Informace o publikaci
The perception of the rheme by native and non-native speakers of English
| Autoři | |
|---|---|
| Rok publikování | 2024 |
| Druh | Další prezentace na konferencích |
| Fakulta / Pracoviště MU | |
| Citace | |
| Popis | The dissertation project is based on the analysis of the information structure of discourse from the viewpoint of the theory of Functional Sentence Perspective established by Jan Firbas. The aim of this study is to ascertain whether the perception of the information structure of an English text by nonnative speakers of English differs from its perception by native speakers and whether non-native speakers’ perception is influenced by the conventions operating in their native language. The study carried out so far is based on the analysis of parallel excerpts from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling and its Czech-translated version Harry Potter a Ohnivý Pohár, chosen for their relevance to the students’ linguistic levels, their clarity, and high ratio of unusually structured sentences. The quantitative part of the methodology involves a detailed analysis of the responses of two complementary surveys collected from first-year English Language and Literature students at Masaryk University, who were tasked with identifying rhemes, the most important elements, in selected parallel English and Czech texts. The qualitative analysis includes an in-depth examination of the reasoning behind the students’ choices, providing insights into their interpretative strategies, linguistic intuition, and even their understanding of broader situational contexts. The data gathered from non-native speakers were collected and analyzed for research for my diploma thesis. These data will be built upon and compared with newly acquired data based on survey responses of native speakers of English, the results of which will be presented at the ESSE Doctoral Symposium. In the future, the dissertation project will be extended by analyses of other genres of written English texts, and of spoken language in order to incorporate the role of intonation and prosodic prominence into the study. The study to be presented at the Symposium will address a fundamental question: Does the native language structure of non-native English speakers influence their perception of the rheme in English texts? Preliminary observations suggest some differences in the rheme perception between native and non-native speakers of English, especially in sentences with the rheme in an initial position. The analysis also identifies cases in which both native and non-native speakers of English indicate as most communicatively important pieces of information that are not interpreted as rhemes in the theory of FSP. In conclusion, this project, fitting to be presented at the workshop strand of English Language, will provide a comprehensive analysis of how native and non- native speakers perceive the rheme in English sentences, bridging the gap between Firbasian linguistic theory and practical application in language understanding. |
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