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Article published In: Cognitive Perspectives on Genre
Edited by Carla Vergaro
[Pragmatics & Cognition 25:3] 2018
► pp. 576–601

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Genre as cognitive construction

An analysis of discourse connectors in academic lectures

 | University of Genoa
 | University of La Rioja
Published online: 10 January 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.19006.bai
Abstract
The present article investigates a set of discourse connectors in the academic lecture genre from the viewpoint of the inseparable pair of pragmatics and cognition. Making use of the MICASE corpus for data retrieval, a selection of discourse constructions encoding comparative contrastive meanings are analysed and their distinctive features are critically described and explained. The aim is to show how each particular genre promotes the use of certain constructions. The MICASE database reveals that, among all the subgroups of complementary contrastive constructions, some seem incompatible with the academic lecture contexts by virtue of the particular characteristics of this specific genre.
Article outline
  • 1.Genre as cognitive construction
  • 2.Genre in Construction Grammar
  • 3.Complementary contrastive constructions in the academic lecture genre
    • 3.1Neutral complementary contrastive constructions
    • 3.2Concessive complementary contrastive constructions
    • 3.3Correcting complementary contrastive constructions
    • 3.4Topic-changing complementary contrastive constructions
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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