5.2 CMCEs in N,S and H
In this section,the occurrences and frequencies of the CMCEs,and its six sub-types in the disciplines of N,S and H are compared and analyzed.Table 5.8 presents the distribution of adversative and negative additive CMs,varying CMs,concessive CMs,negative comparative CMs and negative conditional CMs in the three disciplines.
Table 5.8 Comparison of various types of CMCEs in N,S and H
Table 5.8 presents a quantitative analysis of the distribution of various types of CMCEs in the three disciplines.It is noticeable that the CMCEs in H has the highest frequencies(303.7 per 100,000 words),and this tendency decreases sharply to 88.7 in S and then 38.0 in N.That is to say,the authors in H use CMCEs much more frequently than those in N and S.Being similar to the condition of CMFEs,there are also obvious differences in the frequencies of every sub-type of CMCEs:the range varies from 1.2 to 15.8 in N,from 0.4 to 54.2 in S,and from 3.8 to 150.5 in H.However,the favored types of CMCEs in the three disciplines are similar:adversative and concessive CMs are the most frequently used types,achieving 590 in 713 CMCEs in N,1440 in 1658 CMCEs in S and 5259 in 5686 CMCEs in H.
What’s more,the distribution of specific types of CMCEs also presents a great many differences.The striking differences could be analyzed and explained from both Table 5.8 above and Figure 5.2 below.
Figure 5.2 Comparison of CMCEs in various disciplines
As Figure 5.2 shows,the frequencies of separate types of CMCEs become higher and higher from N to S to H,except for negative comparative CMs.Specifically,adversative and negative additive CMs are a favored type in all disciplines.Table 5.9 lists the occurrences and frequencies of 5 representatives.
Table 5.9 Comparison of adversative and negative additive CMCEs in N,S and H
Seen from Table 5.9,adversative CMs are mainly introduced by but.According to Thompson(2005),but is a typical conjunction to deny expectancy.Quirk et al.(1972:564)points out that but denotes a contrast,which may be a restatement in affirmative terms of what has been said or implied negatively in the first conjoin.In Example(79),but expresses two opposite effect brought by popularity of private tutoring among student.
(79)Popularity of private tutoring among students has the function of providing alternatives to students in terms of curriculum and learning experience,but it also brings problems of inequality and social stratification
(S,ANEs)
The negative additive CM nor generally presuppose that a previous clause is negative or contains a negative word or a negative implication.For example,
(80)It did not entirely correspond to what we mean by the modern word‘Christendom’,a geographical area inhabited by Christians,nor was it quite translating the equivalent Latin word christianitas.
(H,AEs)
In Quirk et al.’s(1972)illustration,nor is nearer to being the equivalent of and plus not.In Example(80),the clause nor was it quite translating the equivalent Latin word christianitasis is semantically equivalent to and it was not quite translating the equivalent Latin word christianitasis.
Varying CMs are most favored in H.In the use of varying CMs,one clause is presented as being in total or partial replacement of another.The clauses connected by them present a replacive or subtractive relation.Table 5.10 lists the occurrences and frequencies of the concrete varying CMs in the three disciplines.
Table 5.10 Comparison of varying CMs in N,S and H
续表:
It can be seen from Table 5.10 that H has the highest frequencies of varying CMs,reaching at 14.4,and this decreases to 8.1 in S and then 3.8 in N.The most typical varying CMs in all three disciplines is rather than.It indicates a contrast meaning in that the secondary clause presents an exception to what has been said in the primary clause.For example,
(81)we argued(a)that it is only when reporting is involved that issues of faithfulness(which effectively means lexical and grammatical faithfulness),and so also the stronger notion of verbatim report(see Clark and Gerrig,1990),apply and(b)that careful consideration of the context and co-text is needed to be sure that reporting is actually taking place,rather than being merely presentated(as in fictional or hypothetical speech)or representated(for example to bring out a contrasting ideological‘take’on the original speech).(S,AEs)
Rather than used in Example(81)subtract the meanings of“merely presenting or representing”,which counter the expectation set in the former clauses.Instead embodies a stronger sense of contrast as it directly expresses replacive in the context.For example,
(82)The releases became artificial deadlines which developers stressed over getting code ready for.Instead,we now release every bug fix or new feature as soon as we finish it,posting a patch and new tarball on our web site,often 100 s of times per year.(N,AEs)
In Example(82),instead is used to replace deadlines in the former clause with the proposition release every bug fix or new feature as soon as we finish it in the latter clause.Both rather than and instead can serve to narrow down the possible interpretations of a proposition.
Concessive CMs are very pervasive in all three disciplines.Table 5.11 is the statistical result of the distribution of the concessive CMs in the EAPs of the three disciplines.
Table 5.11 Comparison of varying CMs in N,S and H
As mentioned in Chapter 4,concessive CMs could link incompatible propositions,which could be considered as a dialogical way for the authors to negotiate with their readers,and connect the authors’attention to the readers’expectation.As can be seen in Table 5.11,the EAPs in H possess the largest amount of concessive CMs,with the frequency of 150.5,while those in S only has a frequency of 22.7,and the frequency decreases to 15.8 in N.However and though are the top two CMs which are more frequently used for countering the expectation.For example,
(83)In other words,the kind of summary that is involved in NPSA and NPWA is effectively proposition-domain summary.However,there is another form of summary,related to whole discourses or parts of them,which I want to call discourse-domain summary.(H,AEs)
(84)This episode showed the complicated relationship between civilian leaders and the military,though this does not necessarily mean that the central government is losing control over the military.(S,ANEs)
However in Example(83)and though in Example(84)help to restrict previous claims,i.e.the second proposition limits the validity of the previous claim.
Moreover,the EAPs in three disciplines are different from each other in terms of their use of the specific concessive CMs.For example,the use of yet is dense in H(22.9 per 100,000 words)but very spare in N(2.8 per 100,000 words)and S(0.5 per 100,000 words).There is also great imbalance in the use of nevertheless.The EAPs in H shows a frequency of 7.6,while in S and N the frequencies of nevertheless are lower than 1.For example,
(85)The only indication that Latin stress might be as strong as Germanic is that secondary stress was regulated in medieval Latin metres and was strong enough to carry rhyme.Nevertheless,it seems clear that when Tennyson tried to write quantitative verse he was not alone in having to mediate the demands of weight and stress in patterning his language.
(H,ANEs)
In Example(85),nevertheless connects two conflict propositions and is used to modify part of the proposition secondary stress was regulated in medieval Latin metres and was strong enough to carry rhyme.The investigation of the concessive CMs shows that they mainly function to forestall possible objections and limit the previous claims,so as to counter the expectation.
Comparatively,negative comparative CMs are less frequently distributed than the CMCEs mentioned above.The statistical information about negative comparative CMs are listed in Table 5.12.
Table 5.12 Comparison of negative comparative CMs in N,S and H
Seen from the above table,negative comparative CMs are most frequently used in H,with the frequency of 3.8,compared with 0.4 in S and 1.2 in N.The most popular CM in all three disciplines is elsewhere,which accounts for 62 in 72 CMs of H,5 in 6 CMs in S and 19 in 23 CMs of N.
(86)Elsewhere we have shown in detail that the ups and downs of the economy of the Lower South were not correlated with the fluctuations in exports,and the same pattern appears in the Middle Colonies.(H,AEs)
In Example(86),elsewhere is used to indicate a different perspective from that in the previous proposition.The last type of CMCEs is negative conditional CMs,and Table 5.13 lists the statistical information of this kind of CMCEs.
Table 5.13 Comparison of negative conditional CMs in N,S and H
Seen from Table 5.13,there is a similar tendency about the distribution of the negative conditional CMs with the other CMCEs in three disciplines:the frequency decrease from H to S to N.In specific,unless is employed more frequently.Although there are some differences in paraphrasing unless,Quirk et al.(1972),Clark & Clark(1977),Comie(1986)and Martin(1992)all agree on the point that the proposition introduced by unless can be considered as an exception in the situation.For example,
(87)There were no apparent differences in height associated with the mother’s prenatal exposure,unless she smoked herself.(N,ANEs)
Based on the above illustration,it can be understood that the proposition she smoked herself is the exception in the situations in the main clauses.
In conclusion,Section 4.2 introduces CMCEs in the three disciplines.Compared with the complex situation in CMFEs,there is a simple and similar tendency of the distribution of CMCEs in N,S and H,i.e.,the frequencies of every type of CMCEs decrease from H to S and then to N.