A Corpus-based Investigation of Actually as a Pragmatic Marker by Chinese Learners of English

Wang Li

doi:10.13189/lls.2015.030504

Abstract

This study examines and compares the production of actually as a pragmatic marker by native and non-native learners of English based on two parallel corpora: BNC (a corpus of spoken British English) and SECCL (a spoken corpus of Chinese EFL learners discourse). The results indicate that actually occurs more frequently in the native speaker corpus than the Chinese learner corpus. The native speakers displayed more varied pragmatic function pattern by employing five pragmatic functions while the Chinese EFL speakers used only one function. Two functions constitute a statistically significant difference between the two speaker groups i.e. the topic shifter and the face-threat function. Nonnative speakers only focus on the face-threatening function.

Highlights

The functions of the word has been analyzed by several previous researchers, and found with high frequency in the English language (Aijmer[1]; Watts[17])
According to Macmillan English Dictionary: For Advanced Learners of American English, there are four different uses of : (1) used for emphasizing what is really true or what really happened; (2) used for emphasizing that something is surprising; (3) SPOKEN used when correcting what someone has said or thinks, or what you yourself have said; (4) SPOKEN used for admitting something. While the former two uses serve to emphasize either something true or surprising in written language, the latter two serve to either admit something or express an opinion politely in spoken language. Note that the latter two are more likely to be used in spoken language than in written language
It is assumed that native Chinese speakers may be influenced by their first language so that they use frequently and even improperly in some situations when they speak English

Summary

Introduction

The functions of the word has been analyzed by several previous researchers, and found with high frequency in the English language (Aijmer[1]; Watts[17]). According to Macmillan English Dictionary: For Advanced Learners of American English, there are four different uses of : (1) used for emphasizing what is really true or what really happened; (2) used for emphasizing that something is surprising; (3) SPOKEN used when correcting what someone has said or thinks, or what you yourself have said; (4) SPOKEN used for admitting something. While the former two uses serve to emphasize either something true or surprising in written language, the latter two serve to either admit something or express an opinion politely in spoken language. This dictionary categorizes four uses of : 1. You use to indicate that a situation exists or happened, or to emphasize that it is true

Methods

Results

Conclusion