Context-Based Interpretation of Subordinating Conjunctions in Communication
While acknowledging that different conjunctions define different relationships between ideas, this study focuses on the interpretation of four subordinating conjunctions, namely, <i>because</i>, <i>since</i>, <i>for</i> and <i>as</i> in causal clauses....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Languages |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/5/4/62 |
| _version_ | 1797547761738973184 |
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| author | Aziz Thabit Saeed Saleh Al-Salman |
| author_facet | Aziz Thabit Saeed Saleh Al-Salman |
| author_sort | Aziz Thabit Saeed |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While acknowledging that different conjunctions define different relationships between ideas, this study focuses on the interpretation of four subordinating conjunctions, namely, <i>because</i>, <i>since</i>, <i>for</i> and <i>as</i> in causal clauses. Since the meanings of these conjunctions vary according to context, among other things, they usually pose problems to language users leading to misinterpretations. Not only does this emerge from the fine and minute distinctions in usage between them, but also due to the lack of adequate knowledge of the rules of language use in their metatheoretical framework. This kind of knowledge is crucial in interactive communication, speech acts, pragmatics, logical arguments and multidisciplinary debates. The data for this study were compiled from grammar books, articles, and from the British National Corpus (BNC). The data were analyzed not only to identify the discrete features of each conjunction that would render it different from its synonymous counterparts, but also to understand the kind of knowledge required to determine the choice. The findings of the study reveal that, in addition to the syntactic constraints, the degree of the ‘givenness’ or ‘newness’ of the information that the conjunction introduces, context, degree of formality of the register, and lexical density of the utterance that contains the conjunctions emerged to play a role. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:49:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-58639311360140ea844515527cffaba6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:49:43Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj.art-58639311360140ea844515527cffaba62023-11-20T21:06:54ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2020-11-01546210.3390/languages5040062Context-Based Interpretation of Subordinating Conjunctions in CommunicationAziz Thabit Saeed0Saleh Al-Salman1Faculty of Language Studies, Arab Open University–HQ, Al-Ardiya 92400, KuwaitDepartment of English Language and Translation, Applied Science Private University, Amman 11931, JordanWhile acknowledging that different conjunctions define different relationships between ideas, this study focuses on the interpretation of four subordinating conjunctions, namely, <i>because</i>, <i>since</i>, <i>for</i> and <i>as</i> in causal clauses. Since the meanings of these conjunctions vary according to context, among other things, they usually pose problems to language users leading to misinterpretations. Not only does this emerge from the fine and minute distinctions in usage between them, but also due to the lack of adequate knowledge of the rules of language use in their metatheoretical framework. This kind of knowledge is crucial in interactive communication, speech acts, pragmatics, logical arguments and multidisciplinary debates. The data for this study were compiled from grammar books, articles, and from the British National Corpus (BNC). The data were analyzed not only to identify the discrete features of each conjunction that would render it different from its synonymous counterparts, but also to understand the kind of knowledge required to determine the choice. The findings of the study reveal that, in addition to the syntactic constraints, the degree of the ‘givenness’ or ‘newness’ of the information that the conjunction introduces, context, degree of formality of the register, and lexical density of the utterance that contains the conjunctions emerged to play a role.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/5/4/62subordinating conjunctionscontextsynonymsdiscourse |
| spellingShingle | Aziz Thabit Saeed Saleh Al-Salman Context-Based Interpretation of Subordinating Conjunctions in Communication Languages subordinating conjunctions context synonyms discourse |
| title | Context-Based Interpretation of Subordinating Conjunctions in Communication |
| title_full | Context-Based Interpretation of Subordinating Conjunctions in Communication |
| title_fullStr | Context-Based Interpretation of Subordinating Conjunctions in Communication |
| title_full_unstemmed | Context-Based Interpretation of Subordinating Conjunctions in Communication |
| title_short | Context-Based Interpretation of Subordinating Conjunctions in Communication |
| title_sort | context based interpretation of subordinating conjunctions in communication |
| topic | subordinating conjunctions context synonyms discourse |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/5/4/62 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT azizthabitsaeed contextbasedinterpretationofsubordinatingconjunctionsincommunication AT salehalsalman contextbasedinterpretationofsubordinatingconjunctionsincommunication |