published_or_final_version / English Studies / Master / Master of Arts

The diploma thesis analyses written academic text. Academic prose is frequently characterized as a highly complex style which is structurally elaborated, contains a large number of subordinate clauses and expresses meaning relations explicitly. However, new research (e.g. Biber & Gray, 2010) shows that complexity of academic writing occurs on the level of noun phrases which often contain extensive premodification and/or postmodification. The thesis studies noun phrase structure in research articles from two disciplines: medicine and sociology. Two articles from each discipline were selected, each yielding 50 complex noun phrases. These 200 examples were analysed with respect to their modification, its form and levels of embedding. The results were compared for both disciplines. The aim of the thesis was to describe complex noun phrase structure and identify its relation to the type of academic discipline. Key words: noun phrase, modification, academic text, sociology, medicine

A presente dissertação realiza uma investigação semântica do sintagma nominal (NP) do caboverdiano, língua falada no arquipélago de Cabo Verde, localizado na costa ocidental africana. As análises concentram-se na variedade de Santiago, ilha em que está localizada a capital do país, a cidade de Praia. Os nomes no caboverdiano, em geral, não são acompanhados de determinante e podem ser interpretados tanto como definidos quanto indefinidos. A utilização de un / uns está, em geral, associada a introdução de novos referentes, seu uso, contudo, não é frequente. Existe, ainda, a partícula kel/kes que parece veicular, entre outras coisas, definitude. Tal emprego, todavia, tampouco se dá frequentemente. O estatuto de kel, em caboverdiano, causa algumas divergências entre os pesquisadores da língua. Alguns autores advogam que ele desempenha, por vezes, o papel de artigo definido (ver, entre outros, (Alexandre and Soares, 2004), (Baptista, 2007), (Quint, 2000)). Discutiremos alguns dos trabalhos que versam sobre o sintagma nominal em caboverdiano, apresentando argumentos que corroboram ou não essa hipótese. A bem da verdade, a maioria das descrições sobre o caboverdiano não manifesta acordo quanto à existência ou não de artigo definido nessa língua. Os que afirmam sua existência parecem, muitas vezes, apresentar análises da língua centradas na descrição e análise do português, principalmente do português europeu. Diante dessa perspectiva, diversos fenômenos idiossincráticos do caboverdiano podem passar despercebidos, como no caso de uma possível contribuição ilocucional do operador uma, outro modificador do sintagma nominal. Este trabalho procura realizar uma análise do caboverdiano centrada nos fatos da própria língua, investigando as diferentes estratégias de interpretação dos nomes, bem como o papel dos elementos que compõem o sintagma nominal. / This dissertation conducts an investigation of the semantic of the noun phrase (NP) Cape Verdean language, spoken in the Cape Verde, archipelago located on the West African coast. The analysis focuses on the Santiago variety. The nouns in the Cape Verdean are generally determinerless and can be interpreted both as definite and indefinite. The introduction of new referents is generally associated with the use of un/uns, its use however is not frequent. There are also the particle kel/kes it seems vehicle, among other things, definiteness. Such employement, however, nor is often gives. The status of kel in Cape Verdean, cause some disagreement among of the language researchers. Some scholars advocate that kel may assume, sometimes, the role of a definite article (see among others (Alexandre and Soares, 2004), (Baptista, 2007), (Quint, 2000)). I will discuss several works which deal with noun phrase in Cape Verdean, revealing arguments which confirm whether or not this hypothesis. In fact, most of the Cape Verdean descriptions not show agreement on the definite article presence or absence in that language. Those who claim its existence often seem to present analysis of the Cape Verdean centered on the description and analysis of the Portuguese, especially European Portuguese. With that prospect, severals idiosyncratic phenomena of the Cape Verde may go unnotice, as in the case of a possible illocutionary contribution of the uma operator, another noun phrase modifier. This work attempt examine of the an Cape Verdean analyse focused on the language facts theirselves, investigating different strategies for nouns interpretation, as well as the elements role on the noun phrase.

[pt] Possibilidade de contribuição de uma análise contrastiva para o estabelecimento de parâmetros confiáveis e compatíveis entre línguas. O essencial e o central versus o periférico Nessa dissertação procura-se mostrar que por detrás de uma forma subjaz sempre algo mais profundo e explicitado em si mesmo e que a diversidade aparente será, muitas vezes, ilusória e de natureza epifenomenal, ou seja, essa diversidade se oriunda da interação de princípios fixos sob condições ligeiramente variantes. Através de uma amostra propõe-se mostrar o comportamento e a coocorrência de especificadores demonstrativos, possessivos e atributivos nas duas línguas, português e árabe, bem como o papel desempenhado pelo determinante artigo definido na formação de uma construção específica na língua árabe, o IDaafa, que dispensa a preposição como elemento de ligação mas traz o uso compulsório do determinante respeitadas restrições que podem ocorrer graças aos elementos constitutivos dentro do sintagma. / [en] A contrastive analysis may contribute for the establishment of reliable and compatible parameters among languages. Core always surpasses periphery and in the reality of languages one should not attain oneself to a first appearance. In our dissertation we have tried to show that behind one specific form there lies something much deeper and explicited in itself and that an apparent diversity is most of times illusory and of epiphenomenal nature, that is, this diversity stems from the interaction of fixed principles under slightly varying conditions. By means of a sample we propose to present the behavior and the coocurrence of demonstrative, possessive and attributive specifiers in the two languages, Portuguese and Arabic, as well as the role played by the determiner, the definite article, in the formation of a specific structure in the Arabic language named the IDaafa which needs no linking element such as the preposition but demands the compulsory use of the determiner, restrictions being respected thanks to the constitutive elements enrolled within the NP.

A presente dissertação realiza uma investigação semântica do sintagma nominal (NP) do caboverdiano, língua falada no arquipélago de Cabo Verde, localizado na costa ocidental africana. As análises concentram-se na variedade de Santiago, ilha em que está localizada a capital do país, a cidade de Praia. Os nomes no caboverdiano, em geral, não são acompanhados de determinante e podem ser interpretados tanto como definidos quanto indefinidos. A utilização de un / uns está, em geral, associada a introdução de novos referentes, seu uso, contudo, não é frequente. Existe, ainda, a partícula kel/kes que parece veicular, entre outras coisas, definitude. Tal emprego, todavia, tampouco se dá frequentemente. O estatuto de kel, em caboverdiano, causa algumas divergências entre os pesquisadores da língua. Alguns autores advogam que ele desempenha, por vezes, o papel de artigo definido (ver, entre outros, (Alexandre and Soares, 2004), (Baptista, 2007), (Quint, 2000)). Discutiremos alguns dos trabalhos que versam sobre o sintagma nominal em caboverdiano, apresentando argumentos que corroboram ou não essa hipótese. A bem da verdade, a maioria das descrições sobre o caboverdiano não manifesta acordo quanto à existência ou não de artigo definido nessa língua. Os que afirmam sua existência parecem, muitas vezes, apresentar análises da língua centradas na descrição e análise do português, principalmente do português europeu. Diante dessa perspectiva, diversos fenômenos idiossincráticos do caboverdiano podem passar despercebidos, como no caso de uma possível contribuição ilocucional do operador uma, outro modificador do sintagma nominal. Este trabalho procura realizar uma análise do caboverdiano centrada nos fatos da própria língua, investigando as diferentes estratégias de interpretação dos nomes, bem como o papel dos elementos que compõem o sintagma nominal. / This dissertation conducts an investigation of the semantic of the noun phrase (NP) Cape Verdean language, spoken in the Cape Verde, archipelago located on the West African coast. The analysis focuses on the Santiago variety. The nouns in the Cape Verdean are generally determinerless and can be interpreted both as definite and indefinite. The introduction of new referents is generally associated with the use of un/uns, its use however is not frequent. There are also the particle kel/kes it seems vehicle, among other things, definiteness. Such employement, however, nor is often gives. The status of kel in Cape Verdean, cause some disagreement among of the language researchers. Some scholars advocate that kel may assume, sometimes, the role of a definite article (see among others (Alexandre and Soares, 2004), (Baptista, 2007), (Quint, 2000)). I will discuss several works which deal with noun phrase in Cape Verdean, revealing arguments which confirm whether or not this hypothesis. In fact, most of the Cape Verdean descriptions not show agreement on the definite article presence or absence in that language. Those who claim its existence often seem to present analysis of the Cape Verdean centered on the description and analysis of the Portuguese, especially European Portuguese. With that prospect, severals idiosyncratic phenomena of the Cape Verde may go unnotice, as in the case of a possible illocutionary contribution of the uma operator, another noun phrase modifier. This work attempt examine of the an Cape Verdean analyse focused on the language facts theirselves, investigating different strategies for nouns interpretation, as well as the elements role on the noun phrase.

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This paper is a study of the noun phrase construction in L2 learner language and the base for the study are the tools for measuring syntactic maturity presented by Kellog W. Hunt (1966). Hunt and other scholars have used T-units, the smallest terminable unit in language, to analyze L2 learner language. This study however, analyzes the construction of the noun phrase instead of T-units. Although the focus differs there are many similarities between the method used in this study and in those analyzing T-units. This means that the study tries to create indexes which we can use as tools for measuring syntactic maturity and complexity among L2 learners, by measuring consolidation and postmodification. The outcome of the study shows that it is possible to measure consolidation of the noun phrase and that this figure may very well function as a tool for measuring language development. Furthermore this paper investigates opportunities for teachers to teach syntax and concludes that there are ways of improving L2 teaching by utilizing knowledge about L2 learner syntax.

The first part of this thesis addresses the following questions: where in the syntactic tree, and at what representational level is an NP Case-checked. To this end, it presents converging data from French, Welsh and Irish, which suggest (i) that Case-checking may be accomplished under a variety of functional projections (subject to parametric variation); and (ii) that Case positions are--at least partially--independent of the A/A$ sp prime$-distinction. It furthermore presents evidence from Irish and Welsh--VSO languages in which NPs typically raise to their Case position only at LF--that NPs are, under certain conditions, Case-checked at S-structure. / Chapter 2 investigates word order and cliticisation in Standard French and Quebec French interrogatives and proposes a typology of interrogatives. Chapter 3 and 4 account for complementizer variation, pre-verbal particles and agreement patterns in Welsh and Irish under a Case-theoretic approach. / The second part of this thesis concerns the conditions on the availability of structural accusative Case. A theory of structural Case is proposed according to which accusativity is a configurational rather than a lexical property--i.e., resulting from syntactic geometry and not from lexical feature specifications on verbs. To this end, a comparison between the syntactic mapping of stative and perfective predicates in Irish and English is undertaken.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1982. / Bibliography: leaves 156-160. / Microfiche. / ix, 160 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

This study is about the structure of the noun phrases used with with signalling nouns, which are abstract nouns that are hard to understand without a context. The inspiration for the study comes from work by John Flowerdew. The aim is to investigate in what type of noun phrases (NP) the signalling nouns are used by L2 English students and if the structures of these NPs tell us something about the meaning of the nouns. The material of the study is from the pioneering learner corpus the International Corpus of Learner’s English (ICLE). In general, it was found that the chosen signalling nouns thing, argument, possibility, chapter, kind and fact, are frequently used in complex NPs. There were some differences in the distribution of nouns, with thing, kind and fact having rather high frequencies in comparison to the other nouns. For this reason, samples of these nouns were selected for the analysis. The findings indicate that these signalling nouns rarely appear alone but are most often used in complex NPs. Furthermore, the results also show that a large proportion of these nouns is used in fixed phrases.