Elastic ‘I think’: Stretching Over L1 and L2

Shifting structural complexity: The production of clause types in speeches given by English for academic purposes students

“…Moreover, future research might consider how production may be influenced by the frequency and function of the clause types in L1s (cf. Zhang & Sabet, 2014). Overall, these findings are relevant for EAP teachers and curriculum designers for the timing and coverage of each clause type, and theoretically, the results offer an important view of the multidimensionality and development of linguistic complexity in learners' speech.…”

“…However, there are at least two issues to consider when comparing the current results to previous studies: the speech type and the context. Firstly, these speeches were monologues; conversations have more epistemic I thinks (e.g., Gablasova et al, 2015;Zhang & Sabet, 2014). Secondly, this research studied EAP learner data while other research with oral data (e.g., Biber & Gray) used L1…”

‘We Are Going to Do a Lot of Things for College Tuition’: Vague Language in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Debates

“…would) compared to her rival Trump, points towards Clinton's tendency to further highlight her subjective opinion (Rue and Zhang 2008). It therefore appears that Clinton tends to convey the idea that ''what I say here is merely my personal opinion'' to a greater extent than Trump, thus protecting herself from the risk of being challenged and refuted (Zhang and Sabet 2016). Extrapolating from this, one could claim that Clinton tends to adopt a more cautious tone compared to that of her rival, particularly when it is considered that these expressions are typically associated with the expression of a speaker's uncertainty and tentativeness.…”

“I don’t think” versus “I think + not”

“…Epistemic phrases (e.g. I think) are used diversely in cross-cultural communication (Zhang and Sabet 2016). The present study focuses on the negative forms of I think: I don't think and I think + not.…”