This thesis examines the use of conjunctions in texts, and in particular their function as a marker of text type. Children's acquisition of this aspect of conjunction usage is the main focus. An examination of the characteristics of various text types and the nature of coordinate and subordinate conjunctions in English serves as a framework within which the experimental evidence from adults and children (aged three to five) is considered. Three types of texts--conversation, narratives, and game explanations--were collected. It was found that both the types of conjunctions used and the frequency of conjunctions as a class vary according to text type; conjunctions are much more frequent in narratives and explanations than in conversation. It is shown here that pragmatic or cognitive factors cannot account for these findings; they can only be explained as a function of text type. The data from the children provide evidence that their conjunction usage is also constrained by text type, although their patterns of use are not exactly the same as the adults'. The results indicate that by age five children have a definite conception of text as a linguistic entity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.75958 |
| Date | January 1988 |
| Creators | Laubitz, Zofia |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Linguistics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 000916478, proquestno: AAINL52457, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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