Discourse Functions Research Articles

The Structure and Functioning of Clauses in Upper Kuskokwim Conversational Discourse

Upper Kuskokwim (Athabaskan, Alaska) is a polysynthetic language with morphologically complex verbs involving pronominal affixes denoting clause arguments. One goal of this paper is to see how clauses in this kind of language are organized and operate in conversational discourse. This study is based on a dataset of transcribed conversations, arranged as sequences of elementary discourse units. The issues explored in this article include the structure of clauses, their functioning in discourse, the composition and expression of clause arguments and other participants, as well as an assessment of more and less typical clauses. I find that clauses are strongly aligned with elementary discourse units; that there is a preference for verb-centered, independent, and one-place clauses; and that lexically expressed arguments are rare. Overall, the clause is a viable notion for the description of Upper Kuskokwim conversational discourse. The specifics of clause structure and clause functioning in Upper Kuskokwim can be explained by a combination of general principles of discourse production and the typological features of the language.

An analysis of the AKP’s bureaucratic tutelage discourse in Turkey

ABSTRACT The Justice and Development Party (AKP) governments have been using a bureaucratic tutelage discourse. The literature on populism acknowledges the instrumental use of anti-bureaucratic discourse to mobilize masses. However, there is no systematic study on the ideological functions of the populist discourse against bureaucracy to sustain/transform the existing structures and power relations. The analysis of the bureaucratic tutelage discourse of AKP governments between 2002 and 2023 reveals that the bureaucratic tutelage discourse reproduces an antagonistic relation between politics and bureaucracy, and builds a common sense of bureaucracy that should be fully obedient to politics.

Towards exploratory talk in secondary-school CLIL: An empirical study of the cognitive discourse function ‘explore’

Exploratory talk is increasingly recognized in formal education for its role in enhancing students’ critical thinking and literacy skills, which are crucial for quality education both within and beyond school contexts. However, research shows that students often lack opportunities for inquiry-based learning and rarely receive explicit guidance on using language for reasoning, particularly in second language (L2) learning environments. Understanding how students engage in this complex function and effectively promoting it in L2 subject contexts remains a challenge. This study introduces an operational framework for the function of ‘explore’, based on L2 learning and socio-cultural theories and Dalton-Puffer’s construct of cognitive discourse functions (CDFs). It provides both quantitative and qualitative insights into how secondary-level content and language integrated learning (CLIL) students ( N = 113) from three different types of schools in Spain performed the ‘explore’ function orally, and it examines the role of epistemic modality in this meaning-making process by analysing the following features: (1) modal verbs, (2) modal adverbs and adjectives, (3) epistemic lexical verbs (ELVs), stance-taking forms, (4) discourse markers and the conditional ‘if’. A learner corpus was created for this analysis using Sketch Engine. The findings suggest that the CDF of ‘explore’ involves a combination of epistemic modality markers that serve as reasoning and exploratory discourse indicators. There is, however, a pressing need to raise teachers’ awareness of how language (through CDFs) supports students’ exploratory and deeper learning in L2 content-learning contexts. To this end, the discussion presents pedagogical implications for future research and practice in fostering exploratory reasoning, and where possible, embedding these skills in exploratory talk within CLIL classrooms.

Syntactic position of contrast markers in different registers of French

Abstract This paper presents a quantitative corpus analysis of three syntactically mobile contrast markers in different registers of French: contrastive adverbs, emphatic pronouns, and emphatic pronouns introduced by quant à “as for”. We show that the preferred syntactic position of the three markers is influenced by their form and discourse function, but that the degree of this influence varies across registers. In informal written and spoken French, form and discourse function have a greater impact on syntactic position than in formal written French, where the standard word order subject + verb + other clause elements is favored, and non-neutral (inter)subjective peripheries are avoided. Hence, our analysis provides evidence for the idea that informal written and spoken French are (becoming) more discourse-configurational.

Frame-Scenario in the Representation of Literary Fiction: Linguocultural Insights

The role of the frame-scenario as a cognitive structure within the artistic image, a key element of literary fiction, was studied. By examining Agatha Christie’s novel “A Pocket Full of Rye”, an example of detective discourse, the linguocultural and pragmatic features of the frame-scenario “investigation” were identified. The mechanisms of semiosis of linguistic and aesthetic signs were described, revealing how they deconstruct and transform frames and scenarios typical of a given linguoculture to create literary fiction in the textual and discursive space. The methods used include observation, modeling, cognitivesemantic and linguocultural analysis, and philological interpretation. It was demonstrated that framescenarios of detective discourse function within the contexts of both subject-referent and procedural situations. However, in “A Pocket Full of Rye”, A. Christie deviates from the procedural context by describing the crime with irony, as well as by gradually introducing the characters falling under suspicion of committing the crime. Unlike frames and scenarios as two cognitive structures within a particular linguoculture characterized by the certainty and stereotypy of properties and actions, the frame-scenario in literary discourse is marked by constant deconstruction, transformation of the events expected by the reader, thereby constituting the basis of the semiosis of literary fiction.

A Study of the Evolutionary Path and Discourse Functions of the Pragmatic Marker “Shen Me Yi Si”

A Study of the Evolutionary Path and Discourse Functions of the Pragmatic Marker “Shen Me Yi Si”

The discourse function of verbal aspect in Ecuadorian Siona

Abstract In addition to indicating whether or not events have come to an end at a reference time (temporal function), the opposition between imperfective aspect and perfective aspect in Ecuadorian Siona can also fulfil a discourse function. Imperfective forms of the verb caye ‘to say’ can signal that a speech act will be followed by a reaction or an addition, whereas perfective forms can signal that this is not the case. This discourse function is related to the temporal function through metaphor. This particular discourse function is an addition to the typology of non-temporal functions of verbal aspect.

Pragmatic marker to in Hausa (West Chadic, A.1; Nigeria)

In Hausa language function words contribute to sentence structure mainly on the syntactic level. They can specify the attitude or mood of the speaker. The broad class of function words includes a sub-class of items known as Pragmatic Markers (PMs). So far interpretations of PM to in Hausa were based on its semantic rather than structural contributions to the utterance content. There is a lack of a closer look on to from the pragmatic perspective. The aim of this article is to demonstrate how the interpretation of to within the framework of PM can contribute to describing this item’s functions in discourse in a more precise way, i.a. for the purpose of preparation of resources for studying the Hausa language by foreigners such as bilingual dictionaries. I propose the interpretation of to as a PM with the binary category of procedural and representational meaning. It will be demonstrated with the examples extracted from radio conversations that PMs framework allows to comprehensively describe to marker in terms of its contextually determined functions and meanings.

Temporal information in sentence-final particles

Abstract This paper scrutinizes the claim that modern Shanghainese has sentence-final particles tse and keh that have tense-marking functions. We review works by Qian (2006; 2009), Chao (1926) and Li, Thompson & Thompson (1982) and analyze Shanghainese missionary texts on the use of these SFPs. Through a functional-discoursal investigation, we identify the IN-cluster use and the END-cluster use of tse. We take the temporal marking function of tse as a consequence of its discourse function, which introduces a (con)-current reference time in the discourse. On the other hand, we take keh as an assertion particle, whose occasional sense of recent past comes from its confirmation of a completed event.

중국 드라마 대화 인접쌍에 나타난 ‘没(有)’의 담화기능

This study focuses on the phenomenon of ‘没(有)’ (méiyǒu) being selected as a response or subsequent utterance in dialogue. Specifically, it aims to clarify why ‘没(有)’ is chosen as the subsequent utterance when the prior utterance is an adjective predicate sentence without the aspect marker 了2 (le2). Drawing from Shen Jiaxuan(沈家煊)’s boundedness theory, particularly the concept of ‘event,’ this paper collects adjacent pairs from Chinese dramas where the following utterance contains ‘没(有)’ as linguistic data for analysis. From syntactic and semantic perspectives, ‘没(有)’ is traditionally recognized for negating objective facts, statements, or situations. However, this view falls short of fully explaining the meaning and discourse function of ‘没(有)’ when used to negate adjectives in actual dialogue. This analysis reveals that in conversation, ‘没(有)’ performs specific discourse functions such as [denying the occurrence of a state change], [negating continuity or persistence], and [indicating a lack of degree attainment]. All these specific functions are unified as negations of ‘events(事件)’ within discourse. In other words, the adverbial negator ‘没(有)’ universally negates events, with ‘event sentences’ representing boundedness (non-continuity). This study suggests that interlocutors employ ‘没(有)’ when interpreting the prior utterance as an event and intending to negate it, which we refer to as [the overarching discourse function] of ‘没(有).’

Authorial Presence of Indonesian Authors in Academic Discourse: A Study of English and Indonesian Research Articles

This study scrutinizes the authorial presence in English and Indonesian research articles written by Indonesian authors. The study aims to identify the frequency of first-person pronouns used as a form of authorial presence across research articles. Furthermore, the study also intends to examine the discourse functions of these first-person pronouns in academic writing. A corpus of 168,122 words was analyzed by utilizing corpus linguistics methodology. The findings show that there is a difference in the use of first-person pronouns between the English and Indonesian sub-corpora with the most frequent usage of first-person pronouns found in English research articles. In addition, the study investigated the clusivity and the discourse functions of first-person pronouns within the research articles in both English and Indonesian. The results indicate that Indonesian authors tend to adopt the Western academic style in using first-person pronouns as authorial presence despite the conservative style used in their native language. This reflects the different norms of academic discourse across languages.

FORMULATICITY OF THE INCOMPLETE SYNTACTIC FORM OF AN IMPERATIVE STATEMENT IN DISCOURSE

Background. Language units functioning in specific discourse conditions undergo desemantization and gramaticalization, which results in new discourse units forming. These units perform relevant discourse functions and carry communicative meanings. These units also possess formulaicity due to pragmatic factors. Corpus analysis provides proper techniques to identify and describe these units, classify factors conditioning the appearance of such units in discourse. Purpose. The aim of the research is to identify incomplete syntactic structures of imperatives in discourse, analyze them and categorize their features. Materials and methods. The research employs corpus analysis methods to build the sample of imperatives with incomplete syntactic structures in discourse. Research corpora include 22 fiction texts containing more than 2 million words. The paper presents quantitative evaluation of representation in discourse of incomplete syntactic structures of imperatives. Analyzing the formulaic character of these structures is performed on the background of methodology described in Russian and foreign literature on formulaic structures in discourse in the last 10 years. Results. The research shows that the sample comprises groups of incomplete syntactic structures of imperative utterances characterized by varying degrees of formulaicity. Identified groups of incomplete structures of imperative utterances include collocations with Noun, Adjective, Adverb, Pronoun as the primary init in the collocation. These groups also include Prepositional Phrases, Interjections. The degree of formulaicity demonstrates itself in the varying stability of the above-mentioned collocations. Formulaicity of these collocations arrives on the grounds of desemantization and grammaticalization which occur due to frequent usage in discourse, performance of specific discourse functions and possession of communicative meanings. It leads to incomplete syntactic structures of imperatives comporting themselves as autonomous discourse units, formed through described processes in accordance with linguistic laws.

Multiple Sayings as a Resource for Halting a Course of Action in Interaction: Evidence from Turkish Everyday Discourse

Self-repetition, which is defined as repeating one’s own utterance, performs various functions in spoken discourse. This study investigates the use of “multiple sayings”, a specific type of self-repetition which involves the speaker’s repetition of some unit of talk in the same turn multiple times, under a single intonational contour. In everyday discourse different linguistic resources are used as multiple sayings performing different communicative functions. The study limits itself in two aspects: (i) the use of lexical multiple sayings such as “yes yes yes” and “wait wait wait”; (ii) their function of halting the prevailing course of action in talk-in interaction. Although repetitions have been investigated in Turkish in several studies, this specific form of repetition and this specific function remains to be explored. To this end, using Conversation Analysis as the method of analysis, the study aims to find out what multiple sayings are used in Turkish everyday discourse for halting a course of action and what courses of action they halt. The database of the study consists of the recordings of a 10-hour Turkish everyday discourse. The analysis of the data reveals that in line with the previous studies conducted in other languages, Turkish speakers use multiple sayings to stop an unwarranted course of action, which implicates the universality of this function.

Networked corporate advocacy in a polarized public arena: analyzing discourse networks of U.S. Fortune 500 companies on controversial issues

Abstract This study investigates how U.S. Fortune 500 corporate social advocacy (CSA) discourse on multiple contentious issues is associated with public attention on Twitter/X. Our theoretical framework elucidates three discourse types and conceptualizes the diversity, structure, and stability of discourse coalition networks. Utilizing computational methods and dynamic network analysis of 43,791 corporate tweets over two years, findings reveal a prevalent use of aspirational communication in addressing climate change and healthcare disparities. Functional discourse is predominantly employed in tweets on racial equality and COVID-19 vaccination, while localization discourse is concentrated in tweets about gender/sexuality. Network analysis shows that discourse coalitions exist across industries, with a convergence in discourse types and low temporal stability in network compositions. Most discourse types and features of discourse coalition networks are positively associated with public attention to CSA tweets, though these associations vary across different issues.

Anaphoric Expressions in Thai Narratives: A Corpus Study on Accessibility and Distributional Tendency

Abstract This study examines the relationship between Thai anaphoric expressions and their antecedents’ Accessibility, analyzing 3,453 expressions from Thai-Zlatev Corpus (Zlatev and Yangklang 2001), Aakanee Website (Aakanee, “Thai Recordings”) and Thai Folktale Database (Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, “Folktales”). Grounded in Ariel’s Accessibility Theory (1988, 1990), which asserts that referring expressions are universally arranged on an Accessibility scale but marking systems vary by language, we propose an Accessibility Marking Scale for Thai anaphoric expressions, informed by the factors of Distance, Competition, Saliency and Unity. Some anaphoric expressions showed no significant differences in mean Accessibility, leading them to share ranks. Our newly identified anaphoric expressions align on the scale with those of similar discourse function and pattern. The study also reveals that factors like Saliency and Unity account for the distinctions between the Thai Accessibility Marking Scale and the English Accessibility Marking Scale as proposed by Ariel.

The pragmatic function of neologisms in the modern Russian media discourse

The subject of this article is the pragmatic function of neologisms in the modern Russian media discourse. The work is devoted to the study of the mechanisms of integration of both intra-linguistic and foreign-language neologisms into the media space of Russia, their role in creating expressiveness and effectiveness of communication. Special attention is paid to the analysis of lexical units capable of adapting to changing social and cultural conditions. Their influence on the formation of public perception, the implementation of various functions in media texts and their connection with current events are investigated. Examples include neologisms such as "anti-masochist", "remote", "storytelling" and "coworking". The analysis demonstrates how these elements contribute to the modernization of the language, its enrichment and reflection of current realities. The work focuses on the importance of media discourse as a tool for spreading and consolidating linguistic innovations. The work uses methods of contextual analysis, lexico-semantic classification and interpretation of linguistic units, which allows to systematize and classify neologisms according to their functions in the media discourse. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the identification of the pragmatic function of neologisms in media discourse, demonstrating their key role in the formation of modern media texts. The author reveals that intra-linguistic neologisms contribute to the preservation of cultural identity by creating emotional expressiveness of texts, while foreign-language borrowings emphasize the international character of events and the modernization of language. The work reveals that the integration of neologisms allows the media discourse to remain relevant, modernized and communicatively effective. It is concluded that the use of neologisms in the media enriches the Russian language, contributes to the development of the cultural context and forms new ways of perceiving information. This research can become the basis for creating lexicographic and translation solutions, as well as for optimizing media and advertising communication strategies.

Looking into multimodal translanguaging in CLIL: a case study in the Basque Country

ABSTRACT In recent years, the inherent benefits of translanguaging have been demonstrated on the basis of the mutual dependence of cognition and flexible language use. In the case of CLIL, several authors have embraced translanguaging because it integrates languages and supports the use of a wide range of interactional resources. The CLIL teacher's multilingual competence and the employment of non-linguistic communicative modes in science teaching promote authentic equitable learning experiences. However, the CLIL teachers' multimodal discourse has not yet received much attention in multilingual contexts. The aim of this study is to analyse the discourse of three CLIL teachers in Primary Education following a multimodal mixed method approach with a linguistic annotator [ELAN. 2024. “Nijmegen: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics”. V. 6.8 [Computer software]. The Language Archive. https://archive.mpi.nl/tla/elan]. The selection of multilingual episodes of interaction and posterior annotation of linguistic and non-verbal modes facilitates a multimodal microanalysis contextualised in a Basque public school (Spain). Our study shows how the use of Spanish and Basque complemented with gestures and other non-linguistic semiotic modes can promote learners' participation. It further highlights the communicative strategies needed to express particular discourse functions, while underlining the relevance of multilingual and multimodal awareness.

The interaction of syntax, non-manuals, and prosodic cues as potential topic markers in Austrian Sign Language

Abstract Topic is often marked only by prosody across languages. In sign languages, prosody is expressed by features similar to those in speech: i.e., sign duration, velocity and amplitude of movement (cf. slope and range of pitch). Topicalized signs usually occur sentence-initially, are followed by a pause, and may show longer duration than nontopics. We used pausing and duration characteristics to resolve a puzzle concerning the status of OSV sentences in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS): are they a nonmanually unmarked variant of non-manually marked topic sentences (O,SV), or are they a within-clause variant of the basic SOV order serving an as-yet-unknown discourse function? We investigated the temporal parameters of prosodic cues of 160 sentences produced by a fluent ÖGS signer: 40 in each of four conditions — SOV, OSV, S,OV, and O,SV. Overt topic marking effects on signing dynamics consisted of (1) lengthening of the sentence-initial topic phrases, causing a delay of the onset of the argument following the topic-marked item, and (2) a shortened duration of the noun phrase following the topic-marked item. Critically, the initial argument of OSV sentences did not show these prosodic cues, indicating that the initial argument O is not treated as being the same kind of topic as in the non-manually marked O,SV sentences. In accordance with the previous literature on pausing and lack thereof, we suggest that OSV might be akin to spoken German scrambling (within-clause movement), although the function performed remains to be investigated. The findings characterize parameters of temporal structure in the physical markers of topic in ÖGS and point to cross-linguistic variability in prosodic marking for topicalized structures.

An Exploration of Key Phrase Frames in Business Management Discussions for EAP Teaching

The interest in the phraseological nature of language generated many studies on phraseology in different genres. The focus of the current study is on key phrase frames in business management research article discussions. Key phrase frames are recurrent phraseological expressions with a variable slot and are specific to the studied context, for example genre or discipline. The analysis of the study is based on a corpus of research article discussions, extracted from six leading journals in business management, published between 2017 and 2021. Four-word phrase frames in the corpus were searched using the KfNgram program and refined based on the exclusion criteria to generate a list of phrase frames that was compared with the Corpus of Contemporary American English.The comparison yielded a total of 63 four-word key phrase frames in business management that were analyzed following Biber and Gray's (2013) structural classification and Simpson-Vlach and Ellis's (2010) functional taxonomy. In terms of structure, most key phrase frames were found to be non-verb content word frames while functionally, most serve referential discourse functions. The results suggest that phraseological variation in business management is associated with both lexical and grammatical constructions. These findings are crucial as they have implications on discipline-specific academic writing. most key phrase frames were found to be non-verb content word frames while functionally, most serve referential discourse functions.The results suggest that phraseological variation in business management is associated with both lexical and grammatical constructions. These findings are crucial as they have implications on discipline-specific academic writing. most key phrase frames were found to be non-verb content word frames while functionally, most serve referential discourse functions. The results suggest that phraseological variation in business management is associated with both lexical and grammatical constructions. These findings are crucial as they have implications on discipline-specific academic writing.

Hero-Making in Chinese and U.S. News During COVID-19: The Warrior and Leader Images of Zhong Nanshan and Anthony Fauci

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges to global health and raised important questions about social coordination. Amidst the crisis, discursive constructions of national heroes proliferated in Chinese and U.S. mainstream news media and played a crucial role in exercising social control and influence. From a comparative perspective, this article examines the structure and functions of heroic discourses and explores the similarities and differences of heroism across national borders. Specifically, we interrogate news reports on Zhong Nanshan and Anthony Fauci, two medical experts who emerged as prominent heroes in China and the U.S. respectively. Adopting a qualitative approach, we identify two central images in the construction of Zhong and Fauci as national heroes. One is “the warrior,” which illuminates the heroic qualities of determination, bravery, altruism, and perseverance. The other is “the leader,” which shows Zhong and Fauci’s pioneering roles and abilities in attracting followers. Intermingled with these two images are themes of moral excellence and exceptionalism. The most salient difference in the hero-making is that Zhong assumes a “supported hero” while Fauci assumes a “contested hero.” Overall, despite nuances shaped by socio-political contexts, Chinese and U.S. media share quite similar narrative structures in making national heroes during the pandemic.