A Comparative Analysis of the Frequency and Function of If-clauses in Applied Linguistics and Chemistry Articles

Abstract

This study investigated the differences and similarities between form and function of if-clauses as one type of conditional clauses within the applied linguistics and chemistry published academic Articles. These articles were examined and after determining the frequency of if-clauses, they were analyzed based on the model proposed by Sweetser (1990). According to the findings, if-clauses were more frequent in applied linguistics than chemistry articles. Results of function analysis indicated that, content is the major function in both applied and chemistry articles and comparing two genres, it is more frequent in applied linguistics articles. Next function in the line is epistemic, and it is again more frequent in applied linguistics articles and speech act was the last function that was more frequent in applied linguistics articles too. In addition, the verb forms of if-clauses were analyzed. Findings indicated that present + present pattern was the most predominant pattern across these two disciplines and it was more frequent in applied linguistics articles, therefore, there can be a relationship between verb pattern and function

A Coronavirus Corpus-driven Study on the Uses of If- Conditionals in the Pandemic Period

“…Thus, for decades, several linguists have conducted research on if-conditionals (e.g. Horsella and Sindermann (1992), Ferguson (2001), Carter-Thomas andRowley-Jolivet (2008), Warchal (2010), Hesabi, Dehaghi, and Shahnazari (2013), Puente-Castelo (2013), Lampropoulou (2014), Montkhongtham (2017), Puente-Castelo (2017), Gabrielatos (2007Gabrielatos ( , 2010Gabrielatos ( , 2019, and Lastres-Lopez ( 2020)). Although if-conditionals have been categorized in many different ways (Declerk & Reed, 2001;Gabrielatos, 2019;Lastres-Lopez, 2020), all these researchers categorize if-conditionals based on functions.…”

“…An influential framework of if-typology proposed by Sweetser (1990) consists of (1) contentconditionals (CCs), (2) epistemic conditionals (ECs), and (3) speech-act conditionals (SCs). This framework is used, for instance, in Hesabi et al (2013) and Warchal (2010) adding sub-types for SCs and separating concessive conditionals (CONs) as another category. Agreeing with Sweetser (1990), Warchal (2010), and Dancygier and Sweetser (2005) elaborating on ifconditionals and mental spaces, Lastres-Lopez (2020) emphasizes the use of if-conditionals to deliver messages not relevant to hypothesis or pattern of contingency but to interpersonal communication.…”

Use and Translation of Conditional Sentences in Institutional Register and Popular Scientific Prose

“…Different researchers have observed an abundance of conditional sentences in many areas of science, e.g. physics (Louwerse et al, 2008), chemistry, applied linguistics (Hesabi et al, 2013), more and less formal discourses of medicine (Carter-Thomas and Rowley-Jolivet, 2008), etc. Although conditional sentences seem to pose no problems for writers or translators, more complex sentence structures with the conditional clause taking the middle position in a sentence and, this way, distancing the subject and the verb might be difficult to comprehend or translate.…”