LINGUIST List 9.945

Wed Jun 24 1998

Qs: Word counts, Discourse miscues

Editor for this issue: Brett Churchill <brettlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Jim Swanson, parts of speech
2. Michael Cribb, L2 Oral Discourse Structure

The other day a colleague asked me if I knew how many words are 
designated as adjectives in a major dictionary. I had no idea, but 
I thought I would enquire on the list. I told him there was no way 
of determining the number of potential adjectives because they can be 
derived from many other words just for the nonce. But he said that 
he would be satisfied to know how many words are designated as 
adjectives in a major dictionary. Can anyone help me on this one? 
Of course, I would be interested in an account of the numbers of 
other parts of speech, too. Thanks.

Dear List Members,

I looking for references /ideas for analyzing extended turns of
intermediate L2 speakers elicited through oral interviews. A typical turn
is anything up to 2 minutes long and contains several false starts, repairs
and repetitions. An example is given below:

"in korea er er parents always want to know about her children they want to
know their's children behaviour like at the school at school or at company
or something like that so because of the wedding is very important because
of wedding is very important urm i think er er they decided a whole life
when he married someone when when someone marry someone so parents
concentrated their interest on her or his girlfriend or boyfriend."

I'm particularly interested in the discourse structure and miscues /errors
of these turns which lead to perceived incoherence by the listener.

Thanks in advance for your time and concern.

Michael Cribb
University of Leeds
soonahsoonah.demon.co.uk