Automatic Speech Research Articles

Making Arguments at Lower Proficiencies: Move–Bundle Connection in Korean University Students’ English Argumentative Writing

ABSTRACTRecent research has suggested that the use of formulaic language such as lexical bundles may be important for helping second language (L2) English students construct arguments and achieve higher proficiency scores in testing situations. However, more research is needed that investigates such issues with learners of lower‐level proficiencies. This study investigates the use of lexical bundles across the argumentative writing of beginning‐ and intermediate‐level L2 English learners (N = 780). Using the Yonsei English Language Corpus, this study examines the frequency, structural features, and functional characteristics of three‐word lexical bundles and their role in achieving six rhetorical moves, including position, claim, counterclaim, rebuttal, evidence, and conclusion. The findings reveal that intermediate learners used more lexical bundles in two moves (i.e., claims and evidence). There were also differences both in the bundle structures used by beginners and intermediate learners, and in the functions realized through those bundles. How lexical bundles are used across lower levels of L2 proficiency, and the implications of these findings for L2 writing instruction, are discussed.

Overall Inhibitory Control Modulated the Comprehension of Chinese Ideographic Idioms Where the Minor Glyph Message Pertains

ABSTRACT Idioms are the unity of figurative and formulaic expressions, driving a variety of creative variants used in everyday life. This study explored how Chinese readers made sense of Chinese idioms and their variants, with possible constraints from their strength in overall inhibitory control (OIC). Our new attempt at a comprehensive measure of inhibitory control managed to predict the readers’ self-paced reading behavior in the context of the idioms written in the Chinese ideographic script. Those with poorer OIC were assumed to show more difficulties in inhibiting the literal meaning of a Chinese idiom as the supportive context unfolded. Such constraints from OIC also resurfaced during the comprehension of the Chinese variants employed in this study that were likely treated as novel idioms. We thereby assumed a hybrid route for the comprehension of Chinese idiomatic expressions. Nonetheless, idiom familiarity or decomposability exerted limited influence during these processes. The current study enriches the individual-difference approach to idiom comprehension by further expounding how its account varies with an ideographic writing system characterized by symbolic glyphs.

АКСИОЛОГИЧЕСКОЕ СОДЕРЖАНИЕ ИНИЦИАЛЬНЫХ И ФИНАЛЬНЫХ ТРАДИЦИОННЫХ РЕЧЕВЫХ ФОРМУЛ В ЛЕЗГИНСКИХ И УКРАИНСКИХ ВОЛШЕБНЫХ СКАЗКАХ

The article deals with the study of initial and final speech formulas in Lezgian and Ukrainian fairy tales. The structure and semantic features of these speech constructions in the fairy tale narrative are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the description of their axiological content. The analysis results show that the initial and final formulas in Lezgian and Ukrainian fairy tales have a similar structure consisting of several semantic blocks, with each block having a specific linguistic content provided by the national tradition. It shows that the analyzed speech formulas are prone to variability, which is usually provided by the synonymy of the elements contained in them, as well as the ways of their compatibility. Initial and final formulas in fairy tales can be subject to the amplification, i.e. complications, such as wide use of synonymous constructions of the same type, and reduction (reduction of the share of information). At the end of the study, the author concludes that the initial and final speech formulas of fairy tales are universal. At the same time, there is a distinct national specificity in their structure, semantics and functional features, allowing us to consider them as an effective mechanism for marking and preservation of ethnocultural meanings.

Formulas Against the Evil Eye in the University of Jordan

This paper reports on the findings of a contrastive study exploring the frequency of the use of formulas against the evil eye. It also explores the different categories of compliment responses. The subjects are 100 female and male native speakers of Jordanian Arabic and native speakers of American English. The data are elicited through a DCT that consists of 10 situations. Analysis of the data showed that formulaic expressions were used by native speakers of Jordanian Arabic and native speakers of American English to keep the evil eye away from the speakers. There were no significant differences between the female and male students in complimenting. The participants employed different types of compliment responses. The most frequent category was to accept compliments. A future study is recommended to examine the similarities and differences between the compliments used by teachers and students using online classes.

Exploring Task-Based Learning of L2 English Formulaic Sequences from an Intra- and Inter-Individual Perspective

This study aimed to find out which of the three tasks, summarizing (SUM), discussion (DIS) or retelling (RT), was more effective in teaching L2 English formulaic sequences to a group of Polish teenagers. In so doing, 108 EFL learners were assigned to one of the three groups: SUM (n = 36), DIS (n = 36), and RT (n = 36) and followed a three-week-long task-based intervention which was similar for all the participants apart from the target task. At the inter-individual level, the statistical analysis revealed progress but no significant differences in achievement between the three groups. A further analysis at the intra-individual level, following the principles of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory, revealed that each learner displayed unique progress and regression patterns.

Проклятия как жанр лезгинского и кумыкского фольклора

The article analyzes folk curses that have an emotional charge and relate to abusive language. Most often they are psychological or domestic in nature. Mostly, this kind of curse is pronounced unconsciously during a domestic quarrel or other conflict. They can be considered as a communicative, imperative and expletive formula. The purpose of the study is to analyze curses in which the speaker expresses dissatisfaction and indignation towards the listener. As a rule, they convey the feelings of the speaker or swearer and their attitude towards a certain situation or a specific person. The object of the study is curses presented in the folklore of Lezghins and Kumyks. Curses are found in the form of proverbial expressions, prose miniatures, and individual phrases at the heart of large works (most often in folk songs). We give a general idea of the functional and semantic aspects of curses. The article proves that curses are detailed figurative statements of negative content. This genre of folklore has a great practical value. The curses are based on a person’s faith in the magical component of the word. The article indicates that the distinctive features of curses are semantic content, emotional richness and color. The authors focus on formulaic curse expressions using the imperative form of the verb, where the focus is on the intended recipient. The work attempts to present some models arising from culturally specific characteristics. To simplify the qualitative interpretation of the material, we divided the texts of curses into various groups based on their relationship to different spheres of life. Thematic features of verbal formulas are distributed depending on the addressee.

The Matter and Form of Kant’s Moral Law

Abstract There is an interpretative puzzle at the centre of Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. The text presents the single principle of morality (G, 4: 392), but instead of providing a definitive statement of the principle, we find a three-step sequence of formulas. The puzzle concerns the formula relation: given the contrast between the moral law’s individuality and the plurality of formulas, how do the formulas relate to each other and the moral law? This paper takes the first step towards a new account by focusing on G, 4: 436, a passage in which Kant makes claims about the matter and form of the moral law. By understanding the hylomorphism entailed by these claims, it is possible to achieve new perspectives on common questions about Kant’s ethics, in particular, the role of the formulas in deriving or explaining duties and how the formulas are used in the argument of Groundwork II and its transition from popular moral philosophy to metaphysics of morals.

Which factors predict teachers’ evaluation of the difficulty and usefulness of phrasal verbs in L2 contexts?

Abstract Research examining teachers’ cognition of lexical items has flourished in the past few years. However, most of these studies focused on individual words rather than formulaic sequences. The present study aims to fill this gap through eliciting teachers’ evaluation of one type of formulaic sequences: phrasal verbs (PVs). The aim is to examine factors (frequency, opacity, and learners’ receptive and productive knowledge) that might predict teachers’ evaluation of the difficulty and usefulness of 100 PV senses. For that purpose, a survey was administered to 174 teachers. Results of generalized mixed-effects modelling showed that teachers’ assessment of both the usefulness and difficulty of PVs was predicted by sense-specific corpus frequency and receptive knowledge of these PV senses. Moreover, difficulty ratings were additionally affected by opacity and productive knowledge of PVs. We discuss these findings in relation to previous research on L2 PV knowledge and implications for L2 teaching practice.

Zeuxias’ Monetary Deposits at the Sanctuary of Olympia

This bronze plaque, found in 1879, contains two monetary deposits made by an individual named Zeuxias at the sanctuary of Olympia in the second half of the fifth century BC. It constitutes one of the few preserved documents of this type, making it a valuable testimony of banking activities at Panhellenic sanctuaries. Due to the fragmentary status of the text, a comparison with other analogous inscriptions and literary testimonies is here offered, with the aim of casting some light on the reason behind the deposit, and the formulaic language used.

Using bundle analysis to uncover formulaic language patterns in seminar discussions

Seminars serve as a valuable instructional tool in higher education, enabling scholars to engage in discussions, ask questions, and gain a clear account of the topic through interactive sessions. This leads to the significance of deciphering the discursive patterns and linguistic choices made by speakers in these academic discussions, one of these patterns is lexical bundles. This study focused on identifying the most frequently used four-word lexical bundles in 78 seminar discussions sourced from three online repositories. Drawing on Biber et al.’s taxonomy, the identified bundles underwent functional categorisation. This involved examining their contextual meanings through concordance lines to reveal something of the discoursal and communicative practices inherent in this genre, and explore how speakers organise their discourse in a formulaic way. The findings demonstrate the prominent presence of formulaic bundles in seminar discussions. Stance, which relates to the speaker’s degree of knowledge, their attitude and judgments, emerged as the most salient function of bundles, followed by referential and discourse-organising functions. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of discourse decisions in seminars, and offer insights into the formulaic linguistic choices made by speakers as they interact with their audience.

Comparing the register of seventeenth-century Dutch business letters to private letters: formulaic language and French-origin items

Abstract In this article, we examine, quantitatively and qualitatively, Dutch business letters written by merchants, focusing on formulaic phrases and French suffix borrowing. The letters are part of the Prize Papers, the collection of documents confiscated by the English during times of warfare. We compare these business letters to private letters from the same source, and address the question whether the business letters constitute a particular register. The business letters, written by upper and upper-middle ranked male merchants from the seventeenth century, appear to differ from private letters written by people with a similar social profile. Frequent formulae highly characteristic of seventeenth-century private letters occur to a much lesser extent, if at all, in the business letters. Other formulae, some including Romance origin items (Laus deo, saluut, cordiale), occur more frequently in the business letters. The frequency of verbs with the French-origin suffix -eren is found to be higher in the business letters than in the private letters. Functional explanations are presented for these register differences: formulaic language is correlated with writing experience, and the use of French-origin items may be connected to the common vocabulary used in international trading networks. Similarities in phrasing are also revealed in a qualitative analysis of examples of private and business letters by the same writer. This finding demonstrates how similar private and business letters often were, thus challenging the idea of distinct registers.

Phrase Frame Use in EFL Learners’ Argumentative Essays: A Corpus-Based Comparative Study

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the features and development of multi-word formulaic sequences for foreign language learners in the field of second language acquisition. While considerable amount of research has been conducted on continuous formulaic sequences both domestically and abroad, scant attention has been rendered to discontinuous phrase frames. Adopting a corpus linguistic perspective, the current study compares and analyses second language learners from different backgrounds with native speakers, focusing on the phrase frame features identified in the argumentative essays written by Chinese and German EFL learners. With a corpus-based approach, the four-word phrase frames are extracted from the English TOEFL essay texts of Chinese and German students using AntConc 4.1.4 corpus analysis software. The top 100 most frequently occurring phrase frames are manually filtered and then classified according to their structural and functional features to identify similarities and differences in terms of overall frequency, structure, and function features of phrase frames between two groups of learners and with those of native writers. The findings reveal that L2 learners significantly employ more fixed and predictable phrase frames than their native writers, with German L2 learners using more phrase frames than their Chinese L2 counterparts. In terms of functional features, German L2 learners use more stance and discourse organizing expressions than Chinese L2 learners. Awareness of the essay genre, English proficiency, and the time-limited writing environment are contributing factors to these features. Therefore, the study suggests that the accuracy and variety of phrase frame usage are more representative of L2 learners’ acquisition and writing quality than their quantity of use. This study facilitates an understanding of different EFL learners’ phraseological competence through the lens of their p-frame use and provides pedagogical insights accordingly into teaching and learning argumentative essays in EFL contexts.

Exploring the functions of lexical bundles in undergraduate opinion paragraphs for pedagogical use

Abstract Corpus-based studies of lexical bundles have opened new avenues for language teaching research. The fact that naturally occurring language consists of patterns of lexical repetition and multi-word units has given rise to the question of chunkiness in learner language. This study was designed to examine lexical bundles and their functions in a small, specialized learner corpus of opinion paragraphs written by Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at the University of Jeddah. The study takes a frequency-driven approach to identify common lexical bundles. A learner corpus of 237 writing tasks produced by Saudi undergraduate students from 11 different sections is compiled and explored. The primary aim was to identify high-frequency five-word lexical bundles and explore their functions in the learner corpus, as well as investigate any distributional differences in bundle use across the various student sections. The findings revealed that learners utilized lexical bundles primarily to serve four key functions: expressing stance, supporting a point, introducing an item, and making recommendations. Notably, variations were observed in the distribution of these functional categories among the different student groups. The study concludes by outlining some pedagogical applications for educators and language practitioners, highlighting the value of learner corpus-informed approaches to enhancing learners’ awareness and mastery of lexical patterning in academic writing. By better understanding the role of formulaic language in learner production, instructors can tailor their teaching to more effectively support students’ linguistic development.

The Influence of the L1 on L2 Collocation Processing in Tamil-English Bilingual Children

This study examines the influence of Tamil (L1) on the processing of English (L2) collocations during reading for Tamil-English bilingual children. Building on existing research in formulaic language, we used an online processing tool to investigate whether cross-linguistic transfer can be extended beyond single lexical items to collocations in bilingual children, a population that is underrepresented in this research area. Fifty-eight children aged 9–10 years from a school in Chennai, India, took part. Using self-paced reading, children’s reading times were measured for both congruent (with equivalent in L2) and incongruent (without equivalent in L2) English collocations embedded in short passages. There were two reading modes (single and chunk), which allowed reading times for the whole collocations and the individual words of the collocations to be examined. Results showed that children read congruent collocations more quickly than incongruent collocations in both modes. For congruent collocations, children read the second word more quickly than the first word, but the reverse was true for incongruent collocations. These results suggest that the L1 (Tamil) is activated during the processing stage of reading English collocations for Tamil-English bilingual children in this context.

Informal language contact and formulaic language development of Chinese students abroad during a global crisis

Abstract This longitudinal mixed-methods study tracked the informal language contact and phrasal verb knowledge of 21 Chinese foundation program students in the United Kingdom (UK) during the 2019–2020 academic year through three rounds of data collection. Because of the disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the study was able to capture the impact of a global crisis on the experiences of international students studying abroad and learning a second language (L2). Data from a Language Contact Questionnaire, a Study Abroad Social Network Survey, and semi-structured interviews indicated significant changes in their L2 use and social networks. Our findings showed that the students sharply reduced their L2 contact and increased their use of first language (L1) during the pandemic. Productive and receptive tests assessing phrasal verb knowledge revealed that the students did not make significant gains after the pandemic lockdown. The study suggests that significant changes in the living environment can directly impact students’ L2 usage and their formulaic language development.

Unlocking the Mysteries of Academic Writing: A Corpus-based Analysis of Lexical Bundles in L2 English for Engineering Students

This study examines the use of lexical bundles in reports produced by university-level L2 English writers in civil and environmental engineering (CEE). The corpus consists of 119 reports, and the study compares the use of different types of lexical bundles (3-word, 4-word, and 5-word) in high-scoring and low-scoring papers. The results show that high-scoring papers use a wider range of lexical bundles, and that the use of lexical bundles varies by discipline. The study also identifies specific features of the lexical bundles that contribute to score differences. The findings suggest that teaching lexical bundles and vocabulary can improve the academic writing of engineering students. The paper concludes by calling for further research on the impact of formulaic expressions on attainment scores in L2 writing.

Longitudinal Development of Holistic Formulaicity, Formulaic Sequences, and Lexical Complexity in Sojourner Diaries: A Dynamic Usage‐Based Perspective

AbstractBecause of authentic exposure, study‐abroad sojourners are expected to become more proficient in terms of holistic formulaicity (defined as targetlike language use of intensifiers, fillers, multiword sequences, lexical features, verb–argument constructions, pragmatic and discourse features, and so on), use of formulaic sequences, and lexical measures. This study traces the development of these constructs over time in written diary texts of 26 Catalan/Spanish bilingual sojourners in an Anglophone country during study abroad. It adopts a dynamic usage‐based perspective, underlining the importance of frequency of exposure and individual variability in developmental trajectories. Generalized additive mixed model analyses, which take individual nonlinear behavior into account, showed significant gains toward holistic formulaicity, but not in use of formulaic sequences nor in lexical complexity measures. We argue that at advanced stages some measures may have reached ceiling, but that sojourners may still progress in becoming more finely attuned to the conventionalized ways of saying things in the speech community.

Four Cases of Children With Phonological Impairment and Precocious Vocabulary: Making Sense of a Clinical Conundrum.

The purpose of this study was to describe the speech production, speech perception, vocabulary, and word learning abilities of lexically precocious 4-year-old children with phonological impairment, in an effort to better understand the underlying nature of phonological impairment in children. Using a case series approach, we identified four children with phonological impairment and precocious vocabulary abilities. Each child completed routine speech production and vocabulary assessments, as well as experimental speech perception and word learning tasks. The results from these tasks were then used to create profiles of each child's individual strengths and needs across the abilities assessed. Although all four children presented with phonological impairment and lexically precocious receptive and expressive vocabulary, they differed in their specific speech errors. One child presented with phonological speech errors only, while the other three children presented with an interdental lisp alongside their phonological errors. Three children presented with average speech perception abilities, and one child presented with poorer speech perception. The same three children also showed some learning of novel nonwords 1 week post-initial exposure, while the other child showed no evidence of word learning 1 week post-initial exposure. The clinical profiles of lexically precocious children with phonological impairment offered different insights into the nature of the problem. Although one child appeared to present with underspecified underlying representations of words, the other three children appeared to present with well-specified underlying representations. Of the three children with well-specified underlying representations, two appeared to have difficulty abstracting particular rules of the ambient phonological system. Further research is needed to improve our understanding of the underlying nature of phonological impairment. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.26307640.

Politeness Variation: Politeness in Britain, Australia, and Hong Kong

British culture is often characterized by off-record or negative politeness (e.g., Blum-Kulka, 1987; Ogiermann, 2009) and norms giving prominence to social distance (van Dorst et al., 2024). It is worth exploring whether other English varieties exhibit similar characteristics within the field of variational pragmatics. This paper presents a corpus-based study that investigates politeness variation in Britain, Australia, and Hong Kong. This study seeks empirical evidence regarding variations among British English, Australian English, and Hong Kong English in terms of three different politeness types: tentativeness, deference, and solidarity, and three different levels of formality: informal, neutral, and formal. Twenty-one frequently occurred formulaic expressions regularly associated with politeness are chosen and retrieved from the GB, AU, and HK components of the GloBwE Corpus. A close analysis of the results revealed significant differences across politeness types and levels of formality among the three English varieties. Australian English exhibits the highest relative frequency of deference politeness, solidarity politeness, and both informal and formal politeness formulae, followed by British English, with Hong Kong English showing the least. In contrast, Hong Kong English has the highest relative frequency of tentativeness politeness and neutral formality politeness formulae. This study finds that several factors may influence the use of three politeness types and three levels of formalities, including urbanization level, population density, settings, culture, and pragmatic transfer. Overall, this study examines politeness variation in British, Australian, and Hong Kong English using corpus-based methods, contributing to both variational pragmatics and corpus pragmatics.

Corrigendum to “Does the processing advantage of formulaic language persist in its nonadjacent forms? Evidence from Chinese collocation processing in children”

Corrigendum to “Does the processing advantage of formulaic language persist in its nonadjacent forms? Evidence from Chinese collocation processing in children”