This corpus-based study explores the expression of gratitude in the acknowledgement section of doctoral dissertations in both English and Arabic. The objective is to analyse how gratitude in academic discourse is structured in these languages and to explore any differences related to gender. The study examines 80 dissertations (40 in English and…

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the impact of learners' L1s and proficiency levels on their written production. This study also examined the influence of speech upon their writing. The following research questions were explored: (a) How do L1 and proficiency levels of learners affect their degrees of register awareness? (b)…

This paper presents a comprehensive overview of lexicogrammatical devices which highlight important or relevant points in lectures. Despite the established usefulness of discourse organizational cues for lecture comprehension and note-taking, very little is known about the marking of relevance in this genre. The current overview of…

In Spanish, aspectual morphology is a critical element that speakers use to narrate and discuss past events. Previous qualitative accounts have shown that native Spanish-speakers apply past-tense aspectual morphology to verbs in order to distinguish between events viewed as perfective (bounded, discrete events) and imperfective (unbounded,…

Variationist account of how direct quotations are framed in spoken Spanish requires definition of variable and envelope of variation followed by investigation of linguistic, stylistic, and social constraints. Variable is defined as set of three strategies for directly quoting speech, gestures, and sound effects of people, animals, or things in…

Northern Andean Spanish (NAS) possesses a complex system of structures used in impositive speech. NAS speakers choose from several grammatical possibilities when asking their interlocutor to act. This article summarizes the grammatical possibilities and explains how the different forms are used to indicate different levels of politeness. (15…

Tests claims regarding "get"-passives in English via interrogation of a set of written and spoken corpora. The data suggest that "get"-passives are often associated with two types of pragmatic implicature. Finally, the corpus provides evidence of three types of variation with 'get'-passives: regional, stylistic, and diachronic.…

This guide was designed to provide both the occasional and the professional bilingual Spanish-English translator with some working definitions based on modern linguistics and to call his or her attention to certain difficulties in translating. Sections on the following are included: (1) context sensitivity, (2) frequency matching, (3) style…

A study of the spoken French of 120 residents of Montreal. The researchers were interested in the linguistic and social factors influencing the use of "avoir" and "etre." Results show that this usage corresponds to a tendancy to regularize conjugations. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

This paper presents the results of a quantitative analysis of the historical present tense (HP) in English. The tokens of HP in narrative clauses, such as "he's smiling, an' he picks up the card," are referentially equivalent to their past tense alternants in the phrases, "he was smiling an' he picked up the card." Previous…

Challenges the descriptive linguist to tackle the problem of Educated Spoken Arabic and its regional varieties, in particular in regard to aspect and the participle. (AM)

The dangers and misuses of literary dialect as a source of information for linguistic evaluation are analyzed. "Literary dialect" is used to refer to writing in which the main purpose is the artful construction of a narrative, where the dialect representation is apt to be concerned more with giving an artful impression of a dialect than…

A number of issues of central importance to understanding the nature of language, its acquisition and use were considered at a seminar on language learning. Papers delivered at the seminar are as follows: "Why Don't Learners Learn What Teachers Teach? The Interaction Hypothesis" (Dick Allwright); "The Role of Instruction in Second Language…

Essays on Spanish linguistics and related topics are dedicated to linguist Tracy D. Terrell. An introductory section gives a brief biography and a list of his publications. Essays include: "The Natural Approach to Language Teaching: An Update" (Tracy D. Terrell); "Two Mad, Mad, Mad Worlds: Notes on Natural Approach and the Writing…