The main thrust of this paper is to investigate the syntactic and semantic features of the Englis... more The main thrust of this paper is to investigate the syntactic and semantic features of the English phrasal verbs and examine the extent to which undergraduate students understand these features. Phrasal verbs from the stand point of this study were classified into subgroups according to their syntactic and semantic characteristics. The investigation, which is preceded by an extensive literature review, is aimed at tackling silent issues related to phrasal verbs. The paper shades light on the basic definitions of phrasal verbs, deals with the importance of phrasal verbs in English, and examines the syntactic and semantic features of phrasal verbs; to reveal whether these phrasal verbs are transitive or intransitive and separable or inseparable. It also focuses on the differences between phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs. Finally, the literal and idiomatic usage of English phrasal verbs has been reviewed. 684 fresh undergraduate students of Federal College of Education, Zaria, who registered and passed GENS 103 (English and Communication Skills) at credit level and above were selected for the study out of the over 1,200 that have registered for the course. In the light of the findings of the study a number of conclusions are drawn which includes: English phrasal verb consists of two basic components: a lexical verb and a particle (an adverb or a preposition), the meaning of the phrasal verbs is not implied in the meaning of the constituent elements that form them, both transitive and intransitive phrasal verbs can be used as phrasal verb but their state will be different. The results also reveal that although a number of the participants can be said to understand the different characteristics of English phrasal verbs,(43.85% on semantic knowledge, 50.58% on syntactic knowledge and 39.91% on the distinction between Phrasal verbs and Prepositional Phrases) however, larger percentage of them(56.14%, 49.41% and 60.08% respectively) still find phrasal verbs difficult to understand.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research is to investigate the speech act of complimenting among th... more ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research is to investigate the speech act of complimenting among the Hausa native speakers. A compliment is a speech act which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker for some “good” (possession, characteristic, skill, etc) which is positively valued by the speaker and the hearer Holmes, 1988:17. The research aims at examining the basic strategies of compliments along with their responses within the Hausa social contexts. It also examines how social variables like age, gender, and social relationships affect the expression of compliments and compliment responses. In any communicative situation, people grapple with choices as to which form of language to use in a variety of social situations, therefore making speech a complex human activity. This sociolinguistic complexity can either make or break social relationship among members of a community. One hundred native speakers of Hausa language take the two forms of the Discourse Completion Test (DCT) with 12 scenarios in each, to cover the possibility of different social situations. The speech act data (compliments) are analysed according to models proposed by Pomerantz (1978), Wolfson and Manes (1980), Herbert (1989), Ye’s (1995).The data are then tabulated based on frequency and percentage of occurrence using the Microsoft Excel programme 2007. The study then reveals three basic compliment expression strategies namely admiration, appreciation, and feeling. These strategies are realised either explicitly or implicitly by the use of certain semantic carriers like positive verbs, adjectives and nouns. Also revealed by the study, are the three compliment response strategies: acceptance, mitigation, and rejection. Like in other speech communities being studied, this research reveals that compliments are aimed at showing solidarity in order to consolidate social relationship in the Hausa community, and that they are highly context sensitive. Accordingly, the study reveals some commonly used compliment structure by the participants.
The main thrust of this paper is to investigate the syntactic and semantic features of the Englis... more The main thrust of this paper is to investigate the syntactic and semantic features of the English phrasal verbs and examine the extent to which undergraduate students understand these features. Phrasal verbs from the stand point of this study were classified into subgroups according to their syntactic and semantic characteristics. The investigation, which is preceded by an extensive literature review, is aimed at tackling silent issues related to phrasal verbs. The paper shades light on the basic definitions of phrasal verbs, deals with the importance of phrasal verbs in English, and examines the syntactic and semantic features of phrasal verbs; to reveal whether these phrasal verbs are transitive or intransitive and separable or inseparable. It also focuses on the differences between phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs. Finally, the literal and idiomatic usage of English phrasal verbs has been reviewed. 684 fresh undergraduate students of Federal College of Education, Zaria, who registered and passed GENS 103 (English and Communication Skills) at credit level and above were selected for the study out of the over 1,200 that have registered for the course. In the light of the findings of the study a number of conclusions are drawn which includes: English phrasal verb consists of two basic components: a lexical verb and a particle (an adverb or a preposition), the meaning of the phrasal verbs is not implied in the meaning of the constituent elements that form them, both transitive and intransitive phrasal verbs can be used as phrasal verb but their state will be different. The results also reveal that although a number of the participants can be said to understand the different characteristics of English phrasal verbs,(43.85% on semantic knowledge, 50.58% on syntactic knowledge and 39.91% on the distinction between Phrasal verbs and Prepositional Phrases) however, larger percentage of them(56.14%, 49.41% and 60.08% respectively) still find phrasal verbs difficult to understand.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research is to investigate the speech act of complimenting among th... more ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research is to investigate the speech act of complimenting among the Hausa native speakers. A compliment is a speech act which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker for some “good” (possession, characteristic, skill, etc) which is positively valued by the speaker and the hearer Holmes, 1988:17. The research aims at examining the basic strategies of compliments along with their responses within the Hausa social contexts. It also examines how social variables like age, gender, and social relationships affect the expression of compliments and compliment responses. In any communicative situation, people grapple with choices as to which form of language to use in a variety of social situations, therefore making speech a complex human activity. This sociolinguistic complexity can either make or break social relationship among members of a community. One hundred native speakers of Hausa language take the two forms of the Discourse Completion Test (DCT) with 12 scenarios in each, to cover the possibility of different social situations. The speech act data (compliments) are analysed according to models proposed by Pomerantz (1978), Wolfson and Manes (1980), Herbert (1989), Ye’s (1995).The data are then tabulated based on frequency and percentage of occurrence using the Microsoft Excel programme 2007. The study then reveals three basic compliment expression strategies namely admiration, appreciation, and feeling. These strategies are realised either explicitly or implicitly by the use of certain semantic carriers like positive verbs, adjectives and nouns. Also revealed by the study, are the three compliment response strategies: acceptance, mitigation, and rejection. Like in other speech communities being studied, this research reveals that compliments are aimed at showing solidarity in order to consolidate social relationship in the Hausa community, and that they are highly context sensitive. Accordingly, the study reveals some commonly used compliment structure by the participants.
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Papers by Solomon Briska
The purpose of this research is to investigate the speech act of complimenting among the Hausa native speakers. A compliment is a speech act which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker for some “good” (possession, characteristic, skill, etc) which is positively valued by the speaker and the hearer Holmes, 1988:17. The research aims at examining the basic strategies of compliments along with their responses within the Hausa social contexts. It also examines how social variables like age, gender, and social relationships affect the expression of compliments and compliment responses. In any communicative situation, people grapple with choices as to which form of language to use in a variety of social situations, therefore making speech a complex human activity. This sociolinguistic complexity can either make or break social relationship among members of a community. One hundred native speakers of Hausa language take the two forms of the Discourse Completion Test (DCT) with 12 scenarios in each, to cover the possibility of different social situations. The speech act data (compliments) are analysed according to models proposed by Pomerantz (1978), Wolfson and Manes (1980), Herbert (1989), Ye’s (1995).The data are then tabulated based on frequency and percentage of occurrence using the Microsoft Excel programme 2007. The study then reveals three basic compliment expression strategies namely admiration, appreciation, and feeling. These strategies are realised either explicitly or implicitly by the use of certain semantic carriers like positive verbs, adjectives and nouns. Also revealed by the study, are the three compliment response strategies: acceptance, mitigation, and rejection. Like in other speech communities being studied, this research reveals that compliments are aimed at showing solidarity in order to consolidate social relationship in the Hausa community, and that they are highly context sensitive. Accordingly, the study reveals some commonly used compliment structure by the participants.
The purpose of this research is to investigate the speech act of complimenting among the Hausa native speakers. A compliment is a speech act which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker for some “good” (possession, characteristic, skill, etc) which is positively valued by the speaker and the hearer Holmes, 1988:17. The research aims at examining the basic strategies of compliments along with their responses within the Hausa social contexts. It also examines how social variables like age, gender, and social relationships affect the expression of compliments and compliment responses. In any communicative situation, people grapple with choices as to which form of language to use in a variety of social situations, therefore making speech a complex human activity. This sociolinguistic complexity can either make or break social relationship among members of a community. One hundred native speakers of Hausa language take the two forms of the Discourse Completion Test (DCT) with 12 scenarios in each, to cover the possibility of different social situations. The speech act data (compliments) are analysed according to models proposed by Pomerantz (1978), Wolfson and Manes (1980), Herbert (1989), Ye’s (1995).The data are then tabulated based on frequency and percentage of occurrence using the Microsoft Excel programme 2007. The study then reveals three basic compliment expression strategies namely admiration, appreciation, and feeling. These strategies are realised either explicitly or implicitly by the use of certain semantic carriers like positive verbs, adjectives and nouns. Also revealed by the study, are the three compliment response strategies: acceptance, mitigation, and rejection. Like in other speech communities being studied, this research reveals that compliments are aimed at showing solidarity in order to consolidate social relationship in the Hausa community, and that they are highly context sensitive. Accordingly, the study reveals some commonly used compliment structure by the participants.