Earticle

This study investigates the collocational patterns and semantic imports of past perfect subjunctive conditionals in conversational English by analyzing data extracted from the Brown University Corpus and the Kaggle Blog Authorship Corpus. The analysis focuses on identifying common forms of collocations and connotations that the conditionals accompany or constitute. The findings show that past perfect subjunctive conditionals are used to express a range of emotions and cognitive appraisals, with expressions of more desirable situations and speculative comments on event causality being the most prevalent. Formal features, such as the addition of an adversative but-clause, main clauses in interrogative mood, and the denotation of specific time points, alongside semantic features such as sharing of emotions, discordance between actual-epistemic and ideal-deontic states of being, and perlocutionary effects like humor and sarcasm, demonstrate the unique communicative and discourse functions of past perfect subjunctive conditionals. The study offers practical insights for learners of English and suggests that input materials reflecting the functional underpinnings of the past perfect subjunctive conditional can enhance their understanding and productive use of the structure.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the novel types of subjunctive complementizer nka in Korean. Among the two types of interrogative complementizer variants of the ordinary interrogative complementizer ci and the modalized interrogative complementizer nka, we argue that nka is a lexicalized form of the epistemic subjunctive mood exponent appearing in subordinator C. Specifically, we show that the semantic function of nka creates epistemic weakening in subjective doxastic space and expresses speaker/subject’s epistemic uncertainty on the embedded question. Our claim will be further supported by corpus study by comparing different types of predicates selecting nka and/or ci. The theoretical implication of current study is two-folds: First, in Korean, interrogative can be another prerequisite of subjunctivity. Second, for the analysis of interrogative subjunctive, the inquisitive-based theory is untenable but nonveridicality can provide the general theory.

A corpus approach was adopted as a methodological experiment in exploring the pedagogical monologues of two secondary teachers, teaching academic subjects through English in an EFL context. Through an analysis of word frequency and associated grammatical patterns, both instructional and regulative registers (Christie, 2000) were identified in the monologues, which indicated teachers followed a similar pedagogical direction, regardless of the subject matter, in formulating academic concepts. However, differences were found between the teachers in the ways they communicated the content to the classes and the ways they engaged students with the subject matter, regarding positioning of participants, and choices of independent and dependent clauses and verbs. This, we argue, resulted in two different learning environments. The corpus approach, while not unproblematic, enabled us to discern lexico-grammatical and discoursal patterns of the monologues by processing the data differently from labor-intensive line-by-line analysis of text in discourse analysis. The small-scale corpus approach provides a level of confidence that it can be applied to similar investigations on a larger scale. The findings help raise awareness of educators in bilingual classrooms of the workings of monologues in teacher-fronted subject teaching, and of different discourse orientations of two superficially similar semiotic events.

This article aims to investigate the distribution of the English get-passive in comparison to that of be-passive. We conducted a corpus study to explore what factor groups constrain the usage of get-passive and be-passive and the order of significance of the factor groups affecting the choice of one passive type over the other type. We suggest that the results of the present study and its implications shed light on the grammatical teaching of get-passives in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context.

Modality, one of the central components of English grammar, speakers’ evaluations and emotions is known to be important in verbal communication but difficult to use accurately. The purpose of the study is to investigate the pattern of modal verbs used by Korean learners in their speaking. In the present study, a comparative analysis of a learner corpus of Korean undergraduates’ speech and an American native corpus was performed. More specifically, this study explored the use of six core modal verbs in both corpora using the AntConc 3.5.8 software. The results of this study are as follows. First, it was observed the tendency of Korean L2 learners to overuse 'can' and 'will' while underusing 'could' and 'would'. Second, it was revealed that English proficiency predicted learners’ versatility in using modal verbs. Based on these findings, several reasons were discussed underlying these differences. This paper provides valuable insights for teaching of modal verbs in the English classroom.

This study uses corpora of South Korean media texts and examines how the English word ‘mom’ is borrowed and adapted to produce what is termed as 맘(mam) words in Korean, and how the use of these 맘(mam) words contributes to certain ways of representing women as working mothers. Firstly, the classification of 맘(mam) words shows how women’s identity as a mother is essentially shaped by their educational zeal and ability to raise an academically successful child. Secondly, the analysis of the collocational patterns of 워킹맘(workingmam), 직장맘(jikjangmam) and 일하는 엄마(ilhaneun eomma) shows that while the majority of collocates are shared, some collocates are distinctive to each word, revealing a number of patterns in representing women who work.

The paper reports on part of a larger scale collaborative and interdisciplinary project among English Applied Studies, Land Surveying and Geo-informatics, and utility specialists industry in engineering in Hong Kong. The present study interviewed 36 utility specialists in Hong Kong to find out their understanding of and perceived importance of communicative competences in English situated in their professional workplaces. The corpora created from the interview data were analysed in several complementary and inter-connected ways, namely word lists, concgram lists, and key semantic fields, to ascertain the kinds of meanings or topical concerns and themes expressed by the professionals when they talked about different types of competences in communication, namely linguistic, sociolinguistic, discourse, strategic, socio-cultural, and social in their workplace. The project has also achieved effective outcomes in terms of knowledge sharing and exchange with the industry.

This study investigates the productivity and frequency of the near-synonymous derivational suffixes -ish and -like in the British National Corpus. In particular, it examines the bases to which they attach and the meanings imparted in each instance. Some of the findings correspond to work conducted with other corpora or in the theoretical realm, but the study also found a definite pattern of -like attaching to adjectives to form adverbial expressions, in much the same was that -ly does, though conveying a unique meaning. The study also examines the use of adverbial modifiers of words formed with the two suffixes and examines how these serve to modulate the semantic contributions of the affixed words.

Phrasal verbs present challenges for second language learners due to their idiomatic meanings, polysemy, and complex syntax. This study analyzes phrasal verb usage in essays by learners from 10 Asian L1 (first language) backgrounds in the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE), across varying proficiency levels, using English native speakers (ENS) as a reference. Employing the PhaVE List, the study examines the effects of L1 background and proficiency on phrasal verb frequency and diversity. Results reveal that while higher proficiency increases phrasal verb diversity, L1 background is a stronger predictor. Singaporean learners notably exceed ENS in phrasal verb diversity, while other L1 groups show substantial variability. These findings highlight the importance of addressing L1-specific challenges and promoting exposure to diverse phrasal verbs to support learners, particularly those with lower diversity in usage.

Using data from the 400-million-word Corpus of Historical American English (COHA) and the 450-million-word Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), this study investigates both diachronically and synchronically the use of the -free compound and its counterparts, the free of/from phrases. A close examination of the frequency, distribution, and structural and semantic functions of the constructions yields the following key findings. First, frequency-wise, free of has exhibited a steady slow growth, and free from has declined dramatically; in contrast -free has increased enormously, although its archaic use in the senses of ‘free to’ and ‘free with’ disappeared by the 1940s. Second, the -free compound boasts a high potential productivity index. Third, while both the compound and the phrasal constructions may be used as predicative and postnominal adjectives, objective complements, and adverbials, only the -free compound is used as a prenominal (attributive) adjective. Fourth, whereas the -free compound is used almost exclusively nonreferentially, the free of/from constructions are used significantly more referentially. Fifth, even in the contexts where the constructions may all be used, often only one is allowed or preferred due to certain internal structural and semantic factors. Finally, condensation of information along with changes in language and life styles appears to have driven the increased use of the compound over its phrasal counterparts, although the phrase free of charge has resisted the change: its high frequency likely has blocked its *charge-free compound counterpart.

This present study investigates the most frequently used lexical bundles in argumentative essays written by L1 English and L2 Taiwanese undergraduate students and compares the use of high-frequency lexical bundles between the two groups. The data were drawn from the ICNALE (International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English) (Ishikawa, 2013), from which two sub-corpora were compiled: ICNALETW with 400 essays produced by L2 writers from Taiwan and ICNALE-EN as a comparable dataset with 400 essays contributed by native English speakers. Based on the structural and functional taxonomy proposed by Biber et al. (1999), the forms and functions of four-word lexical bundles used by L1 and L2 students were manually annotated and analyzed. The findings reveal that among the top 100 most frequent lexical bundles identified from the two sub-corpora, 16 lexical bundles are shared by L1 and L2 student writers and that through structural and functional analyses, both L1 and L2 writers’ lexical bundles exhibit a similar tendency, with a predominance of verb-based phrases and stance related expressions. The findings presented in this study suggest pedagogical implications for the instruction of formulaic language in tertiary-level academic writing.

This study examines the typical organization of pragmatic moves in Korean workplace communication. Using the Korean Business Email(KBE) corpus, we employed a corpus-based workflow consisting of frequency profiling, keyness analysis(log-likelihood, log ratio, and p-values), and node-centered dispersion visualization. The results show a high degree of conventionalization; requests are primarily expressed through mitigated, formally directive framing, while workflow actions are managed through explicit confirmation and reply requests. Keyness analysis highlights high-coverage request routines, and dispersion analysis confirms position-sensitive placement norms across message sections. The study shows that professional actions are routinized through the use of formulaic patterns in Korean business emails. The findings also provide educational implications for L2 learners of business Korean.

This study explores Chinese learners’ use of English passive voice through a comparative analysis of two learner corpora(ICLE_Ch and LOCNESS) and a reference corpus(BNC 2014). By analyzing the frequency of English passive constructions, syntactic errors, semantic prosodies, and over-passivization, this study reveals significant differences between Chinese learners and native English speakers. The findings show that Chinese learners use the passive voice less, associate it with more negative connotations, and make more syntactic errors, especially in agreement and passive participle formation. This study also found that Chinese learners tend to overuse the passive voice, especially with inanimate subjects. These differences are attributed to differences in Chinese and English syntax and semantico-pragmatics. This study infers the pedagogical implications that Chinese students should be encouraged to use more passive constructions in their English writings when necessary and to pay attention to the rules of tense and subject-verb agreement and passive participle formation. They should also be taught to avoid excessive passivization and the tendency to link English passives to negative semantic prosody.

This descriptive corpus-based study aimed to investigate EFL students’ use of English lexical collocations in their academic writing. The study included 120 freshmen majoring in English Studies at a state university in the southern region of Vietnam. Corpus-based tools, specifically Sketch Engine and the Corpus of Contemporary American English, were primarily employed to categorize and assess the appropriateness of collocations expressed in the students' essays. Additionally, in order to delve deeper into research-related matters, a Likert scale survey embedded with two open-ended questions was administered to the participants. The findings obtained from both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the collected data indicated that the students most frequently utilized adjective + noun collocations in their academic essays. However, the types of collocations that seemed to pose the most challenges for their usage were noun + noun, adjective + noun, and verb + adverb collocations. This was largely attributed to their limited vocabulary size, lack of collocational knowledge and learning strategies, and L1 negative transfer, which resulted in their misuse and incorrect selection of English collocations. Based on the research outcomes, important pedagogical implications have been further discussed for effective teaching and learning of English collocations to benefit EFL students’ academic writing.

This descriptive corpus-based study aimed to investigate EFL students’ use of English lexical collocations in their academic writing. The study included 120 freshmen majoring in English Studies at a state university in the southern region of Vietnam. Corpus-based tools, specifically Sketch Engine and the Corpus of Contemporary American English, were primarily employed to categorize and assess the appropriateness of collocations expressed in the students' essays. Additionally, in order to delve deeper into research-related matters, a Likert scale survey embedded with two open-ended questions was administered to the participants. The findings obtained from both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the collected data indicated that the students most frequently utilized adjective + noun collocations in their academic essays. However, the types of collocations that seemed to pose the most challenges for their usage were noun + noun, adjective + noun, and verb + adverb collocations. This was largely attributed to their limited vocabulary size, lack of collocational knowledge and learning strategies, and L1 negative transfer, which resulted in their misuse and incorrect selection of English collocations. Based on the research outcomes, important pedagogical implications have been further discussed for effective teaching and learning of English collocations to benefit EFL students’ academic writing.

Translation universals hypothesizes that translational languages have conventional yet unique features of translations, distinct from those of non-translations, and these features are universally present in all translations regardless of language pairs. However, the verification of translation universals has been restricted mainly to genetically close language pairs, such as English and closely related European languages. To confirm its universality, this article investigated Korean-into-English translations in the literary genre, which have remained mostly unexplored in translation universals studies. By constructing an approximately 500,000-word comparable corpus the Comparable Corpus of American — and Korean Novels—this study tested four major sub-hypotheses: simplification, explicitation, normalization, and leveling-out. Setting aside the lexical density of simplification indices, the results from all the other indices—mean sentence length, proportions of high- and low-frequency words, normalized frequencies of connectives and lexical bundles, and standard deviations of lexical density and mean sentence length—supported the translation universals hypothesis, indicating its high generalizability.

The current study examined Korean EFL learners’ use of English relative clauses (RCs) in essays with a special focus on proficiency-specific characteristics. The overall frequency distribution of RCs, RC structural types, and RC-related errors were examined by comparing two different levels of learner corpora and the native speaker corpus. The findings reveal native speakers’ more frequent use of RCs compared with learners and the overall proficiency effect on the number of RC uses. In terms of RC structural types, native speakers and learners were more alike than different, and regardless of proficiency level, learners’ use of RC structural types showed supporting evidence for Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (Keenan & Comrie, 1977). The numbers and types of RC-related errors were different depending on learners’ proficiency levels. From these findings, some useful pedagogical implications are drawn and discussed for level-specific English RC instructions.