Evaluative meanings and disciplinary values: a corpus-based study of adjective patterns in research articles in applied linguistics and business studies

Nishina, Yasunori (2011). Evaluative meanings and disciplinary values: a corpus-based study of adjective patterns in research articles in applied linguistics and business studies. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate disciplinary variation in academic writing, focusing in particular on the use of adjective patterns followed by prepositions. The analysis proceeds through a detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of these patterns in two large corpora of authentic texts. The analysis focuses not only on the specific adjectives found in the patterns themselves, but also on collocations within and around each pattern. The empirical focus of the study will be on two ‘soft-applied’ disciplines (Becher and Trowler 2001), applied linguistics and business studies, as represented by two corpora of research articles drawn from 16 leading journals in each field. Comparison of the results for each corpus shows that there are many differences in form and meaning between the two disciplines: it is argued that the features revealed by my analysis are indicative of the epistemological characteristics of these two different disciplinary discourses. These differences reveal the particular culture and norm of applied linguistics and business studies.

Type of Work: Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)
Award Type: Doctorates > Ph.D.
Supervisor(s):
Supervisor(s)EmailORCID
Groom, NicholasUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
John, SuganthiUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Hunston 1953-, SusanUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Licence:
College/Faculty: Colleges (2008 onwards) > College of Arts & Law
School or Department: School of English, Drama and American & Canadian Studies, Department of English Literature
Funders: None/not applicable
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PE English
P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
URI: http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/1540

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