This paper is a partial replication of Mondorf’s (2004) study on Gender Differences in English Syntax and combines quantitative corpus data and methodology with the framework of functional grammar to analyse gender-differences in finite adverbial concessive clauses headed by although and whereas. The internal factors of semantic-type and position were examined and the result suggests a strong influence of sex onto the usage of finite adverbial concessive clauses, with an overall result of concessive clauses being the marked domain of men.
Correlations between sex and language are often taken for granted, but empirical studies on this topic, especially in the area of syntax, are surprisingly rare. One of the main studies of the past two decades, about the correlation between sex and language, which investigates sex-differences in specific syntactic constructions, is Britta Mondorf's work Gender Differences in English Syntax. Using the London-Lund Corpus (LLC), Mondorf empirically explores "two areas of marked gender difference in English syntax", namely tag questions and finite adverbial clauses. For the purpose of this replication study, only finite adverbial concessive clauses will be considered. Mondorf’s study demonstrates "the existence of gender differentiated syntactic behaviour in the LLC of spoken British English" and shows that women are “prolific users of those syntactic constructions that signal a low degree of commitment towards the proposition expressed”.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Preliminaries
2.1 Definition and Semantic Function of Adverbial Concessive Clauses
2.2 Interpersonal Meaning and Epistemic Meaning
2.3 Hedges and Boosters
2.4 The Positioning of Adverbial Concessive Clauses
2.5 Lone Adverbial Clauses
3. Methodology
3.1 The Data
3.2 The BNC
3.3 Classification Procedure
3.4 Chi-Square and Significance Levels
4. Results
4.1 Frequency of Concessive Clauses According to Sex
4.2 Position of Concessive Clauses According to Sex
4.3 Semantic Position of Lone Adverbial Clauses
5. Discussion
Research Objectives and Core Themes
This paper aims to investigate gender-based differences in the usage of finite adverbial concessive clauses within spoken British English, utilizing data from the British National Corpus (BNC) to replicate and expand upon Britta Mondorf’s (2004) foundational research.
- Analysis of gender-differentiated syntactic behavior regarding concessive subordinators (although and whereas).
- Examination of the semantic influence of clause positioning (preposed vs. postposed) on speaker commitment.
- Evaluation of the role of concessive clauses as linguistic "boosters" or "hedges" in discourse.
- Statistical assessment of frequency and distribution patterns across male and female speakers.
Excerpt from the Book
2.3 Hedges and Boosters
Following Mondorf (2004: 11), hedges will be defined as “linguistic units which, in certain context, can signal epistemic modal meaning by expressing speakers’ limited commitment to the truth of the proposition expressed.” Hedges give the speaker the possibility to withdraw or alter the proposition afterwards, “to avoid appearing too knowledgeable” (Mondorf 2004: 13) or to distance themselves from the proposition expressed for reasons of politeness or fear. While hedges serve as downtoners boosters serve to reinforce speakers’ commitment to the truth of a proposition expressed. As “Holmes (1984:58) points out […] positioning is relevant to the meaning signaled by downtoners” (Mondorf 2004:12). “Postposed expressions of epistemic meaning often have a weakening function, while preposed expressions of epistemic meaning have a strengthening function” (Mondorf 2004: 32). Thus the default location for hedging devices appears to be the final position i.e. postposed (cf. Mondorf 2004: 12).
Adverbial clauses can usually serve as hedging devices. Concessive adverbial clauses, though, are the only ones which can serve as boosters because in their need to contradict the main clause lays “a denial (as is implicitly expressed in a concessive clause) [which] conveys very strong commitment” (Mondorf 2004: 136) to the proposition expressed. It can thus be derived that preposed concessive clause serves as an even stronger booster than a postposed concessive clause. In other words, while postposed concessives can signal a high commitment towards a proposition expressed, preposed concessives can signal an even higher commitment towards a proposition expressed. Following the assumption that women use more constructions signaling low (or in this case lower) commitment towards the truth of a proposition expressed i.e. epistemic meaning, while men use more constructions signaling a higher degree of commitment, it can be expected that women use more postposed clauses than preposed clauses and men use both more postposed clauses and more preposed clauses than women.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Outlines the research gap regarding gender differences in syntax and establishes the study's focus on finite adverbial concessive clauses in spoken British English.
2. Theoretical Preliminaries: Defines key concepts including concessive clauses, epistemic/interpersonal meaning, and the functional role of hedges and boosters in language.
3. Methodology: Details the extraction and cleaning of 1325 concessive clauses from the British National Corpus and describes the statistical approach using Chi-Square tests.
4. Results: Presents the quantitative findings regarding the frequency and positioning of concessive clauses as correlated with speaker sex.
5. Discussion: Interprets the findings in light of previous hypotheses, confirming that concessive clauses are predominantly used by men and examining the strength of commitment signalled by different positions.
Keywords
Concessive clauses, Gender differences, English syntax, Corpus linguistics, British National Corpus, Epistemic meaning, Adverbial clauses, Hedges, Boosters, Functional grammar, Spoken language, Subordinating conjunctions, Although, Whereas, Quantitative analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this research?
The research focuses on the correlation between speaker sex and the use of finite adverbial concessive clauses in spoken British English, specifically exploring how these constructions function in discourse.
What are the central themes of the work?
The study examines syntactic behavior, the influence of semantic types, clause positioning, and how speakers use language to signal their commitment to the truth of their propositions.
What is the core research objective?
The objective is to replicate and reassess Mondorf's (2004) study using the British National Corpus to determine if men and women exhibit significant differences in how they utilize specific concessive structures.
Which scientific methodology is employed?
The study employs a quantitative corpus-based approach, utilizing the BNCweb interface to extract data, followed by statistical analysis using Chi-Square tests to measure the significance of gender-based usage patterns.
What does the main body cover?
The main body covers the theoretical definitions of concessive clauses, the classification of the data extracted from the BNC, and a detailed presentation of the statistical results regarding clause position and speaker sex.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
The work is characterized by terms such as corpus linguistics, gender differences, adverbial concessive clauses, epistemic meaning, and syntactic analysis.
Why are "although" and "whereas" the focus of the study?
These two subordinators were selected because they represent the semantically most opposed concessive subordinators, making them ideal for testing speaker commitment and syntactic behavior.
What is the significance of the "Lone Adverbial Clauses" chapter?
This chapter investigates the validity of Ford's (1993) claim that clauses without a direct main clause pattern similarly to preposed clauses, providing a more nuanced look at how spoken language structures function.
- Citation du texte
- Anna Klamann (Auteur), 2015, Differences in the usage of finite adverbial concessive clauses. A replication study of "Gender Differences in English Syntax" by Britta Mondorf, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/305082
