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Noun phrase complexity in academic written English
Kratochvílová, Pavla ; Malá, Markéta (advisor) ; Dušková, Libuše (referee)
The diploma thesis analyses written academic text. Academic prose is frequently characterized as a highly complex style which is structurally elaborated, contains a large number of subordinate clauses and expresses meaning relations explicitly. However, new research (e.g. Biber & Gray, 2010) shows that complexity of academic writing occurs on the level of noun phrases which often contain extensive premodification and/or postmodification. The thesis studies noun phrase structure in research articles from two disciplines: medicine and sociology. Two articles from each discipline were selected, each yielding 50 complex noun phrases. These 200 examples were analysed with respect to their modification, its form and levels of embedding. The results were compared for both disciplines. The aim of the thesis was to describe complex noun phrase structure and identify its relation to the type of academic discipline. Key words: noun phrase, modification, academic text, sociology, medicine
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Finite and participial postmodifiers in spoken academic discourse: natural and social sciences
Škodová, Kateřina ; Šaldová, Pavlína (advisor) ; Malá, Markéta (referee)
The subject of the present study is a comparison of two postmodifying constructions in noun phrases - finite relative adnominal clauses with the subject gap and nonfinite participial clauses - in spoken academic discourse: natural and social science. The comparison is based on the fact that both constructions realize the same clause element, i.e. a postmodifier in a noun phrase. The aim of the present study is thus to present major characteristics and functions of finite relative clauses and their reduced counterparts with respect to their distribution across the two subregisters of spoken academic discourse. The study is divided into three main parts: the theoretical background (Chapter 2) which defines the major characteristics and functions of the two postmodifying constructions and their mutual relationship, as are presented in the literature; the main part (Chapters 3 and 4) which provides the analysis of finite relative clauses and participial postmodifiers; and conclusion in Chapter 5.
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The Use of Determiners in Art History and Criticism
Čížková, Lucie ; Malá, Markéta (advisor) ; Šaldová, Pavlína (referee)
9. Abstract This thesis deals with the use of determiners in proper names concerning visual art. Proper names are expressions that can comprise one or more words, either a common or a proper noun head with common or proper noun dependents. Although they have an internal structure that can be analysed as a structure of a common noun phrase, the structure of proper names is unchangeable since they function as a single grammatical and semantic unit. The reference of proper names is limited to non-generic situational reference. They refer directly to a particular person or object uniquely recoverable in the situation. Generally, the use of articles with proper names is limited to the definite or the null article (which is distinguished from the zero article). Examples demonstrating the use of determiners with proper names concerning art were excerpted from contemporary British art magazines. The excerpts were divided into seven semantic categories, most of which have not been covered, with respect to the use of articles, by any representative English grammar. The examples were analysed and described and conclusions were drawn. However, the results of this thesis cannot be considered as a set of clear-cut rules but rather an outline of tendencies in the use of articles with several semantically distinguished...
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Noun phrase complexity in academic written English
Kratochvílová, Pavla ; Malá, Markéta (advisor) ; Dušková, Libuše (referee)
The diploma thesis analyses written academic text. Academic prose is frequently characterized as a highly complex style which is structurally elaborated, contains a large number of subordinate clauses and expresses meaning relations explicitly. However, new research (e.g. Biber & Gray, 2010) shows that complexity of academic writing occurs on the level of noun phrases which often contain extensive premodification and/or postmodification. The thesis studies noun phrase structure in research articles from two disciplines: medicine and sociology. Two articles from each discipline were selected, each yielding 50 complex noun phrases. These 200 examples were analysed with respect to their modification, its form and levels of embedding. The results were compared for both disciplines. The aim of the thesis was to describe complex noun phrase structure and identify its relation to the type of academic discipline. Key words: noun phrase, modification, academic text, sociology, medicine
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