English Nominalizations Research Articles

Contrastive Analysis of English Nominal Compounds and their Correspondents in Albanian Language: A Case Study with ESP Law Students

Abstract Foreign language teaching applies various methods, approaches and techniques in transmitting the knowledge from instructor to learner which entails the ability to comprehend the similarities and dissimilarities between a learner's mother tongue and the foreign language. Contrastive Analysis (CA) is one of the methods which compares languages by paying attention to differences and similarities between languages being compared. This paper focuses on investigating the identities, differences and similarities of English nominal compounding patterns and their correspondents in Albanian by manner of formation and meaning through CA. Nominal compounds (N + N, V + N, Aj + N, Av + N, and V +Av =N) are the main focus in this paper since these patterns are very productive in Legal English. This paper will also pinpoint the most common errors EFL students make whilst identifying patterns of nominal compounds and translating them from English to Albanian and vice versa. Results from the data collected from English and Albanian grammar books and a test run questionnaire, showed that English and Albanian are similar in terms of N+N, Aj + N, Av + N compounds however they are different in V + N and V+ Av =N compounds by the manner of formation. Regarding meaning, there are dissimilarities between English and Albanian N + N compounds. Consequently, the most common errors made by EFL students whilst translating compounds occur with Aj + N and V + Av=N compounds. All these results give insightful indications regarding implications in teaching and learning nominal compounds in an ELT legal context.

PRO and (Under)Specification of Person in Imposter Constructions

This paper examines a particular type of English control constructions that exhibits morphosyntactic variation. The constructions that are investigated are control that appears in the imposter phenomenon studied by Collins & Postal (2012). Using minimalist syntax in combination with the framework of Distributed Morphology (DM), a syntactic account is offered that validates such variation and shows evidence for PRO in infinitives with imposter constructions, rather than a trace of NP via movement. Furthermore, comparing PRO and pro for the subject gap of control, it shows that PRO can account for binding alternations unlike pro. The current analysis demonstrates that the lack of the underspecification of phi-feature valuation does not result in ungrammaticality whereas the failure of Agree itself leads to ungrammaticality. Moreover, the current analysis offers a systematic picture of the morphosyntactic variation of English nominals in terms of the person feature and it also accounts for cross-linguistic morphosyntactic variation in agreement displayed in Chinese and Japanese.

Cyclicity versus movement: English nominalization and syntactic approaches to morpho-phonological regularity

AbstractIn this paper, I show that Embick's (2010) cyclic head approach to regular morphology alone cannot account for the freely available variations in the realization of nominalizers in English nominalizations involving overt verbalizers. Instead, I offer an account of the regularity effects using the technology of Local Dislocation (Embick and Noyer 2001, Embick and Marantz 2008, Embick 2007a, 2007b). Using this analysis, I derive both the variable nominalization patterns and the restrictions on particles and results in derived nominals from Sichel (2010). By treating regularity as the by-product of extant morphosyntatic operations, we can better explain the distribution of regular and irregular nominalizers and account for particle/result restrictions in English derived nominals.

The Category of Case in English and Albanian Nominal System: A Contrastive Analysis

The grammatical category of case, as one of the most discussed grammatical categories in English and one of the most specific categories in Albanian, has always attracted the researchers’ attention and, therefore, there are numerous studies about this category in these two respective languages. However, the main purpose of this article is to indicate that despite their different morphological structure which implies differences in their grammatical categories, English and Albanian, also show some similarities that concern the grammatical category of case and especially the genitive case as the only marked case in English nominal system. This article examined the grammatical category of case in English and Albanian nominal system through the contrastive method, emphasizing the differences that regard several aspects of the category of case, such as the number of cases in these two languages, the way they build their case forms, the use of prepositions in building the case forms, i.e., prepositions as case markers, and also several characteristics of the category of case that these two languages have in common. The results indicate that the similarities concern mainly the genitive case. Nouns in the genitive case, in English and Albanian, share some characteristics that concern their semantic functions, their use in “the double genitive” constructions, rules of forming such constructions, and the omission of the case markers without affecting meaning.

Cyclicity versus movement: English nominalization and syntactic approaches to morpho-phonological regularity

In this paper, I show that cyclic head approach to regular morphology alone cannot account for the freely available variations in the realization of nominalizers in English nominalizations involving overt verbalizers. Instead, I offer an account of the regularity effects using the technology of Local Dislocation (, , , ). Using this analysis, I derive both the variable nominalization patterns and the restrictions on particles and results in derived nominals from . By treating regularity as the by-product of extant morphosyntatic operations, we can better explain the distribution of regular and irregular nominalizers and account for particle/result restrictions in English derived nominals. Dans cet article, je demontre que l’approche developpee par pour tenir compte de la morphologie reguliere en termes de tetes cycliques ne peut pas expliquer la variation libre dans la realisation des nominalisateurs dans les nominalisations anglaises qui incluent des verbalisateurs visibles. Ensuite, j’offre une analyse des regularites qui exploite le mecanisme du Deplacement local (, , , ). Cette analyse explique a la fois les differentes realisations dans les nominalisations et les contraintes concernant les particules et les resultats dans les nominaux derives de . En analysant la regularite comme le produit derive d’operations morphosyntaxiques actives, nous arrivons a mieux expliquer la distribution des nominalisateurs reguliers et irreguliers et tenir compte des contraintes concernant les particules et les resultats dans les nominaux derives en anglais.

Evaluative nominals in Present-day English: A corpus-based study of the definiteness and syntactic distribution of subjective and objective NPs

AbstractThis article examines the use of subjective and objective nouns and noun phrases in discourse using the

Complex Sequence of the English Nominal Group

Complex Sequence of the English Nominal Group

A Systemic Functional Study of the Quantifying Selection in the English Nominal Group

The literature to date indicates that it is necessary to introduce the concept of selection into the description and analysis of the English nominal group. This paper will carry out a delicate exploration of the functional structure of the English nominal group with the quantifying selection. It aims to identify the function of the item of in the English nominal and thus to explore the whole functional structure of the English nominal group with the quantifying selection. Through the analysis, we found that besides the function as a preposition, and selector, the item of can also function as a finisher in the English nominal group.

A Systemic Functional Study of the English Nominal Group as Interpersonal and Textual Grammatical Metaphor

The English nominal group is a significant grammatical unit in English, and its internal structure is very complex. Grammatical metaphor is one of the key concepts in systemic functional linguistics and the study of grammatical metaphor can be conducted from the experiential, the interpersonal and the textual perspectives. The literature to date shows that grammatical metaphor is a crucial property in English and it is mostly studied in relation to the English clauses. Grammatical metaphor in relation to the English nominal group can also be explored from the three perspectives. This paper aims to discuss how grammatical metaphor is related to the English nominal group from the interpersonal and the textual perspectives. The data used in this paper are all obtained from literature of English grammar by observation. Meanwhile, this research adopts a qualitative, descriptive and explanatory method, and analyses the English nominal group as interpersonal and textual grammatical metaphor on the basis of the metafunctions in systemic functional linguistics. The findings show that interpersonal and textual grammatical metaphor is also a property of the English nominal group.

A Systemic Functional Study of the Head Identification of the English Nominal Group

Head identification is the first and crucial step in describing and analyzing the English nominal group. The literature to date indicates that the way of identifying the Head of the English nominal group varies from one school of linguistics to another and even from one grammarian to another. This paper focuses on the English nominal group containing the word of and the research is conducted from the systemic functional linguistics perspective.

English Nominals with the Incorporated Object as a Result of Two-Level Conceptual Blending

The article deals with the phenomenon of idiomatic nominals with the incorporated object, which are English complex nouns of a definite concept structure. The author regards them as a result of conceptual blending. According to the modern linguistic theory (G. Fauconnier, M.Turner), conceptual blending is one of the basic operations of human cognition. It is involved in metaphorisation and metonimisation processes, in the formation of idiomatic lexical units and is an important element of noun incorporation. In course of conceptual blending source domains, being 'conceptual links created in the process of thinking and speech with the aim of understanding a particular situation and acting within its framework'are superimposed. This results in a new, blended conceptual domain that has elements of source domains. In terms of landuage, a conceptual structure can be represented by means of a complex noun that has the following structure: N + V + -er (noun stem+verb stem+agent suffix) or N + V + -ing (noun stem+verb stem+process suffix). These nouns have since recently been called nominals with the incorporated object. Idiomatic nominals with the incorporated object, such as bean counter, eye-opener, backstabber are interesting to study as an example of a two-level conceptual blending. The formation of the concept in each situation can follow several stages, including the compression of the argument structure (which is necessary forthis type of nominals), together with singular optional components or a combination of optional components.These may include cognitive metaphor, metonymy alone or combined, or literalisation alone or combined with metaphor (usually confined to one certain situation).

A Systemic Functional Study of the English Nominal Group with a number of

The literature to date indicates that a number of is a frequently-used expression in the English nominal group.There are various debates over its syntactic function in the nominal group and its internal structure. Namely, thetraditional approach, the transformational approach, and systemic functional approach have different descriptionand analysis of this expression. This paper aims to give a delicate analysis of its internal functional structure,from a systemic functional perspective. More specifically, the theoretical basis is the Cardiff Grammar, oneregister of systemic functional linguistics. The results show that a number of as a whole is a numericalexpression in the English nominal group. Its internal structure can be investigated in a novel way.

A Corpus-Based Study of Nominalization as a Feature of Translator’s Style (Based on the English Versions of Hong Lou Meng)

This article reports on a descriptive and explanatory study of nominalization as a feature of translators’ styles in two English versions of the Chinese novel Hong Lou Meng. This study follows Lees in defining English nominalization as a nominalized transformation of a finite verbal form, associated with the manifestation of implicitation in translation. It uses Mathesius’ complex condensation to describe English nominalization from the perspective of the sentence as adverbial, subject, and object, condensing finite clausal structures. Based on a combined quantitative and qualitative analysis, it is argued that nominalization is a feature of Joly’s formal style and a feature of Yang and Yang’s concise style. This article concludes by proposing possible interpretations of the translators’ different uses of nominalization.

The realization of external arguments in nominalizations

In this paper, we discuss the restriction on the realization of non-agentive causers in nominalizations (see Adultery separated Jim and Mary. vs. ??the separation/*the separating of Jim and Mary by adultery). By comparing English to German and Romanian, we show that this restriction may have two sources: the event complexity of the nominalization or the lexical semantics of the preposition that introduces the external argument. First, the realization of non-agentive causers requires the presence of a result state component that is absent in German nominal infinitives and English ing-of gerunds. This leads to the inability of these nominalizations to host non-agentive external arguments. Second, the prepositions that introduce external arguments have a restricted distribution in Romanian and English nominalizations with the effect that the restriction appears in all Romanian nominalizations and in English derived nominals. The corresponding preposition in German is unrestricted, which explains why -ung nominals, which project a result state component, can realize non-agentive external arguments.

A corpus-based study of nominalization in English translations of Chinese literary prose

This study is designed to analyze the use of nominalization in English translations of Chinese literary prose based on eight English translations of Chinese novels. It follows ‘Lees, R. (1963). The Grammar of English Nominalizations . The Hague: Mouton’ in defining English nominalization as a nominalized transform of a finite verbal form and ‘Mathesius, V. (1975). Selected Writings in English and General Linguistics . The Hague: Mouton’ theory of ‘complex condensation of the sentence’. It describes English nominalization from the formal-syntactic level as adverbial, in the positions of subject and object, condensing a finite clausal structure. In the qualitative analysis, various effects of the use of nominalization are described based on three English versions of the Chinese classic novel Hong Lou Meng . In the quantitative analysis, three general patterns of the use of nominalization are found in the eight English translations of Chinese novels: it is predominantly used as adverbial (as opposed to in the positions of object and subject), in the form of gerundive nominalization (as opposed to derived and zero-derived nominalizations), and in the narrative (as opposed to dialogues). In comparison with nominalization used in some English novels, it is found that nominalization is significantly more used in the English translations of Chinese novels at large.

Producing composite codeswitching: The role of the modularity of language production

The basic characteristic of composite codeswitching is that the languages involved share responsibility for framing bilingual constituents. This paper points to evidence of this characteristic in the nature of morpheme distribution in mixed possessive constructions in Ewe–English codeswitching, spoken in Ghana. An Ewe semantic distinction between two types of possessive constructions is consistently neutralized when English possessum nominals are used instead of their Ewe counterparts, and the paper demonstrates that the neutralization of this distinction results from direct mapping of English-origin grammatical information about English nominals onto Ewe grammar. It explains that this mapping of information from one grammar onto another one is characteristic of composite codeswitching and that it is facilitated by the fact that language production is modular in the sense of Levelt ((1989). Speaking: From intention to articulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press) and Myers-Scotton ((1993). Duelling languages: Grammatical structure in codeswitching. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press; (2002). Contact linguistics: Bilingual encounters and grammatical outcomes. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press).

Passivization, reconstruction and edge phenomena: connecting English and Japanese nominalizations

We establish surprising effects of scope freezing in English nominals that are unambiguously passive, and show parallels with scope freezing in Japanese sa ‘extent’ nominals. We argue that passive movement is an abstract operation inside these English nominalizations (-able plus -ity and -ed plus -ness, and optionally in -tion). In addition we contribute various arguments for a unified structure of English and Japanese nominalizations with two specifier positions—one A′-position and one A-position—with movement from the object position via the lower specifier to the higher specifier position. Our data lead us not only to extend the notion of edge features in Minimalism to nominalizations, but also to claim that these features are subject to (overt or covert) movement. Our analysis of passivization in nominalizations also pertains to passive clauses, as it reveals a more abstract nature of passive than the generally accepted theory of sentential passive claims. The motivation for passive movement is not simply to satisfy Case requirements. Rather, “focalization” of the Theme argument to the edge triggers movement in passive nominals and clauses alike.

Semantic Comparison between English -er Nominals and Korean -i Nominals

Panther and Thornburg (2002) observed that the seemingly heterogeneous -er nominals in English are closely related to each other. Following the lead of Panther and Thornburg (2002), the paper analyses Korean -i suffixation from the cognitive perspective and compares it with English -er suffixation. The Korean -i suffix shows parallel behaviors to the English -er suffix in that they both prototypically mean a human agent and the prototypical meaning is extended to nonhuman agents, to instruments, and even to events. Diverse meanings of -i nominals are shown to be closely related to each other when examined with the analytical tools in cognitive linguistics, just like the meanings of English -er nominals. The comparable behavior of the two different morphemic units in the typologically unrelated languages reveals that there are cross-linguistic similarities in the function of human cognition. The result also shows that metaphor and metonymy work at a word level as well as a sentential level.

Word-based morphology and synthetic compounding

Chomsky's (1970) analysis of English nominalizations has ~roved to be controverSl. aI l.P many. respec t s. ( l) Be y.o nd dl' spute, h owever, l.S th e fact t h a t this analysis has (re-)kindled the interest of many linguists in the aspect of linguistic structure known as morphoiogy or word-formation. (2) Thus, during the past decade, Chomsky's lexicalist hypothesis(3) has served as a point of departure for various attempts at developing theories which aim to give an account of the structure and/or formation of morphologically complex words. (4)

English Nominal Clauses: Analyzing the Translation of Subordinate wh – Interrogative Clauses and Infinitive wh - Clauses in Azeri

This paper considers the Azeri translation of English nominal clauses with subordinate wh –interrogative clauses in complex sentences. Moreover, in this research, infinitive wh – clauses have been studied. Based on Quirk et alʼs classification of nominal clauses (clauses approximating in function noun phrases) ,they fall into six major categories: That –clause or subordinate declarative clauses, Subordinate interrogative clauses, Subordinate exclamative clauses, Nominal relative clauses, To - infinitive clauses and Ing clauses. An infinitive wh – clause can be formed with all wh –words. The infinitive clause has an sense .In this paper, the data are drawn from studies based on the English – Azeri translated fictions. According to the results of the present study, 78% of these sentences in Azeri, translated as simple sentences involving verbal combinations, 12% translated as simple sentences without verbal combinations, 6% translated as complex sentences and 4% translated as compound sentences. Regarding the structures involving infinitive construction, the findings indicate that 68% translated as simple sentences consisting verbal combinations, and 32% translated as complex sentences. It can be said that, in Azeri, there is a tendency of using simple sentences instead of compound or complex ones. The results of this research also show that there are some mistranslations regarding the nominal clauses involving both wh –interrogative and infinitive constructions, due to ignoring of the obligational sense of these clauses in Azeri translation, the percentage of these mistranslations is 86%. In this research, the most frequent wh –interrogative word used in original texts, is what in 32 sentences and the least one, is whom in 7 sentences, in addition, the most frequent wh – interrogative word used in subordinates involving both wh – words and infinitive construction in original texts is how with the percentage of 53% and the least one is where with the percentage 11%.