The Functions of ‹General Nouns›
Theory and Corpus Analysis
Summary
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author(s)/editor(s)
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Danksagung
- Table of Contents
- List of tables and figures
- 1. Introduction
- 1.1 Aim of the study
- 1.2 Structure of the study
- 2. A linguistic discussion of ‘general nouns’
- 2.1 Halliday/Hasan’s approach to ‘general nouns’
- 2.1.1 The concept of ‘cohesion’
- 2.1.2 The concept of ‘reference’
- 2.1.3 The concept of ‘reiteration’
- 2.1.4 The concept of ‘general nouns’
- 2.2 Previous studies of ‘general nouns’
- 2.3 Critical evaluation of the status of ‘general nouns’
- 3. Approaches to general noun phrases across different linguistic disciplines
- 3.1 Introduction
- 3.2 The grammatical approach to general noun phrases
- 3.2.1 Classification of nouns
- 3.2.2 Modification
- 3.2.3 Classification of general noun phrase heads
- 3.3 The text-linguistic approach to general noun phrases
- 3.3.1 Constitutive features of textual communication
- 3.3.2 Regulative features of textual communication
- 3.3.3 Restricted and elaborated style of referencing
- 3.4 The pragmatic approach to general noun phrases
- 3.4.1 The Cooperative Principle
- 3.4.2 Vagueness in language
- 3.4.2.1 Defining vagueness
- 3.4.2.2 Types of vagueness
- 3.5 The cognitive approach to general noun phrases
- 3.5.1 Categorisation
- 3.5.2 Context-dependence of categories
- 3.5.3 Categorisation and general noun phrases
- 3.5.3.1 Introduction
- 3.5.3.2 General noun phrases as “empty containers”
- 3.5.3.3 General noun phrases as “full containers”
- 3.6 Summary: A workable definition of general noun phrases
- 4. Framework for the analysis of general noun phrases
- 4.1 Combination of structural and semantic parameters of general noun phrases
- 4.1.1 Structural parameters of general noun phrases: +/- Modification
- 4.1.1.1 Non-modified general noun phrase heads: - Modification
- 4.1.1.2 Modified general noun phrase heads: + Modification
- 4.1.2 Semantic parameters of general noun phrases: +/- Linkage
- 4.1.2.1 Non-linked general noun phrases: - Linkage
- 4.1.2.2 Linked general noun phrases: + Linkage
- 4.2 Functional matrix for the analysis of general noun phrases
- 4.3 The scale of specification
- 4.4 General assumptions for the analysis of general noun phrases
- 5. Corpus compilation
- 5.1 The corpus-linguistic approach of the present study
- 5.2 Medium-, domain- and genre-specific features of the corpus data
- 5.2.1 Some features of spoken and written language
- 5.2.2 Some features of legal language
- 5.2.3 Some features of political language
- 5.2.4 Some features of conversation
- 5.3 The corpus of the present study
- 5.3.1 Written corpus
- 5.3.1.1 Supreme Court judgments
- 5.3.1.2 Political manifestos
- 5.3.2 Spoken corpus
- 5.3.2.1 Parliamentary debates
- 5.3.2.2 General conversations
- 5.3.3 Summary: Overview of corpus data
- 6. Methodology
- 6.1 Methods for the quantitative analysis
- 6.1.1 From raw to relevant data
- 6.1.2 Determining the frequency of relevant general noun phrase heads
- 6.2 Methods for the qualitative analysis
- 6.2.1 The coding system used in the present study
- 6.2.2 The parameter modification
- 6.2.2.1 Types of premodification
- 6.2.2.2 Types of postmodification
- 6.2.3 The parameter linkage
- 6.2.3.1 Types of endophoric reference
- 6.2.3.1.1 Halliday/Hasan’s endophoric reference
- 6.2.3.1.2 Encapsulation
- 6.2.3.1.3 Reference between appositive units
- 6.2.3.1.4 Reference between subject and complement
- 6.2.3.1.5 Remote reference
- 6.2.3.2 Generic reference
- 7. Corpus analysis
- 7.1 Quantitative analysis: Frequencies and distribution of relevant general noun phrase heads in the corpora
- 7.1.1 Quantitative results from the judgment corpus
- 7.1.2 Quantitative results from the manifesto corpus
- 7.1.3 Quantitative results from the debate corpus
- 7.1.4 Conversation corpus
- 7.1.5 Summary and comparison of results
- 7.2 Qualitative analysis: The degree of specification of relevant general noun phrases in the corpora
- 7.2.1 Qualitative results from the judgment corpus
- 7.2.1.1 ‘Most specific’ general noun phrases in the judgment corpus
- 7.2.1.2 ‘Rather specific’ general noun phrases in the judgment corpus
- 7.2.1.3 ‘Less specific’ general noun phrases in the judgment corpus
- 7.2.1.4 ‘Least specific’ general noun phrases in the judgment corpus
- 7.2.2 Qualitative results from the manifesto corpus
- 7.2.2.1 ‘Most specific’ general noun phrases in the manifesto corpus
- 7.2.2.2 ‘Rather specific’ general noun phrases in the manifesto corpus
- 7.2.2.3 ‘Less specific’ general noun phrases in the manifesto corpus
- 7.2.2.4 ‘Least specific’ general noun phrases in the manifesto corpus
- 7.2.3 Qualitative results from the debate corpus
- 7.2.3.1 ‘Most specific’ general noun phrases in the debate corpus
- 7.2.3.2 ‘Rather specific’ general noun phrases in the debate corpus
- 7.2.3.3 ‘Less specific’ general noun phrases in the debate corpus
- 7.2.3.4 ‘Least specific’ general noun phrases in the debate corpus
- 7.2.4 Qualitative results from the conversation corpus
- 7.2.4.1 ‘Most specific’ general noun phrases in the conversation corpus
- 7.2.4.2 ‘Rather specific’ general noun phrases in the conversation corpus
- 7.2.4.3 ‘Less specific’ general noun phrases in the conversation corpus
- 7.2.4.4 ‘Least specific’ general noun phrases in the conversation corpus
- 7.2.5 Summary and comparison of results
- 8. Summary and conclusions
- References
- Series index
Figure 2.1: The concept of ‘cohesion’
Figure 2.2: Different concepts of ‘reference’
Figure 3.1: The classification of nouns
Figure 3.2: A complex noun phrase
Table 3.1: The classification of general noun phrase heads
Figure 3.3: The classification of general noun phrase heads in terms of specification
Figure 3.4: The concepts of ‘ambiguity’, ‘polysemy’ and ‘vagueness’
Table 3.2: Tzeltal plant classification according to Berlin et al. (1973)
Figure 3.5: Horizontal dimension of categorisation illustrated by the example ‘dog’
Figure 3.6: Vertical dimension of categorisation illustrated by the example ‘dog’
Figure 3.7: Extension of a general noun phrase category dependent on co-text and context
Figure 3.8: Extension of the general noun phrase category ‘people’ dependent on co-text and context of example (39)
Figure 3.9: Extension of the general noun phrase category ‘people’ dependent on co-text and context of example (40)
Figure 4.1: The functional matrix for the analysis of general noun phrases
Figure 4.2: Generalisation and specification illustrated with the functional matrix for the analysis of general noun phrases
Figure 4.3: The scale of specification
Figure 4.4: The assumed arrangement of the four sub-corpora on the scale of specification (depending on frequency)
Figure 4.5: The assumed arrangement of the sub-corpora on the scale of specification (depending on modification and linkage)
Table 5.1: The corpus of the present study
Figure 5.1: The structure of the parliamentary government in the UK
Table 5.2: The judgment corpus ← 15 | 16 →
Table 5.3: The manifesto corpus
Table 5.4: The debate corpus
Table 5.5: The conversation corpus
Figure 6.1: Distinguishing relevant from irrelevant general noun phrases
Table 6.1: Numbering of general noun phrase heads
Table 6.2: Labelling of corpus texts
Figure 6.2: Example of the coding of a general noun phrase head in the judgment corpus
Figure 6.3: Highlighting of general noun phrase heads in the corpus texts
Figure 6.4: Coding of general noun phrase heads in the corpus texts
Figure 6.5: Searching for single occurrences of general noun phrase heads within a pdf document
Table 7.1: Frequencies of general noun phrase heads in the judgment corpus
Figure 7.1: General noun phrase head types and tokens in the judgment corpus
Table 7.2: Frequencies of general noun phrase heads in the manifesto corpus
Figure 7.2: General noun phrase head types and tokens in the manifesto corpus
Table 7.3: Frequencies of general noun phrase heads in the debate corpus
Figure 7.3: General noun phrase head types and tokens in the debate corpus
Table 7.4: Frequencies of general noun phrase heads in the conversation corpus
Figure 7.4: General noun phrase head types and tokens in the conversation corpus
Figure 7.5: Comparison of the normalised overall frequencies of general noun phrase heads in the four sub-corpora
Figure 7.6: The four sub-corpora on the scale of specification
Figure 7.7: Comparison of the distribution of general noun phrase heads in the four sub-corpora ← 16 | 17 →
Figure 7.8: Comparison of the frequencies of the general noun phrase heads ‘people’ and ‘child’
Figure 7.9: Comparison of the frequencies of the general noun phrase heads ‘matter’ and ‘question’
Table 7.5: Modified and non-modified general noun phrase heads in the judgment corpus
Table 7.6: Linked and non-linked general noun phrases in the judgment corpus
Figure 7.10: Correlation of modification and linkage of general noun phrases in the judgment corpus
Figure 7.11: Distribution of general noun phrase heads across the four categories of specification in the judgment corpus
Table 7.7: Most frequent types of modification in ‘most specific’ general noun phrases in the judgment corpus
Table 7.8: Most frequent types of linkage of ‘most specific’ general noun phrases in the judgment corpus
Table 7.9: Most frequent combinations of modification and linkage of ‘most specific’ general noun phrases in the judgment corpus
Table 7.10: Most frequent types of linkage of ‘rather specific’ general noun phrases in the judgment corpus
Table 7.11: Most frequent types of modification in ‘less specific’ general noun phrases in the judgment corpus
Table 7.12: Most frequent combinations of modification and - linkage in ‘less specific’ general noun phrases in the judgment corpus
Table 7.13: Modified and non-modified general noun phrase heads in the manifesto corpus
Table 7.14: Linked and non-linked general noun phrases in the manifesto corpus
Figure 7.12: Correlation of modification and linkage of general noun phrases in the manifesto corpus
Figure 7.13: Distribution of general noun phrase heads across the four categories of specification in the manifesto corpus
Table 7.15: Most frequent types of modification in ‘most specific’ general noun phrases in the manifesto corpus
Table 7.16: Most frequent types of linkage of ‘most specific’ general noun phrases in the manifesto corpus ← 17 | 18 →
Table 7.17: Most frequent types of modification in ‘less specific’ general noun phrases in the manifesto corpus
Table 7.18: Most frequent combinations of modification and - linkage of ‘less specific’ general noun phrases in the manifesto corpus
Table 7.19: Modified and non-modified general noun phrase heads in the debate corpus
Details
- Pages
- 258
- Publication Year
- 2018
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783631760185
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9783631760192
- ISBN (MOBI)
- 9783631760208
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9783631747582
- DOI
- 10.3726/b14310
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2018 (November)
- Keywords
- lexical cohesion modification reference legal language political language conversation
- Published
- Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2018. 255 S., 3 farb. Abb., 41 s/w Abb., 47 Tab.
- Product Safety
- Peter Lang Group AG