DOCSLIB.ORG

They Seem to Be Alike, but It Appears That They Are Not

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
They Seem to Be Alike, but It Appears That They Are Not They seem to be alike, but it appears that they are not A contrastive analysis of seem and appear and their Norwegian correspondences Synnøve Bolstad ENG 4191 - Master’s Thesis in English Language 60 ECTS credits The Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages The Faculty of Humanities November 2019 Abstract How similar or different are seem and appear? And how are the differences and similarities reflected in the Norwegian correspondences and chosen translation strategies? This thesis explores similarities and differences of seem and appear with respect to grammar, syntax, semantic meaning and pragmatic functions, and demonstrates how interaction between form, meaning and function determines the meaning and function of the two verbs – and it uses the Norwegian translations to do it. The comprehensive study of seem and appear uses translation data from the English-Norwegian Parallel Corpus (ENPC) in two different methods; Semantic Mirrors and contrastive analysis, to show that even though seem and appear are very similar and have many of the same correspondences in Norwegian, they differ with respect to grammar, syntax, semantic meaning and pragmatic function. The study shows that the interaction between form, meaning and function determines the meaning and function of the two verbs, and provides cautious support for the claim that seem and appear are going through a process of semantic bleaching and grammaticalization and are turning into semi-modals like other emerging modal auxiliaries in English, possibly filling a lexical gap in the range of the modal auxiliaries. Table of contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ iii Table of contents ...............................................................................................................................v List of tables .................................................................................................................................... vii List of figures ................................................................................................................................... vii 1.Introduction................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Modality, epistemicity and evidentiality ...................................................................................... 4 2.1. The rise of modality at the expense of mood ....................................................................... 5 2.2. Modality as a grammatical concept ...................................................................................... 5 2.3. Modality as a semantic concept ............................................................................................ 6 2.4. Modality as a pragmatic concept .......................................................................................... 9 2.5. The concept of evidentiality .................................................................................................. 9 2.6. The relationship between evidentiality and epistemic modality ........................................ 10 2.7. Type and source of evidence ............................................................................................... 12 3. Grammar, syntax, semantic meaning and pragmatic function of seem and appear as presented in the literature .............................................................................................................................. 15 3.1. The grammar of seem and appear ...................................................................................... 15 3.2. Syntactic structure .............................................................................................................. 16 3.3 Syntactic function ................................................................................................................. 19 3.4. Semantic meaning ............................................................................................................... 21 3.5. Pragmatic functions ............................................................................................................. 23 3.6. The relationship between form, syntax, meaning and function ......................................... 28 3.7. Previous studies of seem and appear ................................................................................. 28 3.8. Focus of the present study .................................................................................................. 29 4. Method and Material ................................................................................................................. 30 4.1. Equivalence and correspondence ....................................................................................... 30 4.2. Semantic Mirrors ................................................................................................................. 31 4.3. Corpus linguistics, contrastive analysis and translation correspondences ......................... 35 4.4. About the chosen corpus .................................................................................................... 40 4.5. The data set ......................................................................................................................... 40 5. Analysis. ...................................................................................................................................... 45 5.1. The senses of seem .............................................................................................................. 45 5.2. The senses of appear ........................................................................................................... 49 5.3. Grammatical form and syntactic structures of seem and appear and their correspondences ........................................................................................................................ 53 5.4. Evidential and epistemic meaning ...................................................................................... 60 5.5. Pragmatic functions of seem and appear ............................................................................ 65 5.6. The relationship between syntactic form, evidentiality and epistemic modality and function ...................................................................................................................................... 72 6. Discussion and conclusion .......................................................................................................... 75 6.1. Seem and appear differ with respect to grammar and syntax ............................................ 75 6.2. Seem and appear have semantic meanings that are unique to them. ............................... 75 6.3. Seem and appear differ with respect to evidentiality and epistemic modality .................. 77 6.4. Seem and appear have different pragmatic functions that reflect their epistemicity and evidentiality ................................................................................................................................ 80 6.5. Form, meaning and function .............................................................................................. 81 6.6. Seem and appear are becoming like the modal auxiliaries ................................................. 81 6.7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 82 7. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 84 8. References .................................................................................................................................. 86 Online sources ............................................................................................................................ 90 Primary data ............................................................................................................................... 90 List of tables Table 1. The Norwegian correspondences of seem and appear with a to-infinitive clause or a that-clause………………………………………………………………………………………………….42 Table 2. Congruent, non-congruent and zero correspondences of appear and seem, raw numbers and percentages in relation to the total number…………………..…………..53 Table 3. Type and source of evidence in sentences with appear and seem, raw frequencies and percentages………………………………………………………………………………………………..61 Table 4. Distribution of sense-groups of seem and appear, raw frequencies and percentages……………………………………………………………………………………………………….64 Table 5. Pragmatic functions of appear and seem, raw frequencies and percentages…..…66 Table 6. Syntactic structures with seem and appear, source of evidence and pragmatic function, raw frequencies……………………………………………….…………………………………72 List of figures Figure 1. Evidential hierarchy after Willett (1988), based on adaptation by Faller (Brugman, 2015)……………………………………………………………………………………………….13 Figure. 2 First t-image of Norwegian tak………………………………………………………………..………..32 Figure 3. The inverse t-image of Norwegian tak…………………………………………………………….…32 Figure 4. Second t-image of Norwegian tak……………………………………………………………..………33 Figure 5. Restricted second t-image of Norwegian tak…………………………………………………….34 Figure 6. Sense groups of Norwegian tak………………………………………………………………………..34
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Representing-Time-An-Essay-On-Temporality-As
    Representing Time To commemorate the centenary of J. E. McTaggart’s ‘The unreality of time’ (1908) Representing Time: An Essay on Temporality as Modality K. M. JASZCZOLT 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With oYces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York # K. M. Jaszczolt 2009 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book
    [Show full text]
  • Epistemic Modality and Evidentiality in Gitksan at the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface By
    Epistemic Modality and Evidentiality in Gitksan at the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface by Tyler Roy Gösta Peterson B.Mus., University of British Columbia, 1999 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Linguistics) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April, 2010 c Tyler Roy Gösta Peterson 2010 Abstract The aim of this dissertation is to provide an empirically driven, theoretically informed investigation of how speakers of Gitksan, a Tsimshianic language spoken in the northwest coast of Canada, express knowledge about the world around them. There are three main goals that motivate this investigation, summarized below: (1) (i.) To provide the first detailed description of the evidential and modal system in Gitksan. (ii.) To provide a formal semantic and pragmatic account of this system that adequately explains the meanings of the modals and evidentials, as well as how they are used in discourse. (iii.) To identify and examine the specific properties the Gitksan evidential/modal system brings to bear on current theories of semantics and pragmatics, as well as the consequences this analysis has on the study of modality and evidentiality cross-linguistically. In addition to documenting the evidential and modal meanings in Gitksan, I test and work through a variety of theoretical tools from the literature designed to investigate evidentiality and modality in a language. This begins by determining what level of mean- ing the individual evidentials in Gitksan operate on. The current state of research into the connection between evidentiality and epistemic modality has identified two different types of evidentials defined by the level of meaning they operate on: propositional and illocutionary evidentials.
    [Show full text]
  • Verbs in Relation to Verb Complementation 11-69
    1168 Complementation of verbs and adjectives Verbs in relation to verb complementation 11-69 They may be either copular (clause pattern SVC), or complex transitive verbs, or monotransitive verbs with a noun phrase object), we can give only (clause pattern SVOC): a sample of common verbs. In any case, it should be borne in mind that the list of verbs conforming to a given pattern is difficult to specífy exactly: there SVC: break even, plead guilty, Iie 101V are many differences between one variety of English and another in respect SVOC: cut N short, work N loose, rub N dry of individual verbs, and many cases of marginal acceptability. Sometimes the idiom contains additional elements, such as an infinitive (play hard to gel) or a preposition (ride roughshod over ...). Note The term 'valency' (or 'valencc') is sometimes used, instead of complementation, ror the way in (The 'N' aboye indicates a direct object in the case oftransitive examples.) which a verb determines the kinds and number of elements that can accompany it in the clause. Valency, however, incIudes the subject 01' the clause, which is excluded (unless extraposed) from (b) VERB-VERB COMBINATIONS complementation. In these idiomatic constructions (ef 3.49-51, 16.52), the second verb is nonfinite, and may be either an infinitive: Verbs in intransitive function 16.19 Where no eomplementation oecurs, the verb is said to have an INTRANSITIVE make do with, make (N) do, let (N) go, let (N) be use. Three types of verb may be mentioned in this category: or a participle, with or without a following preposition: (l) 'PURE' INTRANSITIVE VERas, which do not take an object at aH (or at put paid to, get rid oJ, have done with least do so only very rarely): leave N standing, send N paeking, knock N fiying, get going John has arrived.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Groningen Expressions of Epistemic Modality in Mainland
    University of Groningen Expressions of epistemic modality in Mainland Scandinavian Beijering, Karin IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2012 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Beijering, K. (2012). Expressions of epistemic modality in Mainland Scandinavian Groningen: s.n. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 11-02-2018 Expressions of epistemic modality in Mainland Scandinavian A study into the lexicalization-grammaticalization-pragmaticalization interface KARIN BEIJERING The research reported on in this thesis has been carried out under the auspices of the Netherlands National Graduate School of Linguistics (LOT – Landelijke Onderzoekschool Taalwetenschap) and the Center for Language and Cognition Groningen (CLCG) of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Groningen. Publication of this dissertation was financially supported by the University of Groningen.
    [Show full text]
  • English Grammar
    This file is to be used only for a purpose specified by Palgrave Macmillan, such as checking proofs, preparing an index, reviewing, endorsing or planning coursework/other institutional needs. You may store and print the file and share it with others helping you with the specified purpose, but under no circumstances may the file be distributed or otherwise made accessible to any other third parties without the express prior permission of Palgrave Macmillan. Please contact [email protected] if you have any queries regarding use of the file. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION English Grammar 9781137507396_01_prexiv_1pp.indd 1 25/07/16 11:43 AM NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION 9781137507396_01_prexiv_1pp.indd 2 25/07/16 11:43 AM NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION English Grammar An Introduction Third edition PETER COLLINS AND CARMELLA HOLLO 9781137507396_01_prexiv_1pp.indd 3 25/07/16 11:43 AM NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION © Peter Collins and Carmella Hollo 2000, 2009, 2017 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized 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 work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
    [Show full text]
  • Modality and the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface
    Modality and the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface Anna Papafragou Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. University College London 1998 (LONDON) To my family with love and gratitude Abstract This thesis explores certain aspects of the structure of lexical semantics and its interaction with pragmatic processes of utterance comprehension, using as a case-study a sample of the English modal verbs. Contrary to previous polysemy-based accounts, I propose and defend a unitary semantic account of the English modals, and I give a relevance-theoretic explanation of the construction of their admissible (mainly, root and epistemic) contextual interpretations. Departing from previous accounts of modality, I propose a link between epistemic modality and metarepresentation, and treat the emergence of epistemic modal markers as a result of the development of the human theory of mind. In support of my central contention that the English modals are semantically univocal, I reanalyse a range of arguments employed by previous polysemy-based approaches. These arguments involve the distributional properties of the modals, their relationship to truth-conditional content, the status of so-called speech-act modality, and the historical development of epistemic meanings: it turns out that none of these domains can offer reasons to abandon the univocal semantic analysis of the English modals. Furthermore, I argue that the priority of root over epistemic meanings in language acquisition is predicted by the link between epistemic modality and metarepresentation. Finally, data from a cognitive disorder (autism) are considered in the light of the metarepresentation hypothesis about epistemic modality. The discussion of modality has a number of implications for the concept of polysemy.
    [Show full text]
  • Angleški Glagol 1
    FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA Angleški glagol 1 Oddelek za anglistiko 2009/2010 Zapiski s predavanj prof. dr. Ilca in izpiski iz predpisane študijske literature. The VERB Typically refers to actions, to processes (events that have a span of time between the initial and final state), states. Morphological characteristics of verbs: LEXICAL/ROOT MORPHEME – carries the lexical meaning of the verb walk,.. DERIVATIONAL MORPHEME – used to derive words from other parts of speech -fy, -en, -ise/-ize, .. INFLECTIONAL MORPHEME – carries the grammatical meaning -ed, -ing, -s,.. VERBAL PHRASE Words are joined into phrases. Structure of a phrase is always the same: premodifiers (0-3) headword postmodifiers (0-2) auxiliary verbs: lexical verb adverbial, prepositional tense particles voice aspect modality The verbal phrase (VP) normally follows the nominal phrase functioning as subject in a sentence. There are two kinds of verbal phrases: SIMPLE VERBAL PHRASE consists only of one verb, which is the headword. H H ׀ ׀ Birds fly. COMPLEX VERBAL PHRASE consists of a lexical verb as headword which is preceded by a modal auxiliary and/or by one or more primary auxiliaries as premodifiers (PreM) and/or followed by one or more postmodifiers (PostM) H PreM H ׀ ׀ ׀ Birds can fly. VP She |must have given up| smoking. PreM1 PreM2 headword (H) PostM (modality) (tense) (adverbial particle) 2 IRREGULAR VERBS Use an irregular form in the function of the past tense and/or past participle. go + [+past] = went SUPPLETION: PARTIAL Resemblance between the original and the new form build – built COMPLETE No resemblance between the original and the new form be –was SPELLING CHANGES Basic form + morphemes -s/-ed/-ing spelling change 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Modality and Factivity: One Perspective on the Meaning of the English Modal Auxiliaries
    MODALITY AND FACTIVITY: ONE PERSPECTIVE ON THE MEANING OF THE ENGLISH MODAL AUXILIARIES by NICOLA M,BREWER Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of PhD The University of Leeds Department of Linguistics and Phonetics December 1987 ii ABSTRACT This study concentrates on modality as expressed by the set of modal auxiliaries and seeks to establish that these verbs share semantic as well as syntactic properties by identifying a single core meaning which they share. The relationship between modality and factivity is examined with the aim of gaining an insight into the former, more complex concept. When viewed from this perspective, the defining characteristic of all the modal auxiliary verbs in almost all of their uses is found to be nonfactivity. The meanings expressed by this set of verbs are classified according to a framework derived from modal logic consisting of three basic types of modality each of which relates to a different set of laws or principles; the relative factivity associated with the modal auxiliaries is seen to vary with the nature of modality as defined and classified by this framework. Within each of the three types of modality, a semantic scale is identified and modality is described as a gradable concept for which scalar analysis is appropriate, both within and beyond these three scales. Relative factivity is also shown to vary according to the degree of modality expressed by each of the modal verbs. The nature and degree of modality expressed interact with features of the linguistic (and pragmatic) context to determine the particular factive or a contrafactive interpretation conveyed by a given modal auxiliary token.
    [Show full text]
  • Department of English and American Studies English
    Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Tatiana Bareková English Verbs Followed by an –ing Form and an Infinitive Bachelor's Diploma Thesis Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Naděžda Kudrnáčová, CSc. 2014 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Tatiana Bareková I would like to thank doc. PhDr. Naděžda Kudrnáčová, CSc. for her patient guidance. I would also like to thank my parents and friends for their encouragement. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 5 2. Overview of the Literature .................................................................................... 7 2.1 Catenative Verbs ................................................................................................ 7 2.2 To-infinitive or -ing Form ................................................................................ 14 2.2.1 No Change of meaning ......................................................................... 16 2.2.2 Little change of meaning ..................................................................... 16 2.2.3 Fundamental change of meaning ....................................................... 17 2.3 Catenative Classes ........................................................................................... 17 2.3.1 Begin, Start ...........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Existential There and Catenative Concord. Evidence from the British National Corpus
    Existential there and catenative concord. Evidence from the British National Corpus Arne Olofsson, University of Gothenburg 1. Introductory1 1.1 Existential sentences Like many other languages, English has a presentative construction that mainly serves to create end-focus. A subject that contains new information (normally expressed by an indefinite noun phrase) is given a position after the verb and the typical subject slot is filled by there.2 The result is, for instance, There is a teacher in the classroom in preference to A teacher is in the classroom. Syntactically, there behaves like a subject, for instance occurring in postverbal position in a direct question (Is there ...?). 1.2 Subject–verb concord There is general agreement that in the existential construction, the predicate verb (prototypically a form of be) shows concord with the notional (postponed) subject, at least in formal Standard English: (1) There is a book on the table (2) There are some books on the table 1 A similar analysis based on CobuildDirect and limited to seem is to be found in Olofsson (2007). For an analysis of the concord patterns of the basic there + be construction in contemporary spoken British English, see Martinez Insua & Palacios Martinez (2003) and Breivik & Martinez-Insua (2008). Spoken Canadian English has been similarly analysed by Meechan & Foley (1994). 2 Often in the past, this there has been regarded as an empty place-holder. However, as noted by e.g. Breivik & Martinez-Insua (2008:356) it can also be described as a presentative signal ―to tell the addressees that they must be prepared to direct their attention towards an item of new information.‖ 30 Arne Olofsson In less formal English, many speakers use and accept the singular verb, but only if it is contracted with there: There’s some books on the table.
    [Show full text]
  • Linguistic Competence of Five and Six Year Olds: Analysis
    LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE OF FIVE AND SIX YEAR OLDS: ANALYSIS OF NARRATIVE SAMPLES OF RUSSIAN, ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN- ENGLISH BILINGUAL SPEAKERS by ELLINA D. CHERNOBILSKY A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School - New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate program in Education written under the direction of Lorraine McCune and approved by ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May 2009 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Linguistic competence of five and six year olds: analysis of narrative samples of Russian, English and Russian-English bilingual speakers by ELLINA D. CHERNOBILSKY Dissertation director Lorraine McCune To what extent do children developing bilingually show similar grammatical development to their monolingual peers? This study considers overall grammatical development in Russian and English for Russian and English monolingual children and bilingual children at entry to school. The Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn) was revised and piloted in preparation for this cross- linguistic project. The study evaluates the utility of the revised IPSyn and its potential for studying larger samples of children. The main question of the study is whether bilingual speakers, exposed to both languages from an early age, are as competent users of their two languages as are their peers who speak a single language at the time they are entering school. The results indicated that statistically, there was no difference between the monolingual and bilingual speakers in their common language as measured by the IPSyn proportionate scores. When examining various categories in the IPSyn measure, the comparison results indicated that in general, bilingual children, as a group, perform as well, and in some categories, better that the monolingual ii children in either language.
    [Show full text]
  • Is There a Correlation Between Form and Function? a Syntactic and Functional Investigation of the Introductory It Pattern in Student Writing1
    ICAME Journal, Volume 42, 2018, DOI: 10.1515/icame-2018-0003 Is there a correlation between form and function? A syntactic and functional investigation of the introductory it pattern in student writing1 Tove Larsson, Uppsala University and Université catholique de Louvain2 Abstract The introductory it pattern, as in ‘It is important to note that information was added’, is a tool used by academic writers for a range of different rhetorical and information-structural purposes. It is thus an important pattern for students to learn. Since previous research on student writing has indicated that there seems to be a correlation between form and function of the pattern, the present study sets out to investigate this more systematically in non-native-speaker and native- speaker student writing in two disciplines (linguistics and literature). In doing so, the study adds to and extends previous research looking into factors such as NS status and discipline. It uses data from three corpora: ALEC, BAWE and MICUSP. The results show that there is indeed a correlation between form and function, as the most common syntactic types of the pattern each display a pre- ferred function and vice versa. While very few differences across NS status were found, there were certain discipline-specific disparities. The findings, which could be useful for teaching students about the use of the introductory it pattern, also have implications for the automatized functional tagging of parsed cor- pora. 1 Introduction It is often said that scholars construct an academic identity through their writing, using both conventional and non-conventional forms of expression to project different voices (Thompson 2009: 53).
    [Show full text]