Evaluative Adjectives in Linguistic Lectures at the University of Montenegro Cover Image

Evaluativni pridjevi u predavanjima iz lingvistike na Univerzitetu Crne Gore
Evaluative Adjectives in Linguistic Lectures at the University of Montenegro

Author(s): Branka Živković
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Foreign languages learning, Morphology, Philology
Published by: Филолошки факултет Универзитета у Бањој Луци
Keywords: academic discourse; university lectures; evaluation; evaluative adjectives.

Summary/Abstract: One of the key features of academic discourse is evaluation, a discourse category which in university lectures reflects a speaker’s attitude towards the propositional content. In this paper it is examined through a category of evaluative adjectives which has proved to signal the most salient aspects of university lecture discourse. The analysed corpus is composed of lectures in linguistics recorded at two organisational units of the University of Montenegro – the Faculty of Philosophy and the Institute of Foreign Languages. As a starting point in categorising evaluative adjectives we use a semantic division introduced by Swales and Burke (2003). The analysis also focuses on outlining the frequency of the examined categories of adjectives obtained with the help of AntConc 3.2.4.w soft ware and provides the most typical illustrations followed by a detailed discussion. The results achieved have demonstrated that the most frequent adjectives are those of relevance. On the contrary, Swales and Burke’s study has shown that adjectives of size dominate their coprus of American lectures. Furthermore, our analysis has revealed that centralised forms of all the analysed categories prevail over their polarised realisations. The results point to a conclusion that although evaluation represents a constituent part of the university lecture genre, it is not strongly emphasised, on the contrary, it acquires a more neutral dimension.

  • Issue Year: 2014
  • Issue No: 10
  • Page Range: 71-80
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Serbian