Search results for "General Language Studies and Linguistics"
showing 5 items of 5 documents
Using discourse markers to negotiate epistemic stance: A view from situated language use
2021
Abstract In this paper, I analyse the usage of a discourse marker =mari, belonging to the epistemic paradigm attested in Upper Napo Kichwa (Quechuan, Ecuador). I show that the use of =mari indicates that the information is known well to the speaker, but also to some extent familiar to the addressee. In situated language use, the marker contributes to creating a knowing epistemic stance of the speaker. The analysis presented here is based on a 13-h documentary corpus of interactive Upper Napo Kichwa discourse, recorded on audio and video. For the purpose of the paper, the relevant utterances are analysed in their broad interactional context, including not only the surrounding text, but also …
Language learning strategies and teaching practices in adult L2 education : The case of Swedish for Immigrants
2019
This article highlights the use and co-construction of language learning strategies (LLS) in second language education for adults with short previous education. In a case study, we explore how LLS are used and co-constructed by one student and one teacher. The data for the article was created in an action research programme comprising two Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) schools, and the methodology used was classroom observation based in linguistic ethnography. In accordance with Griffiths (2013, p. 15) LLS are defined as “activities consciously chosen by learners for the purpose of regulating their own language learning”. For the analysis of LLS, Oxford’s (1990) taxonomy was chosen. In the ch…
Transitivity prominence within and across modalities
2020
The idea of transitivity as a scalar phenomenon is well known (e.g., Hopper & Thompson 1980; Tsunoda 1985; Haspelmath 2015). However, as with most areas of linguistic study, it has been almost exclusively studied with a focus on spoken languages. A rare exception to this is Kimmelman (2016), who investigates transitivity in Russian Sign Language (RSL) on the basis of corpus data. Kimmelman attempts to establish a transitivity prominence hierarchy of RSL verbs, and compares this ranking to the verb meanings found in the ValPal database (Hartmann, Haspelmath & Bradley 2013). He arrives at the conclusion that using the frequency of overt objects in corpus data is a successful measure o…
The alignment of head nods with syntactic units in Finnish Sign Language and Swedish Sign Language
2016
In this paper we examine the relationship between specific head movement events – head nods, often treated as prosodic boundary markers – and syntactic units in Finnish (FinSL) and Swedish Sign Language (SSL). In the study we investigated the alignment of head nods with syntactic units on the basis of a total of 20 (10+10) FinSL and SSL narratives. The results of the study show that in both languages head nods appeared similarly on syntactic boundaries and that the tendency was to align nods sentence-finally. However, not all head nods behaved this way: for example, a relatively large number of head nods were also found to occur sentence-initially or elsewhere in the sentence. Furthermore, …
On the rhythm of head movements in Finnish and Swedish Sign Language sentences
2016
This paper investigates, with the help of computer-vision technology, the similarities and differences in the rhythm of the movements of the head in sentences in Finnish (FinSL) and Swedish Sign Language (SSL). The results show that the movement of the head in the two languages is often very similar: in both languages, the instances when the movement of the head changes direction were distributed similarly with regard to clause-boundaries, and the contours of the roll (tilting-like) motion of the head during the sentences were similar. Concerning differences, direction changes were found to be used more effectively in the marking of clause-boundaries in FinSL, and in SSL the head moved near…