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Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics

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A special issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 May 2019) | Viewed by 51927

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Prof. Sonja Mujcinovic

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Universidad de Valladolid, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Departamento de Filología Inglesa, Plaza del Campus Universitario s/n, 47011 Valladolid, SPAIN
Interests: second language acquisition, bilingual morphosyntactic analysis and crosslinguistic influence

Prof. Eduardo Gómez Garzarán

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Universidad de Valladolid, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Departamento de Filología Inglesa, Plaza del Campus Universitario s/n, 47011 Valladolid, SPAIN
Interests: language teaching, instruction and didactics, L1 transfer

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

The goal of this Special Issue is to bring together state-of-the art articles on applied linguistics which reflect investigation carried out by researchers from different parts of the world. By bringing together papers from different perspectives, we hope to be able to gain a better understanding of the field. Hence, this Special Issue intends to address the study of language in its different dimensions and within the framework of multiple methodologies and formal accounts as used by researchers in the field.

This Special Issue is dedicated to research in any area related to applied linguistics, including language acquisition and language learning; language teaching and curriculum design; language for specific purposes; psychology of language, child language and psycholinguistics; sociolinguistics; pragmatics; discourse analysis; corpus linguistics, computational linguistics and language engineering; lexicology and lexicography; and translation and interpretation.

We welcome contributions from participants of the thirty-seventh AESLA-2019 international conference.

Prof. Sonja Mujcinovic
Prof. Eduardo Gómez Garzarán
Guest Editors

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Keywords

applied linguistics
acquisition
teaching
language for specific purposes
psychology of language
psycholinguistics
sociolinguistics
pragmatics
discourse
corpus linguistics
lexicology and lexicography
translation and interpretation

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Published Papers (12 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 784 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics (Languages Special Issue)

by Sonja Mujcinovic and Eduardo Gómez Garzarán

Languages 2019, 4(4), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4040094 - 21 Nov 2019

Viewed by 2708

Abstract

This Special Issue, entitled Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics, brings together recently published papers on various aspects of applied linguistics presented at the AESLA37 (Spanish Society of Applied Linguistics) conference in Valladolid held on 27–29 March 2019 [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

12 pages, 950 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spanish Grammatical Gender Interference in Papiamentu

by Jorge R. Valdés Kroff, Frederieke Rooijakkers and M. Carmen Parafita Couto

Languages 2019, 4(4), 78; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4040078 - 16 Oct 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5209

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine whether Spanish-like gender agreement causes interference in speakers of Papiamentu (a Western Romance-lexified creole language) who also speak Spanish. Papiamentu and Spanish are highly cognate languages in terms of their lexicons. However, Papiamentu lacks grammatical gender assignment and agreement, leading to cognate words with major morpho-syntactic differences. A total of 41 participants with different linguistic profiles (Papiamentu-dominant, Dutch-dominant, Spanish-dominant, and Spanish heritage speaker-Papiamentu bilinguals) listened to 82 Papiamentu sentences, of which 40 contained a Spanish-like gender-agreeing element on the Determiner, Adjective, or Determiner + Adjective and with half of the experimental items marked with overtly masculine (i.e., -o) or feminine (i.e., -a) gender morphology. Participants performed a forced-choice acceptability task and were asked to repeat each sentence. Results showed that Spanish-dominant speakers experienced the greatest interference of Spanish gender features in Papiamentu. This suggests that in cases where speakers must suppress gender in their second language (L2), this is not easy to do. This is especially the case in highly cognate languages that differ in whether they realize gender features. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics)

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14 pages, 1952 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The ‘Carbon Capture’ Metaphor: An English-Arabic Terminological Case Study

by Amal Haddad Haddad and Silvia Montero-Martínez

Languages 2019, 4(4), 77; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4040077 - 26 Sep 2019

Viewed by 4011

Abstract

The study of metaphorization processes in scientific texts is essential in terminological studies and the conceptual representation of specialized knowledge. It is considered to be a prolific tool in the creation of neologisms. Many cognitive models tried to study metaphorisation processes by drawing on metaphor and metonymy based on linguistic evidence. However, recent studies have highlighted the necessity of carrying out empirical tests in order to provide refined results that go beyond the traditional theories of conceptual metaphor and metonymy. This paper analyzes the underlying metaphor in the ‘carbon capture and sequestration’ event in both English and Arabic. It also discusses the influence of English, the lingua franca, in the transfer of the neologism ‘carbon capture and sequestration’, via translation processes, and its role in the so-called domain loss in the target language. Results were obtained through a corpus-based contrastive terminological analysis, extracted from specialized texts in English and Arabic in the subdomain of climate change. Data analysis was approached from the perspective of Frame-Based Terminology and Conceptual Complexes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics)

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10 pages, 311 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Communicative Acts Used by Emergent Trilingual Pupils in English Classrooms in the Basque Autonomous Community

by Amaia Fernández, Pilar Sagasta and Nagore Ipiña

Languages 2019, 4(3), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4030060 - 30 Jul 2019

Viewed by 2360

Abstract

This research aims at examining the communicative acts (CA) performed by Grade 5 emergent trilingual pupils in the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC) in northern Spain when interacting in the English classroom. Likewise, it examines translanguaging practices when performing CA to analyze whether pupils deploy similar linguistic resources (LR) regardless of the CA they enact. Moreover, it investigates whether pupils from different sociolinguistic contexts behave similarly. Preliminary results suggest that Grade 5 pupils taking part in this study enact CA related to inviting elaboration or reasoning, expressing or inviting ideas, guiding direction of dialogue or activity, positioning and coordination, and showing understanding by using LR coming from different linguistic systems (mostly English and Basque) when interacting in the English classroom across sociolinguistic areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics)

12 pages, 1945 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“Arguments That Could Possibly Be Urged”: Modal Verbs and Tentativeness in the Coruña Corpus

by Isabel Moskowich and Begoña Crespo

Languages 2019, 4(3), 57; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4030057 - 22 Jul 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3374

Abstract

This paper complements previous research into the late Modern English scientific writing uses of the adverbs possibly and perhaps as manifestations of either subjectivity or intersubjectivity, as presented in the Coruña Corpus of English Scientific Writing. In order to have a better understanding of the uses of these adverbs as markers of tentativeness, we will explore their syntagmatic relations with modal verbs. It is widely assumed that scientific discourse has an objective nature, although it has been questioned by its use of hedging and other expressions of stance. In the present study, we will assess how modal verbs accompanying these stance adverbs modulate the expression of tentativeness. The use of stance adverbs shows authorial presence and a covert interaction with the reader. The paper examines different degrees of hesitancy depending on the type of modal verb accompanying these adverbs. The analysis has been carried out on four subcorpora of the Coruña Corpus of English Scientific Writing. Our findings will be presented from a more general to a more detailed account for each of the forms under investigation and interpreted taking into account the variables ‘date of publication’ and ‘genre’ for the text, and ‘sex’ for the author. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics)

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9 pages, 334 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Role of Language Policy Documents in the Internationalisation of Multilingual Higher Education: An Exploratory Corpus-Based Study

by Rosana Villares

Languages 2019, 4(3), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4030056 - 15 Jul 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4664

Abstract

Using corpus methods, this study explores the role of Language Policy (LP) documents in the internationalisation process of Spanish universities. It aims at understanding how non-Anglophone universities integrate English and local languages in the functions of education, research, and administration. Content analysis was used for the identification of key themes, and discourse analysis examined how those themes were textually expressed. Consistent with previous literature, this study shows that relevant strategic areas of LP deal with training, regulation, accreditation, and support measures. Results also highlight the role played by institutions in LP and the presence of language hierarchies between English and local languages. The discussion of these findings leads to further inquiry of mismatches between top-down institutional expectations and bottom-up realities regarding the design and implementation of institutional policies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics)

9 pages, 388 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Lexical Crosslinguistic Influence and Study Abroad: Do Learners Use L1-Based Resources Less?

by Mireia Ortega and M. Luz Celaya

Languages 2019, 4(3), 55; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4030055 - 15 Jul 2019

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3784

Abstract

Research in Crosslinguistic Influence (CLI) has traditionally addressed two broad types of lexical CLI—transfer of form and transfer of meaning (Ringbom 1987)—which were reconceptualized by Jarvis (2009) as lexemic and lemmatic transfer, respectively. Whereas the former considers the phonological and graphemic structure of words, the latter is related to semantic and syntactic properties. These types of lexical CLI have been analysed in relation to L2 proficiency, but not in relation to factors such as Study Abroad (SA), which the present study aims to investigate. The oral production by 107 Catalan/Spanish learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) was analysed in terms of lexical CLI and the amount of input received during their SA. Results show an inverse relationship between the amount of input in SA and lexical CLI; that is, the higher the number of hours abroad, the fewer cases of lexical CLI. Statistical differences were found for lemmatic CLI and for one type of lexemic CLI. In light of these findings, it is suggested that learners that take part in SA programmes do not rely on L1-based resources when gaps in their knowledge arise. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics)

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8 pages, 1867 KiB

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Metaphor and Metonymy in Food Idioms

by Isabel Negro

Languages 2019, 4(3), 47; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4030047 - 27 Jun 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 7856

Abstract

In recent decades, the development of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, put forward by Lakoff and other scholars. In this light, metaphor and metonymy have been found to provide a semantic motivation for a considerable number of idiomatic expressions. Within this framework, the present contribution explores the cognitive motivation of food idioms in English (e.g., ‘be a cup of tea,’ ‘bread and butter,’ ‘walking on eggshells’) and Spanish (e.g., darse pisto, tener mala uva, cortar el bacalao). The analysis reveals that idiomatic meaning often relies on metaphoric amalgams and metonymic chains, or on the interaction between metaphor and metonymy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics)

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11 pages, 4028 KiB

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Extraction of Terms Related to Named Rivers

by Juan Rojas-Garcia and Pamela Faber

Languages 2019, 4(3), 46; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4030046 - 27 Jun 2019

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2742

Abstract

EcoLexicon is a terminological knowledge base on environmental science, whose design permits the geographic contextualization of data. For the geographic contextualization of landform concepts, this paper presents a semi-automatic method for extracting terms associated with named rivers (e.g., Mississippi River). Terms were extracted from a specialized corpus, where named rivers were automatically identified. Statistical procedures were applied for selecting both terms and rivers in distributional semantic models to construct the conceptual structures underlying the usage of named rivers. The rivers sharing associated terms were also clustered and represented in the same conceptual network. The results showed that the method successfully described the semantic frames of named rivers with explanatory adequacy, according to the premises of Frame-Based Terminology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics)

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9 pages, 1112 KiB

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Law and Business Students’ Attitudes towards Learning English for Specific Purposes within CLIL and Non-CLIL Contexts

by Candela Contero Urgal

Languages 2019, 4(2), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4020045 - 25 Jun 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4150

Abstract

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses are present within most non-linguistic undergraduate studies offered in Spain. In particular, the University of Cádiz has a wide range of ESP teaching being delivered in the four campuses of the institution. Whereas this ESP instruction is thought as a way to help students develop language skills to be applied to their career paths, this very practical and useful goal may not be easily recognized by certain students. While previous research has revealed students’ attitudes towards learning ESP were generally positive, little has been said on their progression throughout the whole course. The aim of the present paper is to identify Law students’ approaches to a Legal English course taught through a specific methodology. Certain teaching strategies, which are also characteristic of the Content and Language Integrated Learning approach, were applied. For that purpose, the opinions of 88 respondents were collected and analysed during the second phase of their ESP course. Results revealed that although students showed a certain level of rejection before the course started, once they became well aware of the teaching methodology, their opinion changed positively. This would definitely be influenced by promoting students’ motivation, as well as the teaching methodology applied. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics)

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9 pages, 1573 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Nonstandard Use of the “Reflexive” Affix -s^ja in Russian Speech of Bilingual Speakers of Northern Siberia and the Russian Far East

by Irina Khomchenkova, Polina Pleshak and Natalia Stoynova

Languages 2019, 4(2), 39; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4020039 - 17 Jun 2019

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2717

Abstract

One of the features of the oral Russian speech of bilingual speakers of the indigenous languages of Russia is the omission/the overuse of the “reflexive” affix -s^ja (a “middle voice” marker with a wide range of uses including reflexive, reciprocal, anticausative, passive, and some others). We discuss the data on the nonstandard use of -s^ja in the Russian speech of bilingual speakers of two language groups that differ both from Russian and from each other in this grammatical domain: Samoyedic (Forest Enets, Nganasan, and Nenets) and Tungusic (Nanai and Ulch). The data come from the corpus of contact-influenced Russian speech, which is being created by our team. We show that the mismatches in standard and nonstandard usage cannot be explained by direct structural copying from the donor language (indigenous) to the recipient one (the local variety of Russian). Nor is there a consistent system which differs from standard Russian since there are many more usages that follow the rules of standard Russian. The influence of the indigenous languages explains some overuses and omissions; the others can be explained by other factors, e.g., difficulties in the acquisition of verb pairs with non-transparent semantic or syntactic relations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics)

19 pages, 19056 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Linguistic Landscape of the Valencian Community: A Comparative Analysis of Bilingual and Multilingual Signs in Three Different Areas

by Lucía Bellés-Calvera

Languages 2019, 4(2), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4020038 - 16 Jun 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 6941

Abstract

During the last decades, the promotion of multilingualism has been key when designing linguistic policies in Europe. Previous research studies have focused on how languages are employed in fields such as education, media, and urban sites, among others. Bearing all this in mind, the aim of this paper is to analyse the linguistic landscapes of three municipalities located in a bilingual region in Spain, that of the Valencian Community. Thus, issues such as language contact, language dominance, and the languages used by a number of institutions on private and public signs were examined. As for the method, over 140 pictures of language signs were taken in order to examine language contact, language dominance, and the influence of official and foreign languages on private and public signs. The results suggest that the presence of languages may vary depending on the population living in these settings, the citizens’ mother tongue, and the policy regarding the minority language. The findings also indicate that the power of the two co-official languages is reinforced by public signs, whereas rich linguistic diversity is shown in private signs. All in all, it can be stated that the linguistic policy in the Valencian Community is not homogeneous throughout the region. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal and Methodological Approaches to Applied Linguistics)

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