A contrastive analysis of the present progressive in French and English

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 846-879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid De Wit ◽  
Adeline Patard ◽  
Frank Brisard
Keyword(s):  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
French And English ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
Core Meaning ◽  
Present Progressive

In this study, we address the semantics of the present progressive constructions in French and English by looking into their present-day uses and their diachronic evolution. Corpus data show that both constructions are frequently used in contemporary English and French to stress the atypical nature of situations. This suggests that these constructions share an epistemic core meaning, which we define as “contingency in immediate reality”. However, in terms of concrete usage types which elaborate this meaning in context, the two progressive constructions differ significantly: the French progressive occurs in fewer types of context than its English counterpart and it is, overall, less frequently used and not obligatory for referring to present-time events, as is usually the case in English. We argue that these differences can be systematically related to the different diachronic evolutions that have shaped the present-tense paradigms in both languages.

Contingency hedges in Dutch, French and English

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart Defrancq ◽  
Gert De Sutter
Keyword(s):  
Functional Properties ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Functional Parameters ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
French And English ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
Preceding Discourse

This article reports on a detailed corpus-based and contrastive analysis of the syntactic, semantic and functional properties of English depend, French dépendre and Dutch afhangen, liggen and zien as markers of intersubjectivity. Based on three large-scale monolingual corpora of spoken English, French and Dutch, the results show that these intersubjectivity markers are semantically related to a conditional meaning of the verbs they are based on: viewpoints expressed or asked for in the preceding discourse are presented as valid only in particular circumstances. Furthermore, it is shown that the markers have undergone a process of decategorialisation, as they appear almost exclusively in third person present tense, and as the range of subjects that can be combined with these markers is more restricted than the non-intersubjective uses of these verbs. Finally, a detailed corpus analysis of the Dutch markers shows that their use is mainly determined by regional and functional parameters.

Identifying Congruent Pragmatic Relations in Procedural Texts

1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donia R. Scott ◽  
Judy Delin ◽  
Anthony F. Hartley
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Content ◽  
Automatic Generation ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Comparable Corpora ◽  
Household Products ◽  
French And English ◽  
Instructional Texts ◽  
Different Levels

In this paper, we present a methodology for the contrastive analysis of comparable corpora of instructional texts in different languages. The methodology is insensitive to the fact that the texts under comparison differ widely in their semantic content, and it can be reliably applied by multiple analysts. We show the results of an empirical study of cross-linguistic variation between Portuguese, French, and English instructions which follows this methodology. Using consumer instructions for ordinary household products in the three languages, we examine expressions of the two semantic relations, generation and enablement (cf. Goldman, 1970), and their available surface syntactic expressions. We examine the role of discourse perspective, as realised by rhetorical relations such as those employed within the framework of Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST), in further narrowing down the range of choices. We demonstrate that the three languages of study tolerate different levels of ambiguity, and prefer different forms of disambiguation and pragmatic signalling, attesting to the value of empirical methods for contrastive discourse study. The analysis was conducted with the aim of informing all levels of decision, from meaning to surface syntax, in the automatic generation of sets of instructional texts in those languages.

Three Perspectives on Swedish Indefinite Determiners

2002 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joakim Nivre
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Formal Semantic ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Swedish Data ◽  
The Way

This article investigates the meaning and use of singular indefinite determiners in Swedish, in particular the way in which the existential determiner någon/något contrasts with the indefinite article en/ett in different contexts. The problem is approached from three different perspectives, the first being a contrastive Scandinavian perspective, where the Swedish data are reviewed in the light of contrastive data from the closely related languages Danish and Norwegian. Secondly, corpus data are used to substantiate the results of the contrastive analysis both quantitatively and qualitatively. The last section adopts a more theoretical perspective and tries to present a formal semantic analysis of the two determiners under study, drawing on typological work on indefinites and studies of the historical development of indefinite determiners.

Zero verb marking in Sranan

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid De Wit ◽  
Frank Brisard
Keyword(s):  
Native Speaker ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Perfective Aspect ◽  
Tense And Aspect ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
The Past ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
Basic Level

In the Surinamese creole language Sranan, verbs in finite clauses that lack overt TMA-marking are often considered to be ambiguous between past and present interpretations (depending on the lexical aspect of the verb involved) or analyzed as having a perfective value. We claim that these verbs are in fact zero-marked, and we investigate the various uses of this zero expression in relation to context and lexical aspect on the basis of corpus data and native speaker elicitations. It is shown that existing analyses do not cover and unify all the various uses of the construction. We propose, as an alternative, to regard the zero form as present perfective marker, whereby tense and aspect are conceived of as fundamentally epistemic categories, in line with Langacker (1991). This combination of present tense and perfective aspect, which is regarded as infelicitous in typological studies of tense and aspect (cf. the ‘present perfective paradox’, Malchukov 2009), gives rise to the various interpretations associated with zero. However, in all of its uses, zero still indicates that, at the most basic level, a situation belongs to the speaker’s conception of ‘immediate reality’ (her domain of ‘inclusion’). This basic ‘presentness’ distinguishes zero from the past-tense marker ben, which implies dissociation.

scholarly journals Der Gebrauch des Perfekts – Ein Erklärungsmodell aus thailändischer Perspektive

2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Korakoch Attaviriyanupap
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Perfective Aspect ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Speech Time ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Present Tense

In grammar and textbooks of German as a foreign language the German perfect tense (Perfekt) is mostly presented as an alternative to the preterite tense (Präteritum). However, the German perfect tense itself deserves greater attention due to its wide range of usages. This tense can mark events with reference points located either before, simultaneous with and even after the speech time. For Thai learners of German it has been established that difficulties in learning how to use the German perfect tense are not primarily concerned with problems of choosing between the perfect and the preterite but rather between the perfect tense and the present tense. This paper focuses on the aspect of "completeness", comparable to the perfective aspect, leading to different effects in the usage of the German perfect. Since German is mostly learned as a second foreign language after English, a contrastive analysis of similarities and differences between the perfect tenses in English and German have to be included in the analysis. In the conclusion, a possible description of the German perfect tense for learners of German as a foreign language is suggested.

The lyric present in English translations of Russian poetry

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-202
Author(s):  
Józefina Piątkowska
Keyword(s):  
American Poetry ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
General View ◽  
Russian Poetry ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
Present Progressive

Abstract Taking English translations of Anna Akhmatova’s poems as a case study, this article investigates whether the lyric present (a specific use of simple present forms in poetry) is the preferred present tense in poetic translations from Russian into English. Akhmatova’s verbal craft is remarkably relevant for the issue at hand because of her extensive exploration of temporal levels. The article examines what stylistic effects stem from a translator’s choice between the lyric present and the present progressive. In order to provide a more general view of English translations, the study includes data concerning the frequency of progressives contained in two different English editions of Akhmatova’s poetry. These data are presented in the comparative perspective, together with data collected from English and American poetry and from English renditions of several Russian poets.

For Pete’s sake!

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Signe Oksefjell Ebeling ◽  
Jarle Ebeling
Keyword(s):  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
The Cross

In this paper we present a contrastive analysis of two similar-looking patterns in English and Norwegian that may be said to express the same meanings. Both English “for * sake” and Norwegian for * skyld have been attested with the following meanings: purpose, consideration and annoyance (used as an expletive). An analysis of bidirectional translation corpus data reveals marked cross-linguistic differences in the frequency and use of the patterns, contributing to a fair amount of non-correspondence in translation between the two languages. The in-depth contrastive analysis undertaken confirms that the two patterns behave differently in the two languages: while English prefers the expletive use, Norwegian prefers the purpose use. This observation regarding the patterns’ conditions of use led to the conclusion that the two languages operate with two different extended units of meaning, and that the two patterns as such are not considered perfect translation equivalents of each other. It was therefore interesting to take a closer look at one of the patterns — the English expletive use — and its actual correspondences in Norwegian. The cross-linguistic investigation uncovers some evidence of “quasi-swearing” in the translated texts and some evidence of different ways of swearing in English in Norwegian, both in terms of how expletives are lexicalized and what they refer to, e.g. blasphemy or sexual blatancy.

A Cognitive Grammar account of the semantics of the English present progressive

2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
ASTRID DE WIT ◽  
FRANK BRISARD
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Network ◽  
American English ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Santa Barbara ◽  
The Core ◽  
Basic Meaning ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
Core Meaning ◽  
Present Progressive

In this paper, we propose a unified account of the semantics of the English present progressive in the form of a semantic network, basing ourselves on the theoretical principles and analytical tools offered by the theory of Cognitive Grammar, as laid out by Langacker (1987, 1991). The core meaning of the English present progressive, we claim, is to indicateepistemic contingencyin the speaker's immediate reality. It thus contrasts with the simple present, which is associated with situations that are construed asstructurallybelonging to reality. On the basis of a study of the Santa Barbara Corpus of spoken American English, an inventory has been made of the more specific uses of the present progressive, temporal as well as modal. It is shown that each of these uses can be derived from this basic meaning of contingency in immediate reality via a set of conceptual branching principles, in interaction with elements in the context.

scholarly journals A contrastive analysis of Russian and Norwegian utterance-initial coordinating conjunctions

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Margje Post
Keyword(s):  
Initial Position ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Basic Properties ◽  
Basic Additive ◽  
Core Meaning

In the study presented here, the three Russian basic additive and contrastive coordinating conjunctions i, a and no were compared to their two Norwegian counterparts og and men when used in utterance-initial position. By means of a direct comparison of sentences from Russian and Norwegian novels and their translations, both differences between the languages and language-internal boundaries between the conjunctions were made apparent. A core meaning was formulated for each of the five conjunctions. Their basic properties account not only for their use in general, but they can also explain certain specific qualities and conditions for pragmatic use in utterance-initial position.

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