In:Cross-linguistic Correspondences: From lexis to genre
Edited by Thomas Egan and Hildegunn Dirdal
[Studies in Language Companion Series 191] 2017
► pp. 271–296
Chapter 11Frequency and lexical variation in connector use
Published online: 23 November 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.191.11ror
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.191.11ror
Abstract
The present study investigates the frequency and lexical variation in connector use in argumentative texts in English and Norwegian. The concept of ‘connector’ includes adverbial conjuncts and co-ordinating conjunctions, and the material comprises texts by expert and novice (student) writers. The results indicate that conjunctions are more frequent in English expert texts than in the corresponding Norwegian material, but the opposite tendency is found between the novice writers. In terms of lexical variation, there are two main findings. The first is that much of the observed variation is the result of many items being used only once, and the second is that there are a number of cross-linguistic correspondences in the most frequently used lexical items.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1Previous research
- 1.2The present study: Aims and definitions
- 2.Material and method
- 3.Results
- 3.1Connector frequency
- 3.2Correlation between frequency of connectors and lexical variation
- 3.3Meaning categories and lexical variation
- 3.4Most frequent lexical items
- 4.Summary
Notes References
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