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Fact or fiction? : Studies in honour of Solveig Granath
- 2016
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (refereegranskat)abstract
- This volume collects 14 studies that approach conventional notions of fact and fiction from a wide variety of vantage points. The contributions run the gamut of fields as diverse as language history, syntax, corpus linguistics, applied linguistics, literature, and terminology. Along the way, a few myths are shattered, and new light is shed on some facts and fictions of language. This festschrift is dedicated to Professor Solveig Granath
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| 2. |
- Malinowski, Sebastian, 1986-
(författare)
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"English Philology is just a Bubble" : Unconventional Metaphors in English as a Lingua Franca
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The present thesis investigates unconventional metaphors in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). Empirical approaches in metaphor research have gained prominence, yet methodologies could benefit from more transparent procedural descriptions and efforts to decrease researcher intuition in the data analysis. Unconventional metaphors in ELF have mainly been researched with form-based approaches, while investigations of the conceptual level are rare. The present thesis aims at enhancing objectivity by utilizing a stringent research design in particular in relation to metaphor interpretation, as well as advancing the understanding of unconventional metaphors in ELF by investigating what aspects distinguish unconventional from conventional metaphors. To achieve these aims, a survey was created, with stimuli based on videos and transcripts from the Corpus of Academic Spoken English. One hundred sixty ELF speakers participated in the survey. The responses were analyzed by identifying co-text (verbatim use of expressions from the stimuli), frames (identified through FrameNet, based on lexical units used by respondents), and other interpretations (individual cases of interpretations that are not co-text related and differ from frames) of the expressions given. This methodology purposely utilizes FrameNet to reduce the influence of the researcher’s intuition on the analysis. Findings indicate that unconventional metaphors can be defined by their novelty, aptness and co-text. Novelty distinguishes unconventional from conventional metaphors by using new or unused properties of metaphors. Aptness is an indicator of quality and determines how well designated properties lend themselves to elucidate what speakers want to express. Co-text reflects the socio-cultural context in which the metaphor is embedded, and it can bias interpretations. Taken together, the research presented offers a systematic approach to unconventional metaphors, enabling a definition of unconventionality based on empirical data.
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| 3. |
- Tåqvist, Marie, 1975-
(författare)
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"A wise decision": Pre-modification of discourse-organising nouns in L2 writing
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of second language writing. - : Elsevier. - 1060-3743 .- 1873-1422. ; 41, s. 14-26
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigates an aspect of the use of discourse-organising nouns (DONs), that is, abstract nouns such as decision, fact, problem, and thing, in Swedish advanced students’ academic writing in second language (L2) English. Specifically, the study examines the use of pre-modifiers together with DONs in a corpus of L2 student writing, and in what ways the texts produced by the L2 students resemble or differ from those produced by native-speaker students and expert writers in this respect. A number of significant differences across the writer groups were identified, including variety of usage and the expression of attitude and involvement. In short, the L2 students and, to a lesser extent, the L1 students, were found to use fewer types, and different types, in comparison with the experts, and to use them in different ways, resulting in discourse that can be characterised as imprecise and colloquial. The differences were largest between the L2 student writing and the expert writing, though findings suggest that both student groups can usefully be thought of as learner writers in this respect. The findings reported here contribute to a wider understanding of the characteristics of student writing and students’ academic literacy in a second language.
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| 4. |
- Tåqvist, Marie, 1975-
(författare)
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"Another thing" : Discourse-organising nouns in advanced learner English
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study examines the use of discourse-organising nouns (DONs), such as fact, issue, and problem, in Swedish advanced students’ academic writing in second language (L2) English, and in what ways texts produced by the L2 students resemble or differ from those produced by advanced native-speaker (L1) students and from expert writing in this respect. The study uses corpus linguistic methodology and is set within the frameworks of Halliday’s systemic-functional linguistics and Granger’s Contrastive Interlanguage Analysis. Results show both similarities and differences across the writer groups. Noteworthy similarities include overall frequencies of DONs and their modifiers. Differences include variety of usage and register appropriacy. These differences were often the largest between the L2 student writing and the expert writing, though findings suggest that both student groups can usefully be thought of as learners of academic writing in English in this respect. Specifically, the students’ usage was found to be less varied than the expert writing, and to be characterised by more frequent use of semantically vague nouns (e.g., thing and fact) and nouns marking attitude and involvement (e.g., opinion and question). Other central findings include the tendency, on the part of the students, to use DONs less frequently in syntactic structures prototypical of formal academic prose, and to use them more frequently in structures with the potential to express stance, compared to the expert writing. The study also found more frequent use of evaluative modifiers of DONs in the student writing. In sum, the L2 student writing and, to a lesser extent, the L1 student writing, was found to approximate the corpus of expert writing in many respects, but with less variety, fewer markers of formality, and more frequent occurrences of interpersonal features in their use of DONs. The result is discourse that can in part be characterised as vague and subjective, as well as involved and informal.
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| 5. |
- Tåqvist, Marie, 1975-
(författare)
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Facts and things: Advanced ESL learners' use of discourse-organising nouns
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nordic Journal of English Studies. - : Göteborgs universitet. - 1502-7694 .- 1654-6970. ; 15:4, s. 104-134
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study examines the use of discourse-organising nouns (DONs), such as fact, issue, and thing, in a corpus of Swedish advanced students’ academic writing in second language (L2) English, and in what ways texts produced by the L2 students resemble or differ from those produced by advanced native-speaker students and from expert writing in this respect. The L2 student writing was found to approximate the L1 student writing and the expert writing in several ways, including overall frequency of DON usage, but with less variety and more frequent occurrences of semantically vague types and types expressing attitude and involvement.
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