General extenders and discourse variation

Abstract

The present study accounts for the use of general extenders (GEs) in spoken and written registers. The repertoire and usage of GEs is analysed in Lithuanian by focusing on their distribution across different registers, their structural properties, and discourse-pragmatic functions. The study is based on a reference corpus of Lithuanian, which includes four subcorpora of written discourse and a subcorpus of spoken discourse. The findings indicate that there are some significant cross-generic differences in GE frequency, but most frequently GEs in Lithuanian are used in written academic discourse. With regard to the structural types of GEs, adjunctives are considerably more frequent than disjunctives. GE structure allows for a large degree of variation, and in spoken interaction GEs can include deictic elements. Concerning discourse-pragmatic functions, GEs are predominantly used to serve textual and interpersonal functions, which appear to be strongly related to the structural type of the GE and discourse settings.

Vague language in argumentative essays written by advanced Lithuanian learners of English

“…Earlier studies on GEs also point to a generally higher incidence of adjunctive GEs, especially in more formal communication (e.g. Cheshire 2007, Martínez 2011, Ruzaitė 2018. In fact, adjunctive GEs have been reported to be considerably more frequent not only in general English but also other languages (e.g.…”

“…In fact, adjunctive GEs have been reported to be considerably more frequent not only in general English but also other languages (e.g. in Persian (Parvaresh, Tayebi 2014); Slovene (Verdonik 2015); Lithuanian (Ruzaitė 2018)).…”

“…In research on VL, the focus typically lies on spoken language, since VL is considered to be more typical of spoken interaction than written discourse (cf. Biber et al 1999, Sabet, Zhang 2015, Ruzaitė 2018. As a highly representative study based on the International Corpus of English (ICE-GB) and the British National Corpus (BNC) by Martínez (2011) shows, in English L1 the majority of GEs appear more frequently in spoken data (e.g.…”

“…VL, as a typical feature of spoken interaction, is often associated with informality (e.g. Overstreet 1999, Stenström et al 2002, Cheshire 2007, Ruzaitė 2018. VL, however, does not form a homogeneous category in that respect: there appears to be a continuum of the degree of formality within the category of VL, and some VL items are more associated with formality, whereas others are less formal.…”

The English general extender

“…3Some of this work has already been undertaken, with studies focusing on general extenders in French (Secova, 2017), German (Overstreet, 2005; Terraschke, 2007), Lithuanian (Ruzaité, 2018), Persian (Parvaresh et al, 2012), Spanish (Cortés Rodríguez, 2006; Romero–Trillo, 2002), Slovene (Verdonik, 2015) and Swedish (Aijmer, 2015; Norrby & Winter, 2002). …”