View Full Paper
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Load more
Recommended publications
-
Influences on the Development of Early Modern English
Influences on the Development of Early Modern English Kyli Larson Wright This article covers the basic social, historical, and linguistic influences that have transformed the English language. Research first describes components of Early Modern English, then discusses how certain factors have altered the lexicon, phonology, and other components. Though there are many factors that have shaped English to what it is today, this article only discusses major factors in simple and straightforward terms. 72 Introduction The history of the English language is long and complicated. Our language has shifted, expanded, and has eventually transformed into the lingua franca of the modern world. During the Early Modern English period, from 1500 to 1700, countless factors influenced the development of English, transforming it into the language we recognize today. While the history of this language is complex, the purpose of this article is to determine and map out the major historical, social, and linguistic influences. Also, this article helps to explain the reasons for their influence through some examples and evidence of writings from the Early Modern period. Historical Factors One preliminary historical event that majorly influenced the development of the language was the establishment of the print- ing press. Created in 1476 by William Caxton at Westminster, London, the printing press revolutionized the current language form by creating a means for language maintenance, which helped English gravitate toward a general standard. Manuscripts could be reproduced quicker than ever before, and would be identical copies. Because of the printing press spelling variation would eventually decrease (it was fixed by 1650), especially in re- ligious and literary texts. -
“The Relative Pronoun” As Has Been the Case in the Last Several Chapters
CHAPTER 17 “Te Relatve Pronoun” As has been te case in te last several chaptrs, tis chaptr realy doesn’t confont te neophyt wit a lot of new grammatcal concepts; it builds on knowledge already mastred. Stl it’s going t take a litle patence, but we’l go slowly. Before we get t te relatve pronoun per se, we’re going t clean up a syntactcal point you’ve already been working wit, but may not have yet a firm conceptual understanding of. Let’s look at what we mean by a “clause”. THE CLAUSE You al remember te junior high school definiton of a sentnce: it’s a complet tought. And by tat we mean a tought which includes a noun, eiter expressed or implied, and a verb, eiter expressed or implied. Tat is, a complet tought must involve someting which is doing someting or which is being held up for descripton: “Te road is blocked”; “Te tee fel down”; and so on. Now, te human mind is a wonderfl ting. It reasons and perceives dozens of different kinds relatonships between events, tings, and ideas. It arranges events and facts logicaly and tmporaly, and in levels of priorit. Tat is t say, it takes two or more tings, tings which are separat ideas, separat visions, and weaves tem tgeter conceptualy and linguistcaly int what we “reasoning”. Te way tis reasoning is expressed in language is caled “syntax”, which litraly means “arranging tgeter”; puting tgeter events and tings and facts. For example, te two separat ideas or visions -- “te road is blocked” and “te tee fel down” -- might have a causal relatonship, which te mind instantly recognizes and expresses linguistcaly wit an appropriat conjuncton: “Te road is blocked because te tee fel down”. -
An Error Analysis of Relative Clauses
Title: Second Language Relative Clause Acquisition: An Examination of Cross-Linguistic Influences Name: Yuh-Fang Chang Affiliation: National Chung Hsing University Abstract English is a Right Branching Direction (RBD) language in which relative clauses appear to the right of the head noun. In contrast, Chinese primarily relies on a Left Branching Direction (LBD) in which relative clauses premodify the head. Many studies have provided evidence that the differences in principal branching directions between the two languages often cause difficulties in acquiring complex syntax (e.g., Flynn, 1984; Flynn and Espinal, 1985). However, most studies concerning the cross-linguistic influences in relative clause acquisition compare English with languages other than Chinese. Little research has been done to investigate the extent to which the relative clauses produced by Chinese learners of English are influenced by the difference in branching direction. The purpose of the present study is to analyze and describe the difficulties that Chinese learners of English encounter in acquiring the relative clauses. A total of 237 English-major freshmen participated in the study. One written composition from each participant was collected. In addition, a 44-item-multiple-choice test on relative clauses was administered. Data were analyzed in terms of: 1) the total number of relative clauses in each pattern, and 2) the number of errors produced in each pattern of relative clauses. Evidence of cross-linguistic influence was found in both areas. Keywords: language transfer, relative clauses, Chinese, English INTRODUCTION The role of the native language in L2 learners’ second language acquisition process has received a great deal of scrutiny among researchers. -
The Use of Demonstrative Pronoun and Demonstrative Determiner This in Upper-Level Student Writing: a Case Study
English Language Teaching; Vol. 8, No. 5; 2015 ISSN 1916-4742 E-ISSN 1916-4750 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education The Use of Demonstrative Pronoun and Demonstrative Determiner this in Upper-Level Student Writing: A Case Study Katharina Rustipa1 1 Faculty of Language and Cultural Studies, Stikubank University (UNISBANK) Semarang, Indonesia Correspondence: Katharina Rustipa, UNISBANK Semarang, Jl. Tri Lomba Juang No.1 Semarang 50241, Indonesia. Tel: 622-4831-1668. E-mail: [email protected] Received: January 20, 2015 Accepted: February 26, 2015 Online Published: April 23, 2015 doi:10.5539/elt.v8n5p158 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v8n5p158 Abstract Demonstrative this is worthy to investigate because of the role of this as a common cohesive device in academic writing. This study attempted to find out the variables underlying the realization of demonstrative this in graduate-student writing of Semarang State University, Indonesia. The data of the study were collected by asking three groups of students (first semester, second semester, third semester students) to write an essay. The collected data were analyzed by identifying, classifying, calculating, and interpreting. Interviewing to several students was also done to find out the reasons underlying the use of attended and unattended this. Comparing the research results to those of the Michigan Corpus of Upper-level Student Paper (MICUSP) as proficient graduate-student writing was done in order to know the position of graduate-student writing of Semarang State University in reference to MICUSP. The conclusion of the research results is that most occurrences of demonstrative this are attended and these occurrences are stable across levels, similar to those in MICUSP. -
Revisiting the System of English Relative Clauses: Structure, Semantics, Discourse Functionality Francis Cornish
Revisiting the system of English relative clauses: structure, semantics, discourse functionality Francis Cornish To cite this version: Francis Cornish. Revisiting the system of English relative clauses: structure, semantics, discourse functionality. English Language and Linguistics, Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2018, 22, pp.431 - 456. hal-01923355 HAL Id: hal-01923355 https://hal-univ-tlse2.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01923355 Submitted on 15 Nov 2018 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. 1 (Article published in English Language and Linguistics 22(3), pp. 431-456, November 2018) Revisiting the system of English relative clauses: structure, semantics, discourse functionality1 FRANCIS CORNISH CLLE-ERSS UMR 5263 and Université de Toulouse-Jean Jaurès Abstract The goal of this article is to uncover the system underlying three types of English relative clauses, and to characterise their distinctive uses in discourse: NP-integrated ones, namely restrictive and ‘a-restrictive’ relative clauses, and non-integrated ones, represented by non-restrictive relatives. The area at issue is central, since understanding the functioning of these constructions requires reference to the fundamental interface between grammar (language system) and discourse (language use). The discourse functions of the three subtypes of relatives are claimed to be underlain by their intrinsic morphosyntactic and semantic properties. -
On Restrictions on the Use of Non-Restrictive Infinitival Relative Clauses in English
On restrictions on the use of non-restrictive infinitival relative clauses in English Takanobu%Akiyama% Nihon%University% [email protected]% This paper deals with non-restrictive infinitival relative clauses (NIRCs) in English (e.g. An independent review, to be funded by the health authority, has been commissioned). The purpose of this paper is twofold: (i) to give an accurate description of the semantic properties of the NIRC on the basis of the British National Corpus, and (ii) to elucidate restrictions on the use of this construction. My corpus-based approach will clarify four types of shades of meaning expressed by this construction are equal to those expressed by IS TO construction (i.e. plan, necessity or appropriateness, future in the past, and possibility). I will stress that NIRCs are used only when they have one notional category (i.e. notional subject/object), which is highly likely to be a notional subject of the infinitive, and denote one of the shades of meaning rather than causality. Keywords: non-restrictive clauses, infinitival relative clauses, meaning of to-infinitives, the British National Corpus 1. Introduction This paper deals with the non-restrictive infinitival relative clause (henceforth, NIRC) in English (e.g. An independent review, to be funded by Ealing council and Selected Papers from the 44th Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society, 2013 edited by Lauren Gawne and Jill Vaughan! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Selected papers from the 44th ALS conference – 2013 AKIYAMA Ealing health authority, has been commissioned. (BNC: A96 443))1. The discussion of NIRCs has been neglected by linguists, although there have been many publications on restrictive infinitival relative clauses (e.g. -
English Relative Clauses in a Cross-Germanic Perspective
English relative clauses in a cross-Germanic perspective Julia Bacskai-Atkari University of Konstanz Abstract The article examines the distribution of relativising strategies in English in a cross-Germanic perspective, arguing that English is special among Germanic languages both regarding the number of available options and their distribution. The differences from other Germanic languages (both West Germanic and Scandi- navian) are primarily due to the historical changes affecting the case and gender system in English more generally. The loss of case and gender on the original singular neuter relative pronoun facilitated its reanalysis as a complementiser. The effect of the case system can also be observed in properties that are not evidently related to case. Specifically, the choice between the pronoun strategy and the complementiser strategy is known to show differences according to the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierar- chy. While English shows a subject vs. oblique distinction in this respect, matching its nominative/oblique case system, German dialects show a subject/direct object vs. oblique distinction, matching the nominative /accusative/oblique case setting in the language. The particular setting in English is thus not dependent on e.g. a single parameter but on various factors that are otherwise present in other Germanic languages as well, and it is ultimately the complex interplay of these factors that results in the particular setup. 1. Introduction There are two major types of relative clauses in English,1,2 illustrated in (1) below: (1) a. This is the linguist who has an interesting theory. b. This is the linguist that has an interesting theory. -
Beginning Old English / Carole Hough and John Corbett
© Carole Hough and John Corbett 2007 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Beginning Old Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. English Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this Carole Hough and John Corbett work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN-13: 978–1–4039–9349–6 hardback ISBN-10: 1–4039–9349–1 hardback ISBN-13: 978–1–4039–9350–2 paperback ISBN-10: 1–4039–9350–5 paperback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. -
Relativization in Qiang∗
LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS 9.4:735-768, 2008 2008-0-009-004-000247-1 Relativization in Qiang∗ Chenglong Huang Chinese Academy of Social Sciences In this paper, we review the strategies of relativization and discuss the different types of relative clauses and morpho-syntactic properties of relative clauses in eight varieties of Qiang. The Qiang language shows six types of relativization in terms of whether there is a head noun or not, and the relative positions of the head noun and relative clause. Double-headed relative clauses are unusual cross-linguistically. Head-internal relative clauses are modified by a demonstrative-(numeral)-classifier/ (in)definite-classifier, which helps readers to identify head-internal relative clause structures as NPs. In Qiang, different nominalizers, the genitive marker, and the definite marking or indefinite marking are used as clues in identifying the clause as relative; the choice of nominalizers or the genitive marker depends on the semantic role of the head in the relative clause. In some varieties of Qiang there are also some relative clauses that are not marked by nominalizers but are marked by person with aspect marking. Similar to English and Mandarin Chinese, almost all NPs, like actor, undergoer, experiencer, destination, instrument, source, location, time, etc., may be relativized on, therefore, there is no restricted neutralization (S/A pivot or S/P pivot) in nominalized relative clauses, while there is restricted neutralization in non- nominalized relative clauses (finite relative clauses), i.e. S/A is the same marking. Key words: Sino-Tibetan, relative clauses, typology 1. Introduction There are 306,072 Qiang people in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan (四川阿壩藏族羌族自治州), China (2000 census). -
The Case of English Relative Clause
Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics 17(1), 79-93. The Application of Corpora in Teaching Grammar: The Case of English Relative Clause Rahman Sahragard, Ali Kushki and Ehsan Ansaripour* Shiraz University Sahragard, R., Kushki, A. & Ansaripour, E. (2013). The Application of Corpora in Teaching Grammar: The Case of English Relative Clause. Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, 17(1), 79-93. The study was conducted to see if the provision of implementing corpora on English relative clauses would prove useful for Iranian EFL learners or not. Two writing classes were held for the participants of intermediate level. A record of 15 writing samples produced by each participant was kept in the form of a portfolio. Participants’ portfolios in both the experimental and the control groups were analyzed to spot patterned errors. Having diagnosed the errors, both groups were instructed on the use of English relative clauses. The participants in the experimental group were instructed using the corpora as printed materials. The control group, however, were instructed using explicit definition, discussion and exemplification. Then, both group participants’ portfolios were returned and they were asked to self correct their misapplied relative clauses. Interestingly, both groups had improved significantly. Two Chi-square tests on the use of that and which were run before and after classroom procedures on both groups. The first one suggested similar performance for the two groups but the second one favored the experimental group. The study suggests that applying corpora is an effective way to make students aware of their errors which ultimately leads them to self correction. -
Licensing Animacy in Relative Clause Comprehension
Structuring Expectation: Licensing Animacy in Relative Clause Comprehension Matthew W. Wagers and Emily Pendleton 1. Introduction* 1.1. Animacy and the predictive encoding of relative clauses Broadly speaking, subject relative clauses are easier to understand than object relative clauses (Wanner & Maratsos, 1978, Ford, 1983, Holmes & O'Regan, 1981, among many others). This can be demonstrated by a variety of methods that measure the speed and accuracy with which sentences containing relative clauses are processed. As an example, compare (1a), which contains a subject relative clause (SRC), to (1b), which contains an object relative clause (ORC). (1) a. Subject relative clause, The lobbyist [ that ___ quoted the journalist on the radio ] lost her job. b. Object relative clause The lobbyist [ that the journalist quoted ___ on the radio ] lost her job. The SRC advantage is very robust cross-linguistically. Even in cases where non-subject relatives may ultimately be easier to process, the 'fingerprints' of a subject advantage can be detected (Clemens et al., 2015, Borja, Chung & Wagers, 2015). However, the SRC advantage can be neutralized under a variety of conditions. For example, if the subject of an ORC is a quantified expression or a pronoun, then the asymmetry is substantially reduced (Gordon, Hendrick & Johnson, 2001, 2004). Another way to neutralize the SRC advantage is to change the animacy of the relativized argument (Mak, Vonk & Schriefers, 2002, Traxler, Morris & Seely, 2005, Gennari & MacDonald, 2008, among others). (2) illustrates a contrast that should be less severe than (1), because the relativized argument in (2), 'report', is inanimate. (2) a. Subject relative clause, inanimate filler The report [ that ___ quoted the journalist in the introduction ] was not well-known. -
Preposition Stranding Vs. Pied-Piping—The Role of Cognitive Complexity in Grammatical Variation
languages Article Preposition Stranding vs. Pied-Piping—The Role of Cognitive Complexity in Grammatical Variation Christine Günther Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Universität Siegen, 57076 Siegen, Germany; [email protected] Abstract: Grammatical variation has often been said to be determined by cognitive complexity. Whenever they have the choice between two variants, speakers will use that form that is associated with less processing effort on the hearer’s side. The majority of studies putting forth this or similar analyses of grammatical variation are based on corpus data. Analyzing preposition stranding vs. pied-piping in English, this paper sets out to put the processing-based hypotheses to the test. It focuses on discontinuous prepositional phrases as opposed to their continuous counterparts in an online and an offline experiment. While pied-piping, the variant with a continuous PP, facilitates reading at the wh-element in restrictive relative clauses, a stranded preposition facilitates reading at the right boundary of the relative clause. Stranding is the preferred option in the same contexts. The heterogenous results underline the need for research on grammatical variation from various perspectives. Keywords: grammatical variation; complexity; preposition stranding; discontinuous constituents Citation: Günther, Christine. 2021. Preposition Stranding vs. Pied- 1. Introduction Piping—The Role of Cognitive Grammatical variation refers to phenomena where speakers have the choice between Complexity in Grammatical Variation. two (or more) semantically equivalent structural options. Even in English, a language with Languages 6: 89. https://doi.org/ rather rigid word order, some constructions allow for variation, such as the position of a 10.3390/languages6020089 particle, the ordering of post-verbal constituents or the position of a preposition.