不同学科学术口语语篇中的词块特点—基于BASE语料库

Features of Lexical Chunks of Academic Spoken Discourse Across Disciplines — a Study Based on BASE Corpus

该研究基于BASE(The British Academic Spoken English英国学术口语语料库)对不同学科的学术口语语篇在词块上呈现的特点进行了探究。研究选取BASS-arts and humanities和BASE-physical sciences两个子库进行对比分析,探讨了人文艺术学科和自然科学的学术口语语篇在词块特点上的异同,研究发现,词块是学术口语语篇的重要组成部分,学术口语语篇的词块使用频数无明显学科差异,但在具体结构分类上,人文学科的学术口语语篇更多使用"of结构",注重事物分类、比例和时间节点,而自然科学的学术口语语篇则多使用动词词块,强调事物变化和实际操作性,这与学科特点密切相关。该研究促进了对学术口语这一特定语篇的深入研究,同时对于学术英语、尤其是当前研究生学术口语的教学具有一定启示意义。

This study, based on the BASE(the British Academic Spoken English) corpus, investigates the features of lexical chunksof academic spoken discourse across different disciplines. The study analyzes the features of lexical chunks in discourse from thetwo sub-corpora—arts and humanities, physical sciences. The findings are: 1) lexical chunks are important formations of academicspoken discourse; 2) generally speaking, the lexical chunks are used with similar frequency in different disciplines, but in terms ofthe structure based on the taxonomy of Cortes' s(2004), differences exist:'of'structures, including'NP+ of'and'PP+ of'aremore frequently used in arts and humanities, indicating the frequent mentions of classification, proportion and temporal change inthese disciplines, while V- chunks are more often used in physical sciences, since action and hands-on activities are given muchattention to in natural sciences disciplines. This study is an attempt to explore the features of ASE(academic spoken English) asone kind of specific genre. It has some implications for ESP/ EAP teaching and will help cultivate postgraduates' ability in aca-demic oral activities.