Promotional rhetorical strategies in topic generalizations of increasing specificity

This study explores the rhetorical strategies employed in topic generalizations of increasing specificity in the introductions from the leading peer-reviewed journals. Specifically, we identified the substeps in Move1-Step1, which show how the writers promote the significance of the research area. The qualitative approach enabled us to distinguish eight substeps provisionally outlining the common patterning of the discourse and to analyze the linguistic choices enhancing the persuasiveness of claims. Citation, attitude markers, boosters and hedges have been found the most effective devices for preserving balance between assertion and concession. The quantitative analysis of the texts defined the frequency rate of the substeps discerned including their total sum of occurrences and percentages per introduction. The substep level analysis has contributed to scrutinizing the subtle communicative functions of the rhetorical strategies in the textual structure.

"So you're saying": the interrogation of Jordan Peterson

<p class="p1">In this article, I analyse the infamous Cathy Newman interview with Jordan Peterson on the 16th of January 2018 and subsequent viewer comments on Channel 4's YouTube channel. My first hypothesis is that Newman's frequent attribution of statements to Peterson using the now notorious "so you are saying" gambit (YSG) is what triggered outrage among Peterson's followers, which, in turn, generated media interest. My second hypothesis is that the interview is best understood as a series of Face threats by Newman on Peterson using the YSG. To ascertain if my hypotheses are true, I performed corpus linguistic analyses on the interview and comments to provide objective descriptions of both.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Episodes in which the YSG were used were identified and analysed using Goffman's (1967) Facework approach. My analysis shows that the YSG was indeed a salient feature of the interviewer's discourse and was used to attack the interviewee's Face.</p>

Passive voice, first person pronouns and mental process verbs in the physical sciences reseach article

Recent studies have suggested that there has been a decrease in passive use, and an increase in the use of first person pronouns in scientific writing. This study looks at six sample texts from the physical sciences. The correlation between low passive use and use of first person pronoun subjects is only partial. The influx of verbs of a mathematical nature in recent decades has led to an increase in verbs of mental process. These lend themselves more easily to the use of first person pronouns. There are now two models available, a progressive model using fewer passives and a number of first person pronoun subjects, and a traditional model using passive forms extensively and avoiding first person pronoun subjects.

Ni a toda virola ni tumbados a la bartola. Las palabras ligadas fraseológicamente del español a partir de un análisis de corpus

This article presents results on the Spanish phraseologically bound words (PLF), also known as cranberry words, based on a corpus analysis. If up to now the different Spanish PLF had been collected introspectively, this article presents a list of the Spanish PLF indicating the phraseological fixation index (IFF) of each one of them in the phraseological unit (UF) that contains them and ordered by the weighted phraseological fixation index (IFFP). To do this, it has been necessary to obtain from the corpus the total number of occurrences of the PLF (NPLF) and to analyse the fixation of these elements both inside the UF or the UFS that contain them (FFPLF) and outside the UF, in their free use. Furthermore, the quantitative data of the PLF which was collected in four differentiated groups from two matrices (the FFPLF matrix and the NPLF matrix) present interesting results on this type of elements.

A mixed-methods study of online learning in the EFL classroom

<p class="Normal1"><span lang="EN-GB">The need to adapt classroom materials to maintain students’ interest to learn the subject matter in an engaging environment, by means of Information and Communication Technologies, becomes a first concern. The purpose of this mixed-methods study, which involves a combination of both qualitative and quantitative data analyses, is to survey the perceptions and engagement of higher education students as regards learning theoretical content and vocabulary through the implementation of two online called ‘Cybertasks’. The participants were administered two perception questionnaires in order to gather information concerning their previous knowledge and their acquired knowledge. Additionally, a final written exam was delivered to determine whether there is a correlation between students’ satisfaction with Cybertask completion and their academic achievement. The results indicate that students with higher levels of engagement towards the use of the Cybertask to improve their acquisition of theoretical content and vocabulary showed higher academic achievement in their final exam. </span></p>

Vom Matrixsatz zum Diskursmaker: Die Grammatikalisierung von Hauptsache

<p>This paper has a double purpose. On the one hand, it intends to prove the existence of a discourse marker (DM) Hauptsache. This element preserves the core conceptual meaning of the homonymous noun, but differs from it with regard to its morphosyntactic and semantic features as well as to its discourse-organizing, information structuring, and modal functions. On the other hand, the emergence of Hauptsache as a discourse particle is explained on the grounds of a grammaticalization process similar to the ones described for the prototypical German DMs. Evidence drawn from a corpus of German and Austrian parliamentary protocols will show in which ways the six fundamental processes implied in the grammaticalization of DMs (decategorization, scope expansion, subjectification, persistence, syntactic fixation, phonetic and/or morphosyntactic reduction) can be found in the evolution from the matrix clause die Hauptsache is to the monolexematic Hauptsache. The paper ends with a brief discussion of the formal, semantical, and functional characteristics of Hauptsache.</p>

Imprecisiones terminológicas derivadas de la traducción en el ámbito de la lingüística forense

In a restrictive sense, Forensic Linguistics can be defined as the discipline whose main objective is the study of language as evidence, that means that it deals with the analysis of language evidences when they are involved in a legal process or a police investigation. This field of applied linguistics has a relatively short scientific history, since the very first appearance of the term is dated in 1968. For this reason, certain aspects of the subject are still in development or need further consolidation. One of the problems that should be solved are those related to its terminology, which does not present the same level of standardization or the same difficulties in all languages. Specifically, in this paper, the terminological problems caused by translation from English to Spanish will be discussed.

Rutas de acceso al léxico en un entorno lexicográfico

This paper examines a set of lexicographic projects with innovative routes of access to lexical knowledge, and which constitute a first step towards a more intelligent dictionary, These projects include: (1) collocation dictionaries that specify the relations between a base word and its collocate; (2) dictionaries that make explicit the semantic and lexical restrictions between a predicate and its arguments; (3) lexical resources that describe the linguistic properties of a lexical entry within the context of its frame or frames of activation; (4) dictionaries that provide a conceptual organization of the definiens, instead of the definiendum. Without a doubt, the Digital Era (artificial intelligence, data and text mining, and machine learning) has opened up a vast range of possibilities, which will lead to intelligent lexicographic resources that are more intelligent and interconnected. This chapter concludes with some ideas and proposals about the characteristics of a dictionary 5.0 of the future.

Zur vermittlung von während und seit im daf-unterricht an spanischsprechende aus konstruktionsgrammatischer sicht – ein vorschlag

Multidimensionality is a property of grammatical phenomena which describes the connection between clusters of meaning and syntactic expressions. Based on the principle that syntax builds meaning, the following article deals with the correct approach to the usage of seit and während in the DaF class, in order to discuss and propose their equivalents in Spanish. We suggest that the proper use of seit(dem) and während should become a relevant teaching topic, as a satisfactory description in grammatical manuals is still pending. With the speakers’ needs in mind, we then proceed to suggest explanatory approaches to the problem areas which will make DaF learners aware of their correct use by the means of the basic principles of construction grammar.

Glossing and L2 vocabulary learning through dynamic instruction in the context of Primary Education

<p>The present study deals with two types of L2 glosses, namely dynamic and traditional text-based glosses. The former were presented to students as a set of prompts designed to help learners identify the correct keyword, whereas the latter were introduced as traditional annotations containing L1 equivalents. A third control group was included in the study. Particularly, the focus is to compare the effects of these two types of glosses in Primary Education students of EFL. During the treatment session the dynamic glossing and the traditional glossing groups were presented three short texts with some unknown words. After the treatment, the three groups were tested in terms of both receptive and productive knowledge of the unknown words. Testing was carried out immediately and some weeks after the treatment. The results of immediate and delayed post tests revealed the superiority of the dynamic condition over traditional glossing and the control group as regards the two types of L2 vocabulary knowledge.</p>