96 research outputs found
The modal particle ma ć: theoretical frames, analysis and interpretive perspectives
This article sets out to provide a semantic and pragmatic account of the modal particle ma ć, endeavouring to put into light new aspects in its function which, at present, remain widely unexplored in the literature. It presents an analysis of the particle ma by interrogating a written and a spoken corpus, showing how the semantic and the pragmatic levels are tightly interweaved in the functioning of ma: the results supported my hypothesis that the particle is plausibly a marker of interpersonal evidentiality (IE), a category set up by Tantucci (2013), used to signal a socially acknowledged piece of information, playing a fundamental role in the expression of politeness by safeguarding the interlocutorsâ face; consequently, ma is always used with information that has an active or accessible status in the interlocutorsâ mind and that is always pragmatically salient, independently of its position (at the end or inside the sentence), marking a Topic or a Focus. The particle performs pragmatic functions close to the ones of discourse markers since it increases the relevance of the marked information to the context, therefore also playing a contributing role in the coherence of discourse
Non-Final Focus Accents in The Speech of Advanced Italian Learners of German
This study investigates the prosodic marking of focus in non-native German. Ten proficient
learners of German with Italian L1 were recorded reading aloud 40 sentences containing
mostly non-final focused constituents embedded in an adequate question context. Non-final
focus accents in L2 German are difficult for Italian learners to produce, especially in broad
focus contexts with de-accentuation of final verb forms (cf. Paschke/Vogt, in press), because
their native language has a strong positional requirement of rightmostness. Given that both
German and Italian use pitch accents for information structuring, i. e. to highlight important
information, a correct placement of focus accents might, however, be favoured by narrow
focus contexts in which prosodic prominence has to be assigned to one specific constituent. In
addition to this main hypothesis, the study investigated whether additional clues (such as prosodic
highlighting of the relevant constituent in the L2 question, a corresponding syntactic
and prosodic structure between L1 and L2) might increase the success rate. The data shows
that advanced Italian speakers of German L2 correctly realize non-final focus accents in more
than half of the narrow focus contexts, but that their success rate is not significantly higher
than in the broad focus condition and is not affected by the additional clues provided
The modal particle ma ć: theoretical frames, analysis and interpretive perspectives
This article sets out to provide a semantic and pragmatic account of the modal particle ma ć, endeavouring to put into light new aspects in its function which, at present, remain widely unexplored in the literature. It presents an analysis of the particle ma by interrogating a written and a spoken corpus, showing how the semantic and the pragmatic levels are tightly interweaved in the functioning of ma: the results supported my hypothesis that the particle is plausibly a marker of interpersonal evidentiality (IE), a category set up by Tantucci (2013), used to signal a socially acknowledged piece of information, playing a fundamental role in the expression of politeness by safeguarding the interlocutorsâ face; consequently, ma is always used with information that has an active or accessible status in the interlocutorsâ mind and that is always pragmatically salient, independently of its position (at the end or inside the sentence), marking a Topic or a Focus. The particle performs pragmatic functions close to the ones of discourse markers since it increases the relevance of the marked information to the context, therefore also playing a contributing role in the coherence of discourse
Graph Theory and Universal Grammar
Tese arquivada ao abrigo da Portaria nÂș 227/2017 de 25 de Julho-Registo de Grau EstrangeiroIn the last few years, Noam Chomsky (1994; 1995; 2000; 2001) has gone quite far in
the direction of simplifying syntax, including eliminating X-bar theory and the levels
of D-structure and S-structure entirely, as well as reducing movement rules to a
combination of the more primitive operations of Copy and Merge. What remain in
the Minimalist Program are the operations Merge and Agree and the levels of LF
(Logical Form) and PF (Phonological form).
My doctoral thesis attempts to offer an economical theory of syntactic structure
from a graph-theoretic point of view (cf. Diestel, 2005), with special emphases on the
elimination of category and projection labels and the Inclusiveness Condition
(Chomsky 1994). The major influences for the development of such a theory have
been Chris Collinsâ (2002) seminal paper âEliminating labelsâ, John Bowers (2001)
unpublished manuscript âSyntactic Relationsâ and the Cartographic Paradigm (see
Belletti, Cinque and Rizziâs volumes on OUP for a starting point regarding this
paradigm).
A syntactic structure will be regarded here as a graph consisting of the set of
lexical items, the set of relations among them and nothing more
Proceedings of the VIIth GSCP International Conference
The 7th International Conference of the Gruppo di Studi sulla Comunicazione Parlata, dedicated to the memory of Claire Blanche-Benveniste, chose as its main theme Speech and Corpora. The wide international origin of the 235 authors from 21 countries and 95 institutions led to papers on many different languages. The 89 papers of this volume reflect the themes of the conference: spoken corpora compilation and annotation, with the technological connected fields; the relation between prosody and pragmatics; speech pathologies; and different papers on phonetics, speech and linguistic analysis, pragmatics and sociolinguistics. Many papers are also dedicated to speech and second language studies. The online publication with FUP allows direct access to sound and video linked to papers (when downloaded)
Innovation and Transition in Law: Experiences and Theoretical Settings
This book features a discussion on the modernisation of law and legal change, focusing on the key concepts of "innovation" and "transition". These concepts both appear to be relevant and poorly defined in contemporary legal science. A critical reflection on the heuristic value of these categories seems appropriate, particularly considering their dyadic value. While innovation is increasingly appearing in the present day as being the category in which one looks at the modernisation of law, the concept of transition also seems to be the privileged place of occurrence for such dynamics. This group of Italian and Brazilian scholars contributing to this volume intends to investigate such problems through an interdisciplinary prism. It includes points of view both internal to legal studies - such as the history of law, theory of law, constitutional law, private law and commercial law - and external, such as political philosophy and history of justice and political institutions
English for science and technology: a computer corpus-based analysis of English science and technology texts for application in higher education
Doutoramento em LinguĂsticaThis thesis presents two analyses: first the analysis of computer
corpora from undergraduate textbooks to isolate the (American) English
language of science and technology they present; secondly an analysis of
the English language competence of undergraduates starting their
university studies in science and technology. These two analyses are
contrasted in order to apply the results to the design of an English
language syllabus for first year undergraduates.
A frequency and range word list was produced using a large
baseline corpus to contrast with the main corpora taken from physics
and chemistry textbooks on the studentsâ bibliographies as a resource for
syllabus design. Secondly, four corpora, two main and two sub-corpora
produced from the physics and chemistry textbooks on the bibliographies
of the undergraduates were analysed using Biberâs (1988) algorithms and
functions for variation across speech and writing.
The student intake was tested over five years and the results of
those tests analysed. It was found that there was considerable variation
in the studentsâ levels of language competence. However, there was a
close correlation between the studentsâ competence and the number of
years they had studied English in secondary school. Nevertheless there
were students with extremely advanced competence and some with little
or no competence in English amongst the undergraduates.
Comprehension of scientific texts was generally found to correlate with
more advanced competence and more years of study.
The frequency and range word list showed the contexts which are
appropriate for materials to be used with these students and
demonstrated variation from many of the accepted views of the language
of science and technology. The computer corpora analyses varied from
Biberâs academic prose category. The sub-corpora demonstrated greatest
variation which is believed to be as a result of specific cultural and/or
literary material in the analogies used in the textbooks.
The heavy load of cultural background knowledge which the reader
would need in order to work with the textbooks adequately was also
found in the exercises the students were supposed to use for practice on
the topic presented in the chapter. This and the interpretation of visuals
in the textbooks were considered to be two principle factors that needed
to be emphasised in a syllabus for first year undergraduates. However,
given the time constraints on language teaching for science and
technology students, a methodology which would lead to greater student
autonomy is suggested using computer corpus-based studies - data-
viii
driven learning and computer-supported distance communications and
learning.Esta tese apresenta duas anĂĄlises: primeiro uma anĂĄlise de corpora
computadorizados, criados a partir de livros dos estudantes de
licenciaturas, para isolar a linguagem Inglesa (Americana) das ciĂȘncias e
tecnologias que apresentam; segundo uma anĂĄlise dos conhecimentos da
lĂngua Inglesa que estes alunos apresentam ao iniciar os seus estudos
universitĂĄrios em ciĂȘncias e tecnologias. Estas duas anĂĄlises sĂŁo postas
em contraste para se aplicar os resultados obtidos ao desenho de um
programa de lĂngua Inglesa para os alunos do primeiro ano.
Foi criada uma lista com a abrangĂȘncia e a frequĂȘncia das palavras
de um corpus de larga base, para ser contrastada com os principais
corpora compilados dos livros de fĂsica e quĂmica constantes das
bibliografias dos estudantes, como uma fonte para o desenho de
programas. Seguidamente, quatro corpora, dois principais e dois
subordinados, produzidos a partir dos livros de fĂsica e quĂmica referidos
nas bibliografias dos estudantes, foram analisados usando os algoritmos
e funçÔes de Biber (1988) para variaçÔes entre linguagem falada e escrita.
Durante cinco anos, Ă entrada para a Universidade, os estudantes
foram submetidos a testes e os resultados analisados. Constatou-se que
havia variaçÔes considerĂĄveis no nĂvel de conhecimentos da lĂngua por
parte dos estudantes. Contudo, havia uma correlação apertada entre as
competĂȘncias dos estudantes e o nĂșmero de anos que tinham estudado
InglĂȘs nas escolas secundĂĄrias. Todavia, havia estudantes com
competĂȘncias extremamente avançadas e outros com competĂȘncias
reduzidas, ou quase nulas, em InglĂȘs. A compreensĂŁo de textos
cientĂficos estava geralmente correlacionada com os nĂveis mais
avançados de competĂȘncias e maior nĂșmero de anos de estudo.
A lista com a abrangĂȘncia e a frequĂȘncia das palavras mostrou os
contextos apropriados dos materiais a utilizar com estes estudantes e
demonstrou que havia diferenças em relação a muitos dos pontos de
vista aceites em relação Ă linguagem das ciĂȘncias e tecnologias. A anĂĄlise
dos corpora computadorizados varia das categorias da linguagem da
prosa académica de Biber. Os corpora subordinados mostram uma maior
variação, que se julga ser devida a materiais especĂficos, culturais e/ou
literĂĄrio, usados nas analogias dos livros de estudo.
O grande peso dos conhecimentos de fundo de que os estudantes
necessitam para trabalhar adequadamente com os livros de estudo foi,
tambĂ©m, encontrado nos exercĂcios que necessitam de fazer para
praticarem o que estĂĄ referido nos tĂłpicos dos capĂtulos. Isto, juntamente
com a interpretação das imagens dos livros, foram considerados os dois
principais factores a precisarem de ser relevados no programa para o
primeiro ano dos estudantes. Contudo, atendendo às restriçÔes de tempo
x
para o ensino de lĂnguas a estudante de ciĂȘncias e tecnologias, a
metodologia que conduziria a maior autonomia dos alunos serĂĄ baseada
na utilização de corpora computadorizados (data-driven learning) e
aprendizagem Ă distĂąncia assistida por computador
- âŠ