‘Shell nouns’ in English written and spoken monological academic texts
| Název práce v češtině: | ‚Shell nouns‘ v anglickém psaném a mluveném monologickém akademickém textu |
|---|---|
| Název v anglickém jazyce: | ‘Shell nouns’ in English written and spoken monological academic texts |
| Klíčová slova: | shell nouns, odborný jazyk, angličtina, diskurzní funkce, korpusová lingvistika |
| Klíčová slova anglicky: | shell nouns, academic language, English, discourse functions, corpus linguistics |
| Akademický rok vypsání: | 2023/2024 |
| Typ práce: | diplomová práce |
| Jazyk práce: | angličtina |
| Ústav: | Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury (41-KAJL) |
| Vedoucí / školitel: | doc. PhDr. Markéta Malá, Ph.D. |
| Řešitel: | skrytý - zadáno a potvrzeno stud. odd. |
| Datum přihlášení: | 26.10.2023 |
| Datum zadání: | 26.10.2023 |
| Datum potvrzení stud. oddělením: | 22.03.2024 |
| Datum a čas obhajoby: | 31.05.2024 08:00 |
| Místo konání obhajoby: | C105/C14, 30 míst u lavice + 10 míst židličky se "stolečkem" |
| Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: | 15.04.2024 |
| Datum proběhlé obhajoby: | 31.05.2024 |
| Předmět: | Obhajoba diplomové práce (OSZD105AJ) |
| Oponenti: | PhDr. Zuzana Nádraská, Ph.D. |
| Zásady pro vypracování |
| The thesis will explore the uses of ‘shell nouns’, i.e. abstract vague nouns (e.g. thing, idea, aim) whose textual function consists in opening up “an inherent semantic gap that must be filled by information from the linguistic context” (Schmid 2018: 111). These nouns encapsulate local, context-specific contexts, at the same time characterizing their content (as, e.g., a problem or fact) and serving “a linking and referring function by instructing readers and hearers to bind the semantic characterization provided by the noun with that encoded as shell content” (Ibid.: 112).
The research will compare the uses of shell nouns in two genres of academic English frequently employed by university teachers, viz. academic papers and books, and lectures, from several points of view: the repertoire of shell nouns in the two registers, semantics (e.g. factual, mental, modal nouns, etc.), discourse-related functions (cohesion, focussing, interpersonal function of “monitoring the smooth flow of interaction” (Tárnyiková 2018: 223). Based on literature, shell nouns are expected to differ in all these aspects across the two genres, reflecting the impact of the medium (the “field-tenor-medium complex” (Chengyu Fang and Dong 2017)). The material will be drawn from the lectures from the corpus of British academic spoken English (BASE – Arts and Humanities) and from corresponding articles published in academic journals. |
| Seznam odborné literatury |
| Benítez-Castro, M.-Á., & Thompson, P. (2015). Shell-nounhood in academic discourse: A critical state-of-the-art review. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 20(3), 378–404.
Chengyu Fang, Alex and Min Dong. 2021. Shell nouns as register-specific discourse devices. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 26:2, 219–247. Flowerdew, John and Richard W. Forest. 2015. Signalling nouns in English. A corpus-based discourse approach. Cambridge University Press. Halliday, M.A.K., & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. Longman. Liu, Qingrong and Liming Deng. 2017. A genre-based study of shell-noun use in the N-be-that construction in popular and professional science articles. English for Specific Purposes 48, 32-43. Schmid, Hans-Jörg .2018. Shell nouns in English – a personal roundup. Caplletra 64 (Primavera, 2018), 109-128. ISSN 0214-8188. Schmid, Hans-Jörg. 2000. English abstract nouns as conceptual shells. From corpus to cognition. Mouton de Gruyter. Tárnyiková, Jarmila. 2018. Constructions with shell nouns in English: their dual role in information packaging. Caplletra 64 (Primavera, 2018), 205-225. ISSN 0214-8188. Vergaro, Carla. 2018. Illocutionary shell nouns in English. Peter Lang. |
| Předběžná náplň práce v anglickém jazyce |
| The thesis will explore the uses of ‘shell nouns’, i.e. abstract vague nouns (e.g. thing, idea, aim) whose textual function consists in opening up “an inherent semantic gap that must be filled by information from the linguistic context” (Schmid 2018: 111). These nouns encapsulate local, context-specific contexts, at the same time characterizing their content (as, e.g., a problem or fact) and serving “a linking and referring function by instructing readers and hearers to bind the semantic characterization provided by the noun with that encoded as shell content” (Ibid.: 112).
The research will compare the uses of shell nouns in two genres of academic English frequently employed by university teachers, viz. academic papers and books, and lectures, from several points of view: the repertoire of shell nouns in the two registers, semantics (e.g. factual, mental, modal nouns, etc.), discourse-related functions (cohesion, focussing, interpersonal function of “monitoring the smooth flow of interaction” (Tárnyiková 2018: 223). Based on literature, shell nouns are expected to differ in all these aspects across the two genres, reflecting the impact of the medium (the “field-tenor-medium complex” (Chengyu Fang and Dong 2017)). The material will be drawn from the lectures from the corpus of British academic spoken English (BASE – Arts and Humanities) and from corresponding articles published in academic journals. |