Publication: Syntactic ambiguity of (complex) nominal groups in technical English.
Authors
Borucinsky, Mirjana ; Kegalj, Jana
item.page.secondaryauthor
item.page.director
Publisher
Universidad de Murcia, Servicio de Publicaciones
publication.page.editor
publication.page.department
DOI
https://doi.org/10.6018/ijes.352751
item.page.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Description
Abstract
Complex nominal groups are common in technical English (i.e., English for Specific Purposes, ESP) since they
allow lexical items to be tightly packed into a clause which consequently leads to increased lexical density and
syntactic ambiguity. In this paper, we analyse (complex) nominal groups in technical English. We propose that,
in addition to context and extralinguistic knowledge (i.e. shared technical background that the ESP teacher does
not necessarily possess), the structure of the nominal group
—
or, more precisely, the position of modifiers within
the group also plays a role in resolving of syntactic ambiguity and disambiguation of meaning. Thus, modifiers
standing farthest from the head have the least specifying potential and are followed by other modifiers that
restrict the meaning of the entire nominal group. In this way, the participle
reciprocating
in
steam reciprocating
engine
(vs.*
reciprocating steam engine
) is more specific in meaning and is thus positioned closer to the head of
the nominal group. Our results indicate the type of modification (i.e. linear or non-linear) lends support to the
disambiguation of complex nominal groups. The paper‘s main contribution is in the field of ESP teacher
education in the way that it helps ESP teachers who are not specialists in the field of (marine) engineering to
process understand and successfully teach complex nominal groups.
publication.page.subject
Citation
item.page.embargo
Collections
Ir a Estadísticas
Este ítem está sujeto a una licencia Creative Commons. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/