduction about the concept of indefiniteness, and a brief survey of indefiniteness in thirty-one languages to show how this concept is expressed in them. Then, indefiniteness in English and Arabic is dealt with at the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic levels. This is followed by a contrastive analysis to point out the similarities and differences between the two languages.The study has come to the conclusion that, in English, the indefinite feature exists in the noun, not in the article, and the article has a syntactic function rather than a semantic one. The study shows also that, semantically, indefiniteness in English and Arabic is almost the same, and its function is internal to the language system. Syntactically and pragmatically, indefiniteness in Arabic is more powerful and active than it is in English. Syntactically, the indefinite item is obligatory in certain positions to perform different functions. Pragmatically, the indefinite item acquires additional meaning from the context in which it occurs.

Thesaurus level of linguistic personality: contrastive aspect

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 12-18
Author(s):  
Dorzhi D. Dondokov ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Traditional Chinese Culture ◽  
Survey Results

The paper presents results of the interim stage of contrastive study on revealing national and sociocultural distinctiveness of linguistic personality representation in the Internet discourse based on the material of Chinese, Russian and English languages (Chinese, Russian and American linguacultures). The paper aims to compare the features of Chinese, Russian and American linguistic personalities’ thesaurus level. The survey included a task to determine the specifics of respondents’ own culture through words, collocations and idioms. The results of contrastive analysis show that Chinese cultural keywords are still the words that verbalize concepts related to traditional Chinese culture, e.g. Confucianism. Survey results have proved the point of Russian linguists that душа ‘soul’ is one of the key concepts of Russian linguaculture. Even though we have found similarities between thesaurus levels of Chinese, Russian and American linguistic personalities, they are not completely alike, because the content of these concepts is different. The majority of cultural keywords named by respondents represent culture specific concepts which determine national and socio-cultural distinctiveness of Chinese, Russian and American linguistic personalities’ thesaurus level.

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