Author: Jingyu Zhang
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9783039113002
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 284
Get Book Here
Book Description
This empirical study examines the learning problem of the argument structure of psych predicates such as «The dog frightens John» and the related V-ing adjectives such as «The dog is frightening to John». The problem is theoretically interesting because of the marked nature of the thematic role mapping of these sentences in relation to the principle of the Uniformity of Theta Assignment Hypothesis (UTAH). The problem is highly relevant to our understanding of second language acquisition, as this is known to be a prevalent difficulty among language learners. The author has framed the learning problem within a coherent parametric framework drawing on a sophisticated critical review of the syntax/semantics literature and theories of L2 development. The author has specifically developed a theory, the «Semantic Salience Hierarchy Model» (SSHM), to explain the learning process. The significance of the model is not confined only to this particular study, as the issues related to the L2 acquisition of other causative verbs can also be examined within this model. The findings of this study also bear implications to TESOL.
Author: Horst J. Simon
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027297533
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Get Book Here
Book Description
The contributions of this thematic collection center around the typology of pronominal paradigms, the generation of syntactic and semantic representations for constructions containing pronouns, and the neurological underpinnings for linguistic distinctions that are relevant for the production and interpretation of these constructions. They come from different theoretical approaches and methodological backgrounds and take into account data from a wide range of Indoeuropean and non-Indoeuropean languages. Bringing together a cross-section of recent research on the grammar and representation of pronouns, the volume offers a kaleidoscope of studies united by the common topic of pronouns as a domain of language that exemplarily shows the interaction of different components responsible for computational (syntactic and semantic), lexical, and discourse-pragmatic processes.
Author: Kiriko Sato
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9783039117635
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 246
Get Book Here
Book Description
The development from a synthetic to an analytic language is one of the most important topics in English historical syntax. This development is reflected in the gradual decrease of case-forms and the replacement of their functions with equivalent prepositional constructions. Focussing on the Old English period, when case-forms and prepositional constructions overlapped in various functions, this book aims to answer an unresolved question: was there a significant change in the use of case-forms and, alternatively, in the use of prepositions plus case-forms in contexts where both types were possible? The author makes a statistical comparison between prose texts written in the early Old English period and texts of the later Old English period; she also takes into account stylistic features of individual texts. Thus, this book addresses this Old English syntactic issue both from a historical and a stylistic perspective and shows the stages of development during the Old English period.
Author: Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kołaczyk
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9783039116829
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 492
Get Book Here
Book Description
The choice of a pronunciation model for the 21st century learner has become a major issue of debate among applied linguists concerned with teaching English. The standard pronunciation models - Received Pronunciation and General American - have recently been confronted with a new proposal of a Lingua Franca Core (LFC) or English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), put forward as a didactic priority in teaching English pronunciation to foreigners. This volume, which includes selected contributions from the Poznań Linguistic Meetings of 2003 and 2004, does not intend to present yet another model, but sets out to place the teaching and learning of English pronunciation in the context of the 21st century. As the needs of English users are clearly changing fast in the globalizing world, the question is to what extent, if at all, models of pronunciation have been able to keep up with them, and whether they in fact should do so. Thus, key issues in the integration of pronunciation into English as L2 curricula are explored.
Author: Eva Alcón Soler
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9783039116010
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 272
Get Book Here
Book Description
Interlanguage Pragmatics (ILP) is a field of growing interest. Focussing on the speech act of requesting, the volume provides information about opportunities for pragmatic learning and how pragmatics can be integrated into instructional foreign language learning contexts. In addition, the research reported here provides methodological insights for those interested in investigating ILP from a second language acquisition perspective. The reader will also encounter some research issues worth examining in relation to pragmatic language learning. Topics include the use of assessment instruments in measuring learners' perception and production of different pragmatic issues, the long-term effects of instruction, and the effectiveness of different teaching approaches.
Author: M. Milagros del Saz Rubio
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9783039111961
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 248
Get Book Here
Book Description
This book deals with the notion of reformulation and more specifically with a group of lexico-grammatical units which help codify and signal the activity of reformulation in English. While discourse markers in English have been described in detail, the area of reformulation is a relatively unexplored area in comparison with languages such as French or Spanish. In this respect, this book has been conceived as a contribution to the field of Discourse Markers and in particular to the markers that help display the function of reformulation in English. First of all, a definition of the notion of reformulation is provided as a necessary precondition for the elaboration of a taxonomy of English reformulators. These are grouped into different classes and sub-classes on the basis of the type of reformulation effected. Thus, four main types are identified: Expansion, Modification, Reassessment and Compression. After an inductive and interpretive analysis of examples taken from the British National Corpus (BNC), the syntactic and distributional properties of these units, as well as their environments of use are described and discussed.
Author: Javier Ruano-García
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9783034300582
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 628
Get Book Here
Book Description
The history of regional 'Englishes' in the Early Modern period still presents numerous lacunae that need to be filled, in order to provide a complete insight into the English linguistic setting at this time. This book aims to remedy these deficiencies in some measure. In particular, this monograph seeks to shed light upon the history of Early Modern Northern English vocabulary by means of the first corpus of Early Modern texts where Northern linguistic traits are used for literary purposes. It provides a linguistically documented description of Northern words from a synchronic standpoint, dealing with their distribution, etymology, as well as with some of their morphological and semantic characteristics. In addition, this study offers a discussion of the Early Modern literary representations of Northern speech. A thorough revision of the treatment that Northern lexical items are given in contemporary and modern lexicographic sources is also presented, together with a glossary that outlines the diachronic profile of the terms gathered.
Author: David Hirsh
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9783034304269
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 232
Get Book Here
Book Description
Academic texts present subject-specific ideas within a subject-independent framework. This book accounts for the presence of academic words in academic writing by exploring recurring patterns of function in texts representing different subject areas. The book presents a framework which describes academic word use at the ideational, textual and interpersonal levels. Functional categories are presented and illustrated which explain the role of academic words alongside general purpose and technical terms. The author examines biomedical research articles, and journal articles from arts, commerce and law. A comparable analysis focuses on university textbook chapters. Case studies investigate patterns of functionality within the main sections of research articles, compare word use in academic and non-academic texts reporting on the same research, and explore the carrier word function of academic vocabulary. The study concludes by looking at historical and contemporary processes which have shaped the presence of academic vocabulary in the English lexicon.
Author: Nicola T. Owtram
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9783034300605
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 326
Get Book Here
Book Description
This volume investigates to what extent existing approaches to pragmatics and discourse shed light on how the form of a text creates stylistic effects. Taking a cross-cultural perspective, this book focuses on five key stylistic features of writing - paragraph structure, length and construction of sentences, organisation of information in sentences, relative formality of vocabulary, amount of nominalisation - widely seen as partly responsible for the different impressions created by academic writing in English and Italian. The author develops a theoretical framework for the investigation of intuitions about stylistic differences from a contrastive point of view. To this end, the book gives an overview of recent scholarly approaches to writing and reading, genre studies, contrastive rhetoric and the notions of style and stylistics, together with an assessment of several individual approaches.
Author: Tony Harris
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9783034305242
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 230
Get Book Here
Book Description
This series promotes specialist language studies, both in the fields of linguistic theory and applied linguistics, by publishing volumes that focus on specific aspects of language use and provide valuable insights into language and communication research. A cross-disciplinary approach is favoured and most European languages are accepted.
