Author：Yongxue Yuan, Jianxue Li

Abstract: This study is a multifactorial analysis to explore the factors influencing the use of send-type dative alternation. Corpus-based probabilistic models are established after extracting and annotating the corpus data in semantic, pragmatic and syntactic aspects. The results show that in spoken English, significant factors influencing the use of send-type dative alternation include pronominality of recipient, pronominality of theme, animacy of recipient, definiteness of theme and definiteness of recipient. There are interactions among three factors, i.e., pronominality, animacy and definiteness. The relative importance of the predictors is ranked as: pronominality of recipient > length difference > animacy of recipient > pronominality of theme > definit

Column：Linguistic Studies   110-121   Details

Author：Yingliang Liu, Fengshuang Du, Yuyu Pei

Abstract: This paper examines the reporting features of evaluative-that clauses by comparing the abstracts of MA theses by Chinese EFL learners and international journal articles. It was found that Chinese EFL learners and experts tended to use abstract subjects as well as the combination of abstract subjects and research verbs in order to reduce author’s voice and increase the objectivity of the discourse. Compared with experts, Chinese EFL learners rarely used the combination of abstract subjects and discourse verbs along with negative reporting verbs. In addition, Chinese EFL learners overused the combination of concealed subjects and research verbs, as well as positive reporting verbs in the master’s theses. Learners sometimes misused reporting verbs with different evaluations, which reveals that learners as novices lack the awareness and ability to us

Column：Linguistic Studies   122-134   Details

Author：Yaying Luo, Chan Chen

Abstract: In the boom of second language acquisition, language learning not only focuses on morphology and syntax, but also on the context of the language and its overall meaning. Therefore, with the help of COCA, this study takes the verb “keep” as the node word to analyze the extended unit of meaning, and the features of collocation, colligation, semantic preference and semantic prosody in the context. The study finds that “keep” can be connected with adjectives, adverbs, nouns, and prepositions, thus forming a very rich syntactic structure. In addition, when the word is matched with the adjective, the collocation reflects the positive semantic tendency, and the context reflects the positive semantic prosody of “keep.” In addition, its collocatio

Column：Linguistic Studies   135-145   Details

Author：Huali Li

Abstract: “Fei” (fat) and “shou” (thin) are commonly used to describe a person’s appearance, but in calligraphic texts, these two concepts turn out to be the most frequent and typical. This study shows that, as calligraphic concepts, “fei” and “shou” generally refer to the thickness and strength of strokes, the size and the spacing of Chinese characters, neither with emotional tendency. The calligraphic concept “fei” appears later than “shou”. Based on cognitive experiences as well as encyclopedic knowledge mapped by metaphor and metonymy, “fei” and “shou” obtain their respective basic meanings, which are further constructed on-line through association and analogy according to their calligraphic contexts.

Column：Linguistic Studies   146-156   Details