CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Esta pesquisa objetiva analisar as escolhas lexicais utilizadas pelo surdo para criar e desenvolver condiÃÃes adequadas de interaÃÃo e identificar as estratÃgias de inserÃÃo, reformulaÃÃo e retomada do tÃpico discursivo que ocorrem durante o ato comunicativo realizado em lÃngua de sinais. Para alcanÃar estes objetivos nos amparamos na teoria da AnÃlise da ConversaÃÃo, tomando como base os estudos de Marcuschi (1986) e Kerbrat-Orecchioni (2006). Os conceitos explorados perpassam pelos elementos bÃsicos da conversaÃÃo: a troca de turnos, o tÃpico discursivo e os marcadores conversacionais. Realizamos tambÃm uma explanaÃÃo sobre a lÃngua brasileira de sinais, baseada nos estudos de Quadros (1994) e Coutinho (2000). Nosso percurso metodolÃgico apresenta o tipo de entrevista, os sujeitos, os materiais utilizados e os procedimentos, ou seja, as gravaÃÃes das conversas, a manipulaÃÃo dos vÃdeos, a transcriÃÃo dos dados e a seleÃÃo do corpus para anÃlise. A seguir, a exposiÃÃo dos resultados se inicia com um levantamento quantitativo que demonstra o nÃmero de sinais obtidos em cada nÃvel de escolaridade estudado e a anÃlise das escolhas lexicais demonstrando de que forma essas escolhas podem interferir ou contribuir para a progressÃo tÃpica. A partir disso, pudemos concluir que as escolhas lexicais explicitam o vasto repertÃrio das lÃnguas de sinais e evidenciam que estas nÃo meras reproduÃÃes icÃnicas das lÃnguas orais. AlÃm disso, observamos a dificuldade de manutenÃÃo do tÃpico para que nÃo ocorram quebras significativas, mas tambÃm, comprovamos que esse desenvolvimento tÃpico pode ou nÃo ocorrer e que isso depende da relevÃncia estabelecida pelo tema da interaÃÃo / This research analyzes the lexical choices used by the deaf to create and develop an appropriate level of interaction and identify strategies for integration, reformulation and resumed the topic of discourse that occur during the communicative act performed in sign language. To achieve these goals we hold you in the theory of conversational analysis, based on studies Marcuschi (1986) and Kerbrat-Orecchioni (2006). The concepts explored mediating the basic elements of conversation: the exchange of shifts, the topic of discourse markers and conversational. We also make an explanation of the Brazilian sign language based on the work of Quadros (1994) and Coutinho (2000). Our methodological approach has the type of interview, the subjects, materials used and procedures, or recordings of conversations, the manipulation of video, data transcription and selection of the corpus for analysis. Following the presentation of results begins with a quantitative survey that shows the number of signals obtained at each level of education study and analysis of lexical choices by showing how these choices can interfere with or contribute to the progression topical. From this, we can conclude that the lexical choices explain the vast repertoire of sign languages and show that they are not mere reproductions of the iconic oral languages. Moreover, we observed the difficulty of keeping to the topic that there are no significant breaks, but it is evident that this development topic may or may not occur and that this depends on the relevance established by the theme of interaction

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T18:55:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Keli Rosa.pdf: 5523223 bytes, checksum: f511a3670568eb57374cd64afcea343f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-11 / The research presented here was focused on reflections and analyses involving the translation of lexical ambiguity between two languages of different modality: we refer to the Portuguese Language and Brazilian Sign Language Libras; more specifically our focus is on the word "state." In such a context, as well as in translations of which take part two oral auditory languages, the translation involving Portuguese and Libras requires the translator a judicious and careful analysis of their lexical choices at the moment often he is translating the source text message to the target text. In this task the t ambiguous lexical items that need to be properly understood in the source language for the translation to happen no meaning problems in the target language. Hence the interest in analyzing the strategies used for the translation of "state" can happen without causing any problems of meaning in the target language. For our analysis, we rely on a corpus consisting of 774 sentences, which were subjected to linguistic analysis and translation into Libras glosses by a professional listener in accordance with Decree 5.626/05. The basis for our discussion is in the main concepts underlying the translation process under the assumptions of authors such as Campos(1986), Quadros (2001, 2004), Oustinoff (2011), Rónai (1976) and Jakobson (1975), and authors who studied lexical ambiguity, as Ullmann (1964), Azeredo (2011) and Silva (2006) / A pesquisa ora apresentada focalizou-se em reflexões e análise envolvendo a tradução da ambiguidade lexical entre duas línguas de modalidade diferentes: referimo-nos à Língua Portuguesa e a Língua Brasileira de Sinais Libras; mais especificamente, trataremos aqui da palavra estado . Em tal contexto, assim como ocorre em traduções das quais tomam parte duas línguas orais auditivas, a tradução envolvendo o Português e a Libras exige do tradutor analisar criteriosa e cuidadosamente as suas escolhas lexicais no momento em que está remontando a mensagem do texto fonte para o texto alvo. Nessa tarefa os itens lexicais ambíguos precisam ser devidamente compreendidos pelo tradutor já na língua fonte para que a tradução possa acontecer sem provocar problemas de sentidos na língua alvo. Daí vem o interesse em analisar as estratégias utilizadas para que a tradução de estado possa acontecer sem provocar problemas de sentidos na língua alvo. Para nossas análises, contamos com um corpus formado por 774 sentenças, que foram submetidas a análises linguísticas e à tradução para glosa Libras por um profissional ouvinte capacitado conforme o Decreto 5.626/05. Como base para discussão, pautamo-nos nos principais conceitos que permeiam a tradução sob os pressupostos de autores como Campos (1986), Quadros (2001, 2004), Oustinoff (2011), Rónai (1976) e Jakobson (1975), e os que tratam da ambiguidade lexical, como Ullmann (1964), Azeredo (2011) e Silva (2006)

Considerando a formação do leitor proficiente em aulas de língua portuguesa, com o presente trabalho se propôs a elaborar uma sequência de atividades e aplicá-la em uma turma de 9º ano, do Ensino Fundamental II, em uma escola de rede pública estadual de ensino. Em seguida foi feita uma análise, com o intuito de demonstrar como a escolha lexical transmite a ideologia do autor do texto, assumindo, muitas vezes, um caráter de crítica e denúncia social. Para isso, foi utilizado o conto Negrinha, de Monteiro Lobato, como base do estudo em sala de aula. As práticas de leitura e análise desenvolvidas procuraram esclarecer como algumas palavras e expressões diferenciam as personagens e seus comportamentos, caracterizando-as como dominante e dominada, inseridas num contexto histórico-social. Nesse sentido, buscou-se evidenciar como o autor Monteiro Lobato valeu-se da escolha lexical para demonstrar a permanência da ideologia do regime escravocrata no conto Negrinha, mesmo depois da abolição. Como resultado, pode-se constatar que a compreensão dessas escolhas levam o discente ao desenvolvimento de suas habilidades leitoras e escritoras de maneira crítica e reflexiva, preparando-o para outras leituras, além do contexto escolar. / Considering the proficient reader formation in Portuguese Language classes, this study proposed to develop an activities sequence and applies it in a 9th grade class of Second Elementary Teaching, in a State Public School. After that was made an analysis, with the goal to demonstrate how lexical choice conveys the author´s ideology, taking a several times a critical feature and a social denunciation. To this, Monteiro Lobato´s tale Negrinha, was used as a base to a classroom study. The reading practices and developed analysis sought to clarify how some words and expressions get differentiate the characters and their behavior, characterizing them as the dominant and dominated, including in a historical and social context. In this sense, it sought to show how the author Monteiro Lobato took advantage of lexical choice to demonstrate the permanence of the Negrinha´s tale slavery regime ideology, even after the abolition. As a result, it shows that the comprehension of these choices lead the students to develop their reading and writing skills in a critical and reflective way, preparing themselves for further reading, beyond the scholar context.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar de que maneira o conhecimento/desconhecimento das expressões idiomáticas interfere na compreensão de textos que as utilizam como recurso para construção de sentidos. Tal investigação justifica-se pelo fato de os alunos da etapa inicial do Ensino Fundamental II (especificamente sexto ano) apresentarem dificuldades na leitura de textos que tenham tais expressões, já que essas unidades lexicais apresentam forte carga cultural, demandando que os usuários da língua empreendam conhecimentos lexicais e culturais para compreendê-las. Para o desenvolvimento desta pesquisa, elaboramos uma proposta de intervenção didática e a aplicamos aos alunos de duas turmas de sextos anos de uma escola municipal de cidade de São Paulo. Os resultados de tal intervenção forneceram-nos corpus para analisarmos o nível de conhecimento das expressões idiomáticas que os alunos apresentavam antes da intervenção didática, o percurso de desenvolvimento da competência lexical ao longo da produção das atividades e os resultados do trabalho após a etapa final da intervenção. A partir dos resultados obtidos, observamos que o ensino sistematizado do léxico é uma estratégia que acarreta consequências positivas tanto em relação à competência lexical quanto às competências leitora e discursiva. / The present work aims to analyze in which way idioms knowledge/ignorance interferes in the comprehension of texts that use them as a resource for the construction of meanings. This investigation is justified due to the fact that students of the initial stage of Elementary School II (specifically sixth year) present difficulties when reading texts that have such expressions, since these lexical units present a strong cultural background, demanding that the users of the language undertake lexical and cultural knowledge to understand them. For the development of this research, we elaborated a didactic intervention proposal and applied it to students from two sixth grade classes of a municipal school in the city of São Paulo. The results of such intervention provided us with corpus to analyze the level of knowledge of the idioms acknowledged by the students before the didactic intervention, the development of lexical competence throughout the production of the activities, and the results after the intervention final stage. From the results obtained, we observed that the systematized teaching of the lexicon is a strategy that has positive consequences both in relation to lexical competence and to the reading and discursive competences.

Submitted by isabela.moljf@hotmail.com (isabela.moljf@hotmail.com) on 2017-02-22T11:54:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 cristianopereiradealmeida.pdf: 1470118 bytes, checksum: 522a21d105ff4f78a62d83e79c30931c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-02-22T14:52:08Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 cristianopereiradealmeida.pdf: 1470118 bytes, checksum: 522a21d105ff4f78a62d83e79c30931c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-22T14:52:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 cristianopereiradealmeida.pdf: 1470118 bytes, checksum: 522a21d105ff4f78a62d83e79c30931c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-08-29 / Esta dissertação diz respeito ao processo de identificação dos elementos das categorias lexicais Nome e Adjetivo no Português do Brasil, buscando dar conta de especificidades do PB, como a variação possível de ordem dos elementos constituintes do DP complexo e a ausência de marcas morfofonológicas que distingam adjetivos de nomes A hipótese de trabalho assumida é a de que, em um primeiro momento da aquisição da linguagem, a informação estrutural disponibilizada pela ordem preferencial de ocorrência destes elementos no PB atua como uma pista robusta da qual a criança faz uso. A abordagem teórica adotada busca conciliar um modelo de língua que trate do fenômeno de aquisição (Programa Minimalista: Chomsky, 1995), com modelos de processamento voltados para a aquisição da linguagem (modelos de bootstrapping). Foram desenvolvidas atividades experimentais cujos resultados apontam para a importância da informação estrutural, em um primeiro momento, e da informação semântica em etapas posteriores do processo de identificação de nomes e adjetivos. / This dissertation aims at the identification process of elements in the lexical categories of Name and Adjectives in Brazilian Portuguese trying to treat the specificities of the BP such as the possible variation of the complex DP constituent elements order and the absence of morphophonological marks that distinguish adjectives and names. The working hypothesis assumed is that in a first moment of the language acquisition the structural information made available by the preferential order of occurrence of that elements in BP acts as a powerful clue of which the child makes use of. The theoretical approach adopted tries to conciliate a language model that treats the phenomenon of acquisition (Minimalist Program: Chomsky, 1995) and processing models for the language acquisition (bootstrapping models). Experimental activities were developed and the results point to the importance of the structural information in a first moment and the semantic information in posterior stages of the identification process of names and adjectives.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 genezpablaalbergaria.pdf: 522033 bytes, checksum: e1a6d2044d301963d4e5f37e405521cf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-09-29 / O presente estudo constitui-se como um subprojeto que integra o macro-projeto Construções Superlativas no Português do Brasil – Uma Abordagem Sociocognitiva (MIRANDA 2007) - e tem como objeto de pesquisa o processo de mudança semântica e categorial que, tendo como domínio-fonte o frame de animal (itens lexicais ‘animal’, ‘bicho’, ‘fera’, ‘monstro’ e ‘gigante’), resulta em um frame de escala, como ilustram os exemplos a seguir: Irritado, Animal acaba com treino do Verdão; Skol gelada é o bicho!; Você, fera na cama!; Festival reúne feras do jazz; TV 'monstra' chega ao mercado brasileiro por R$ 299 mil; Zoomp compra quatro grifes e vira gigante da moda. Este trabalho, de viés sociocognitivo, tem como escopo teórico central as bases pré-conceptuais (Categorias de Nível Básico e Esquemas Imagéticos) e conceptuais (Domínios Conceptuais ou Frames, Metáfora e Metonímia) do nosso processo de categorização, ancoradas nos estudos de Lakoff & Johnson (1980,1987, 1999), Fauconnier & Turner (2002), Tomasello (2003), Croft (2004), Fillmore (2007), Talmy (2000); Geeraerts (2007). Dada a relevância do uso lingüístico em nossa agenda investigativa, a Linguística de Corpus (Sardinha 2004; Aluísio e Almeida 2006) se constituiu como a escolha metodológica. Com o intuito de espelhar, de fato, o comportamento de uso dos itens lexicais em foco, nossa base empírica consiste em um corpus específico obtido através de pesquisa na internet, no site de revistas da Editora Abril (ABRIL.COM), no CETENFolha/Folha de São Paulo, no G1 – Portal de Notícias da Globo.com, em blogs e em comunidades de relacionamento do Orkut. O eixo norteador de nossa análise consiste em: (i) Descrever a dimensão semântico-pragmática e formal da rede lexical em foco; (ii) Desvelar a motivação conceptual – esquemas imagéticos e processos metafóricos e metonímicos – dessa rede de modo a compreender os 6 possíveis elos cognitivos que a instituem. Neste sentido, nossa pesquisa apresenta os seguintes resultados: a confirmação em nosso corpus da primeira de nossas hipóteses, qual seja, a de que está em curso um processo de expansão lexical em que os itens lexicais (‘animal’, ‘fera’, ‘bicho’, ‘monstro’, ‘gigante’) que integram o nódulo da rede metafórica do frame ‘animal’ passam a atuar como OPERADORES SEMÂNTICOS DE ESCALA, compondo uma rede polissêmica. Em termos da expansão morfossintática, passamos a ter um padrão duplo: (1) o SN2 (com sentido metafórico) mantém a função de substantivo: o que ocorre em 68,7% das ocorrências analisadas e (2) é sintaticamente reanalisado como um adjetivo, com estatuto de adnominal ou predicativo, como podemos verificar em 31,3% das ocorrências. Os resultados mostram, em síntese, que os processos de mudança semântica dessa rede lexical se fazem de uma maneira mais ostensiva, robusta do que os morfossintáticos. Em termos da motivação conceptual, pudemos apresentar a relevância do esquema imagético de força (Modelo da Dinâmica das Forças) na configuração de um cenário agonístico, perspectivizado pelas construções lexicais em foco. De igual modo, apresentamos a METÁFORA CONCEPTUAL DA GRANDE CADEIA que nos permite compreender de que forma os itens lexicais do frame conceptual de ‘animal’ passam a referenciar seres de outra ordem, como ‘humanos’ (PESSOAS SÃO ANIMAIS) e ‘entidades’ (OBJETOS COMPLEXOS SÃO ANIMAIS). / This study is a subproject which makes part of the macroproject Superlative Constructions of the Brazilian Portuguese – A Sociocognitive Approach (MIRANDA, 2007) – and has as a research object the semantic and categoric change which, having as source domain the frame of animal (lexical items ‘animal’, ‘bicho’, ‘fera’, ‘monstro’ and ‘gigante’), results from a scale frame, as illustrated by the following examples: Irritado, Animal acaba com treino do Verdão; Skol gelada é o bicho!; Você, fera na cama!; Festival reúne feras do jazz; TV 'monstra' chega ao mercado brasileiro por R$ 299 mil; Zoomp compra quatro grifes e vira gigante da moda. This work, of sociocognitivism base, has as a central thoretical scope the preconceptual bases (Basic level categories and image schemas) and conceptual bases (Conceptual Domains or Frames, Metaphor and Metonym) of our categorizing process, anchored on the studies by Lakoff & Johnson (1980,1987, 1999), Fauconnier & Turner (2002), Tomasello (2003), Croft (2004) and Fillmore (2007), Talmy (2000); Geeraerts (2007). Because of the linguistic usage in our investigative purpose, the Corpus Linguistics (Sardinha 2004; Aluísio and Almeida 2006) motivated our methodological choice. Attempting to actually unveil the usage behavior of the lexical items, our empiric base consists of a specific corpus collected through internet researches on: Editora Abril magazine site (ABRIL.COM), CETENFolha/Folha de São Paulo, G1 – Globo.com News website, blogs and on Orkut relationship communities. The main purpose of our analysis is: (i) to describe the semantic-pragmatic and formal dimension of the focused lexical net; (ii) to unveil the conceptual motivation – image schemas and metaphoric / metonymic processes – of this net in order to understand the possible cognitive links which compose it. This way, our research presents the following results: the confirmation in our corpus 8 of our first hypothesis, that is, that there has been a process of lexical expansion in course in which lexical items (‘animal’, ‘fera’, ‘bicho’, ‘monstro’, ‘gigante’) that integrate the nodes of metaphoric net of the frame ‘animal’ turn out to be SEMANTIC OPERATORS OF SCALE, forming a polysemic net. In terms of the morphosyntactic expansion, we tend to have a double standard: (1) the NP2 (with metaphoric meaning) keeps its noun function: present in 68.7% of the analysed occurrences and (2) is syntatically re-evaluated as an adjective, with adnominal or predicative function, as perceived in 31,3% of the occurrences. The results show, in short, that the change processes on the lexical rede happen more ostensively and robusty than the morphosyntactic ones. In terms of the conceptual motivation, we could present the relevance of the image schema of force (force dynamic Model) in the configuration of an agonistic scene, perspectivized by the focused lexical constructions. Moreover, we presented the THE GREAT CHAIN METAPHOR which leads us to figure out how the lexical items of the conceptual frame of ‘animal’ tend to refer to beings of another order, like ‘humanos’ (PEOPLE ARE ANIMALS) and ‘entidades’ (COMPLEX OBJECTS ARE ANIMALS).

Ce travail aura pour but d’explorer l’interface sémantique-syntaxe des « constructions » avec les prédicats secondaires, résultatifs et dépictifs. Une attention particulière sera donnée au problème du choix des sujets (ou des hôtes) de prédication pour ces deux types de prédicats, ainsi qu’à la classe aspectuelle lexicale du verbe à la base de la construction.Dans la première partie, nous introduisons divers patterns de la construction résultative et expliquons le principe de base qui régit la syntaxe de ces constructions, à savoir la Restriction sur l’objet direct. D’abord nous réviserons la sémantique des adjectifs gradables, étant donné que les propriétés de l’échelle d’une propriété introduite par l’adjectif définissent la structure événemen-tielle/aspectuelle des constructions résultatives, notamment la distinction entre les constructions résultatives à contrôle et à marquage exceptionnel casuel. Après avoir écarté un nombre de prétendus contre-exemples à la Restriction DOR, nous réaffirmerons sa validité, notamment en tant que diagnostic de l’inaccusativité en anglais. Après avoir étudier le problème des objets non-sélectionnés, nous verrons pourquoi le russe n’a pas ce type de construction, et, conjointement, pourquoi il ne doit pas être classifié comme une langue satellite-framed, étant donné que le paramètre qui autorise les constructions résultatives dans une langue est également responsable pour la classification des langues en satellite-framed ou verb-framed.La deuxième partie sera consacré aux prédicats dépictifs, notamment aux contraintes qui pèsent sur le choix du contrôleur pour ce type de prédication secondaire, ainsi qu’aux propriétés des adjectifs dépictifs en comparaison avec d’autres types d’adjoints participant-oriented. Nous étudions la distribution des adjectifs formes longues et formes courtes en russe, conditionnée par les propriétés d’accord qui les distinguent et esquissons un processus historique à l’origine de leur distribution dans la langue d’aujourd’hui. / The aim of this dissertation is to explore the syntactic-semantic interface of ‘constructions’ which contain secondary predicates – either depictive or resultative. The main problems will be to deal (i) with the selection of the subjects (or hosts) of these types of predicates and (ii) with the aspectual class of the verbs used in these sentences.In the first part, the various patterns implied in resultative clauses will be examined, leading to the conclusion that the basic principle that governs the syntax of these clauses can be identified with the ‘Restriction on direct objects’ – or RDO. First, the semantics of gradable adjectives will be revisited, taking into account the scalarity properties these adjectives contain, which determine the eventive/ aspectual structures of resultative sentences and the distinction between Control structures and Exceptional Case Marking sentences. After invalidating many would-be counter-examples to the RDO, its validity will be reasserted, notably as a diagnostic of unaccusativity in English. Next, after analysing the problem of unselected object arguments, the reason will be shown why Russian does not possess this type of structure, and why it cannot be characterised as a ‘satellite-framed’ language either – given that the parameter which allows specific resultative structures in any language also determines its classification as satellite-framed or verb-framed.The second part of the dissertation is devoted to depictive predicates – in particular (i) to the constraints that determine the choice of the Controller in this type of secondary predication, and (ii) to the relevant properties of depictive adjectives in contra-distinction to other types of adjuncts, often identified as ‘participant-oriented’. Finally, the distribution of those Russian adjectives which possess long and short forms, which is conditioned by specific agreement or concord properties, is examined, leading to a tentative reconstruction of a diachronic process which has led to their distribution in today's Russian.

Cette thèse avait pour objectif de tester la théorie de la rétrogenèse appliquée au langage des personnes atteintes de la maladie d’Alzheimer, afin de tirer des conclusions permettant d’adapter notre comportement aux patients et de mettre en place des méthodes de maintient dans le langage plus appropriées.Pour ce faire, trois tâches ont été mises en place : une tâche de fluence verbale (phonémique (lettre initiale P) puis sémantique (animaux)), une tâche de dénomination d’images, ainsi qu’une tâche de répétition de phrases. Trois groupes de participants ont été créés : un groupe de 80 personnes atteintes de la maladie d’Alzheimer, un groupe de 60 enfants, âgés de 3 à 11 ans, puis un groupe contrôle de personnes âgées saines. Le groupe des patients était divisé en 4 sous-groupes en fonction de leur score au MMSE. Il en était de même pour les enfants, répartis en trois sous-groupes.Les analyses effectuées par le biais de modèles mixtes, ont permis de montrer que le déclin du langage dans la maladie d’Alzheimer semble bien suivre un ordre symétrique à celui de son acquisition. L’effet d’AoA permet souvent d’expliquer ce phénomène. Toutefois, des différences entre les enfants et les personnes Alzheimer sont également observables : si le langage semble suivre une involution symétrique à celle de l’enfant, il n’en est pas moins que les processus sous-jacents impliqués ne sont pas les mêmes que chez l’enfant. / The aim of this thesis was to test retrogenesis hypothesis applied to the language of people with Alzheimer's disease, in order to draw conclusions allowing us to adapt our behavior to patients and to implement appropriate methods of maintaining language.To do this, three tasks were established: a verbal fluency task (phonemic (initial letter P) and then semantic (animals)), an picture naming task, and a sentence repetition task. Three groups of participants were created: a group of 80 people with Alzheimer's disease, a group of 60 children, aged 3 to 11, and a healthy elderly control group. The patient group was divided into 4 subgroups based on their MMSE score. It was the same for children, divided into three subgroups.Analyzes conducted runing mixed models have shown that the decline of language in Alzheimer's disease seems to follow a symmetrical order to that of its acquisition. The effect of AoA can often explain this phenomenon. However, differences between children and Alzheimer's patients are also observable: if the language seems to follow an involution symmetrical to that of the child, it is nonetheless that the underlying processes involved are not the same as in the child.

The repetition of words, lexical repetition, can be an important marker of cohesion in writing, especially in domains where precision and clarity are valued. Contemporary writing in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is a such a domain. Nevertheless, lexical repetition is sometimes instinctively misunderstood as a feature of an exaggerated style or simplistic language use.Using a classification system inspired by both previous research on lexical cohesion and the specific needs and characteristics of STEM writing, I analysed 15 project proposals written by STEM students and examined their ways of using and avoiding lexical repetition when referring to key concepts. I then reviewed each text with its author(s) in a semi-structured interview. My aim was to understand the students’ perceptions of lexical repetition as STEM writers and English users.Results of the text analysis show that the more experienced student writers frequently chose lexical repetition to refer to key concepts, and that the less experienced student writers tended to use more paraphrases and pronouns instead. This finding challenges the notion that lexical repetition is a feature of inappropriate or simplistic language use. Results of the interviews show that some students had previously been discouraged from repeating lexical items in writing. However, they mostly recognised the value of lexical repetition in STEM writing to avoid ambiguity and ensure inter-sentential cohesion. The majority of the students in this study used lexical repetition assuredly; they were confident in their English, their purpose, and their understanding of their readers’ needs.Keywords

No description available.