English Predicate Inversion: Towards Data-driven Learning
0
조회
0
다운로드
3
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
English inversion constructions are not only hard for non-native speakers to learn but also difficult to teach mainly because of their intriguing grammatical and discourse properties. This paper addresses grammatical issues in learning or teaching the so-called ‘predicate inversion (PI)’ construction (e.g., Equally important in terms of forest depletion is the continuous logging of the forests). In particular, we chart the grammatical (distributional, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic) properties of the PI construction,and argue for adata-driven teaching for English grammar. To depart from the arm-chaired style of grammar teaching (relying on author-made simple sentences), our teaching method introduces a datadriven teaching. With total 25 university students in a grammar-related class, students together have analyzed the British Component of the International Corpus of English (ICE-GB), containing about one million words distributed across a variety of textual categories. We have identified total 290 PI sentences (206 from spoken and 87 from written texts). The preposed syntactic categories of the PI involve five main types:AdvP, PP, VP(ed/ing), NP, AP, and so, all of which function as the complement of the copula. In terms of discourse, we have observed, supporting Birner and Ward’s (1998) observation that these preposed phrases represent more familiar information than the postposed subject. The corpus examples gave us the three possible types: The preposed element is discourse-old whereas the postposed one is discourse-new as in Putting wire mesh over a few bricks is a good idea. Both preposed and postposed elements can also be discourse new as in But a fly in the ointment is inflation. These two elements can also be discourse old as in Racing with him on the near-side is Rinus. The dominant occurrence of the PI in the spoken texts also supports the view that the balance (or scene-setting) in information structure is the main trigger for the use of the PI construction. After being exposed to the real data and in-depth syntactic as well as informationstructure analysis of the PI construction, it is proved that the class students have had a farmore clear understanding of the construction in question and have realized that grammar does not mean to live on by itself but tightly interacts with other important grammatical components such as information structure. The study directs us toward both a datadriven and interactive grammar teaching. English Predicate Inversion: Towards Data-driven Learnin 1051
Abstract
English inversion constructions are not only hard for non-native speakers to learn but also difficult to teach mainly because of their intriguing grammatical and discourse properties. This paper addresses grammatical issues in learning or teaching the so-called ‘predicate inversion (PI)’ construction (e.g., Equally important in terms of forest depletion is the continuous logging of the forests). In particular, we chart the grammatical (distributional, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic) properties of the PI construction,and argue for adata-driven teaching for English grammar. To depart from the arm-chaired style of grammar teaching (relying on author-made simple sentences), our teaching method introduces a datadriven teaching. With total 25 university students in a grammar-related class, students together have analyzed the British Component of the International Corpus of English (ICE-GB), containing about one million words distributed across a variety of textual categories. We have identified total 290 PI sentences (206 from spoken and 87 from written texts). The preposed syntactic categories of the PI involve five main types:AdvP, PP, VP(ed/ing), NP, AP, and so, all of which function as the complement of the copula. In terms of discourse, we have observed, supporting Birner and Ward’s (1998) observation that these preposed phrases represent more familiar information than the postposed subject. The corpus examples gave us the three possible types: The preposed element is discourse-old whereas the postposed one is discourse-new as in Putting wire mesh over a few bricks is a good idea. Both preposed and postposed elements can also be discourse new as in But a fly in the ointment is inflation. These two elements can also be discourse old as in Racing with him on the near-side is Rinus. The dominant occurrence of the PI in the spoken texts also supports the view that the balance (or scene-setting) in information structure is the main trigger for the use of the PI construction. After being exposed to the real data and in-depth syntactic as well as informationstructure analysis of the PI construction, it is proved that the class students have had a farmore clear understanding of the construction in question and have realized that grammar does not mean to live on by itself but tightly interacts with other important grammatical components such as information structure. The study directs us toward both a datadriven and interactive grammar teaching. English Predicate Inversion: Towards Data-driven Learnin 1051
참고문헌 (17)
- Biber, Douglas, "Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English" (1999), Person Education
- Birner, Betty J, "Information Status and Word Order: An Analysis of English Inversion", Language, 70, pp.233~259 (1994)
- Birner, Betty, "On the Interpretation of VP Inversion in American English", Journal of Linguistics, 28, pp.1~12 (1992)
- Birner, Betty, "Information Status and Noncanonical Word Order In English" (1998), John Benjamin Publishing
- Boulton, Alex, "Data-driven Learning: Taking the Computer Out of the Equation", Language Learning, 60, pp.534~572 (2010)
- Braun, Sabine, "Integrating Corpus Work into Secondary Education: From Data-driven Learning to Needs-driven Corpora", ReCALL, 19, pp.307~328 (2007)
- Chen, Rong, "English Inversion: A Ground-before-figure Construction" (2003), Mouton de Gruyter
- Dorgeloh, Heidrun, "Inversion in Modern English: Form and Function" (1997), John Benjamin Publishing
- Green, Geogia M, "Some Wherefores of English Inversions", Language, 56, pp.582~601 (1990)
- Hadley, Gregory, "Sensing the Winds of Change: An Introduction to Datadriven learning", RELC Journal, 33, pp.99~124 (2002)
- Huddleson, Rodney, "The Cambridge Grammar of English Language" (2002), Cambridge UP
- Johns, Tim, "From printout to handout: Grammar and Vocabulary Teaching in the Context of Data-driven Learning", English Language Research Journal, 4, pp.27~45
- Jong-BokKim, "English Locative Inversion:A Constraint-Based Approach", 언어, 28(2), pp.207~235 (2003), 한국언어학회
- Moro, Andrea, "The Raising of Predicates: Predicative Noun Phrases and the Theory of Clause Structure" (1997), Cambridge UP
- Rochemont, Michael, "English Focus Constructions and the Theory of Grammar" (1990), Cambridge UP
- Schueler, David, "Presuppositional Predicates and Sentential Subject Extraposition", WCCFL 23 Proceedings, pp.101~114 (2004)
- Wasow, Tom, "Post-verbal Constituent Ordering in English. In: Determinants of Grammatical Variation in English", pp.119~154 (2003)