Introduction
According to Graeme (1998), a corpus is made up of an empirical basis for identifying the elements and structural patterns of the systems in a language and for mapping out our use of the systems. We should be able to analyse and compare a corpus with other corpora or parts of corpora to study variation. A corpus must also be analysed distributionally to show how often and where particular lexical, phonological, grammatical, discoursal or pragmatic features occur.
Based on the definition above, the research
tries to investigate some features of the corpus compiled specifically
for this study. The data was gathered from television and radio
broadcast. The corpus is based on Malaysian English, that is, English as
used by Malaysians in spoken mode.
Because the corpus size is only about 23,000
words, the study cannot claim to represent the true nature of Malaysian
English because it does not have enough genres to represent the whole
language. However, certain aspects, such as collocation and semantic
prosody are observable in the corpus.
The Corpus
The data for spoken corpus is obtained from three sources: Fast Forward, The Breakfast Show and Malaysian Motor Sports. Fast Forward and Malaysian Motor Sports are television broadcast by Radio-Television Malaysia (RTM), channel TV1. The Breakfast Show is a radio broadcast also by RTM, on Radio 4. Fast Forward was recorded on 20th July 2004 at 9.30 pm. Malaysian Motor Sports was recorded on 18th July 2004 at 11.30 pm. The Breakfast Show was recorded on 19th July 2004 from 7.00 am till 9.00 am. All the recordings were transcribed on the same day they were recorded.
Fast Forward was a live broadcast
interview programme by RTM where the host interviewed a guest, who is a
Malay political figure. The discussion was mainly around issues related
to the guest and Malay issues in Malaysia. Malaysian Motor Sports is
a spontaneous commentary on the current Malaysian motor sports arena
and all the types of motor sports challenges held in Malaysia. In
between the commentaries, the host interviewed several individuals
involved in motor sports. The Breakfast Show is the most casual
broadcast programme of the three. It was hosted by two DJ’s. As they
were hosting the show, they played songs, read the news once every hour,
played The Word Game and received calls from the listeners.
Analysis
Lexico-semantic analysis of the spoken and
written corpora includes the concepts of collocation, semantic prosody,
ideology, cultural, economic and historical implications.
The phrase I think, according to
Hanston (2002), occurs more frequently in spoken than written English,
because of the colloquial use of the phrase. This claim is supported by
this study where I think has frequency of 35 in spoken corpus, but none in the written corpus.
Generally, according to Dictionary.com (2004), think is a verb with 11 meanings, which are:
1. to have or formulate in the mind,
2. a) to reason about or reflect on; ponder, b) to decide by reasoning, reflection or pondering,
3. to judge or regard; look upon,
4. to believe, suppose
5. a) to expect, hope, b) to intend,
5. a) to expect, hope, b) to intend,
6. to call to mind; remember,
7. to visualize; imagine,
8. to devise or evolve; invent,
9. to have care or consideration,
10. to bring into a given condition by mental preoccupation, and
11. to concentrate one’s thoughts on.
In a study by Wickens (1998, cited in Hanston, 2002), the phrase I think is found to be followed by that-clause and adjectives such as likely, possible or doubtful. It is more common in seminars and lectures where the speakers give their own opinion based on their own experience.
The study found 32 occurrences of I think followed
by that-clause. That-clause, or restrictive relative clause identifies
the entity being talked about, and is used in a complex sentence.
However, the corpus shows that all 32 occurrences have that being dropped. Therefore, I think is immediately followed by a noun, noun phrase or pronoun, as the subject of the relative clause. Some of the examples:
| 1 | a career outside of the civil service and | I think | a lot of us in that generation decided that |
| 3 | you know somebody you know , and | I think | competition is necessary for the Malays |
| 4 | Oh one word OK Uhm Insects | I think | he has that already Yes you have |
| 5 | don’t like to say bad things about Yea | I think | he’s cool all Yea I I mean he tries he’s a |
| 7 | uh a penalty shoot Oh all I think | I think | his clue is more to uhm his personal |
| 8 | that’s how I felt even as a young | I think | I I decided that look there’s no reason for |
| 11 | That’s Yea cut him some slack I think | I think | we’ve learnt to appreciate animals a lot |
| 14 | and then Sepang circuit will help | I think | it should be quite interesting In building |
| 15 | ey’re bringing this uh sports here and | I think | it’s catching up and uh furthermore after |
| 16 | in by the Tun Razak and uh today | I think | I’m being proven right because if you if you |
| 17 | This is a common view I think | I think | my generation feels uh you know that to |
| 18 | Did she call me or call Uh | I think | she was referring to Hello I am caterpillar |
| 19 | I don’t know when is the date but | I think | she’s picking a date that coincides with my |
| 28 | allowed to pass but on certain issues | I think | uhm I I stick to my guns and |
| 29 | Well | I think | Vision twenty twenty as it was put out |
| 33 | to improve and To be a driver | I think | you have to be quite disciplined because |
| 34 | Are the Malays still weak | I think | you need to uh you have to you |
The phrase I think is also used
as an interjection in the end or middle of a statement to indicate that
the speaker is about to tell something based on his personal opinion
and something that he believes in. We can see this in:
| 8 | that’s that’s how I felt even as a young | I think | |
| 24 | Ahmad Badawi today in his government | I think | , uh I would predict he would be motivated |
| 30 | Razak economic and political philosophy | I think | was is embodied perhaps in the best |
Besides that, the study also found that the phrase I think
in the corpus occurs mostly in the initial position of a sentence or a
clause. If there is an adverbial phrase being used in the sentence, I think would
occur immediately after that. Perhaps, this suggests that the speakers
think of what to say first before they verbalise it. For example:
1. Initial position of a sentence
| 4 | OK Uhm Insects | I think | he has that already Yes you have that |
| 5 | Yea | I think | he’s cool all Yea I I mean |
| 6 | I think | his clue is more to uhm his personal feelings | |
| 10 | This is a common view | I think | I think my generation feels uh you know |
| 11 | Yea cut him some slack | I think | I think we’ve learnt to appreciate animals |
| 12 | that was the problem then uh | I think | if we can go back to encouraging |
| 14 | then Sepang circuit will help | I think | it should be quite interesting In |
| 18 | Did she call me or call Uh | I think | she was referring to |
2. Initial position of a clause
| 1 | of the civil service and | I think | a lot of us in that generation decided that we |
| 3 | somebody you know , and | I think | competition is necessary for |
| 9 | by philosophy political and | I think | I think there was there was that reason |
| 13 | as well as well as anybody else and | I think | if we go back even further further |
| 15 | they’re bringing this uh sports here and | I think | it’s catching up and uh furthermore |
| 19 | I don’t know when is the date but | I think | she’s picking a date that coincides with my |
| 23 | the price for it you know because | I think | this is my country |
3. Following adverbial phrase
| 16 | and uh today | I think | I’m being proven right |
| 25 | In Malaysia | I think | uh tourist Hong Kong Classic Car Club |
| 29 | Well | I think | Vision twenty twenty as it was put out uhm |
| 31 | and sometimes | I think | we can be at par with Malaysian |
| 33 | and To be a driver | I think | you have to be quite disciplined |
| 35 | and commitment-wise | I think | you need to be very focused on what |
In the lexical semantic aspect, the study observed that out of 35 occurrences, only three collocate with a negation no or not. Therefore, we can say that I think in the corpus has a positive semantic prosody. For example:
| 9 | more by philosophy political and I think | I think | there was there was that reason |
| 11 | Yea cut him some slack | I think | I think we’ve learnt to appreciate animals |
| 12 | That was that was the problem then uh | I think | if we can go back to encouraging the |
| 14 | then Sepang circuit will help | I think | it should be quite interesting |
| 15 | they’re bringing this uh sports here and | I think | it’s catching up and uh furthermore |
| 19 | I don’t know when is the date but | I think | she’s picking a date that coincides with |
| 21 | I mean I stick to my guns I | I think | there certain things that we are allowed to |
| 28 | are allowed to pass but on certain issues | I think | uhm I I stick to my guns and uh and I’m |
| 30 | Razak economic and political philosophy | I think | was is embodied perhaps in the best well- |
| 31 | we’re not far behind and sometimes | I think | we can be at par with Malaysian rally |
| 33 | and To be a driver | I think | you have to be quite disciplined because |
| 34 | Are the Malays still weak? | I think | you need to uh you have to you need to |
The speakers mostly voice and share
their opinion on positive things. The statements do not stress on
anything negative, and thus do not make them sound defensive or
offensive, or only looking at things from a negative perspective.
Another pattern which we can observe in the corpus is that the phrase I think collocates with pronouns such as we, he, it, you and she, and a noun or noun phrase such as Vision twenty twenty and competition.
This suggests that it is mostly used to share the speaker’s opinion on
another person, people or on a matter, rather than speaking strictly on
behalf of himself (such as the use of I following I think).
This could indicate that the speakers do not talk only about himself,
and that he is aware that he is not the topic or subject of the
discussion. Some examples are as follows:
1. Followed by Pronouns
| 4 | Oh one word OK Uhm Insects | I think | he has that already Yes you have |
| 5 | like to say bad things about Yea | I think | he’s cool all Yea |
| 11 | Yea cut him some slack I think | I think | we’ve learnt to appreciate animals |
| 14 | and then Sepang circuit will help | I think | it should be quite interesting |
| 15 | they’re bringing this uh sports here and | I think | it’s catching up and uh furthermore |
| 18 | caterpillar? Did she call me or call Uh | I think | she was referring to |
| 19 | don’t know when is the date but | I think | she’s picking a date that coincides |
| 27 | Going back to Yes yes | I think | uhm uhm those are not the reasons why |
| 33 | and To be a driver | I think | you have to be quite disciplined because |
| 34 | Are the Malays still weak? | I think | you need to uh you have to you need |
2. Followed by Noun Phrase
| 3 | you know somebody you know , and | I think | competition is necessary for the Malays |
| 7 | penalty shoot Oh all I think | I think | his clue is more to uhm his personal feelings |
| 10 | This is a common view I think | I think | my generation feels uh you know |
| 29 | Well | I think | Vision twenty twenty as it was put out |
To conclude, we can see that the phrase I think is mostly followed by a relative clause (that-clause) in a sentence. However, in the corpus, that is
dropped, and thus the phrase is immediately followed by a noun phrase
or a pronoun, as the subject of the clause. There are also three
instances of I think being used as an interjection to stress personal opinion of the speaker. The study also found that I think is generally used in the initial position of a sentence, a clause and immediately after the adverbial phrase. I think in
the corpus is also found to be used in a positive semantic prosody,
where the speakers voice their positive opinion on the subject matter.
Finally, the phrase often collocates with pronouns and a noun or noun
phrase. This suggests that the speakers do not talk only about himself
and that he is aware that he is not the centre of the conversation.
Because the variety of topic and genres covered in the corpus, the study
does not find any significant and specific pattern of I think collocating with other content words.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dictionary.com. Viewed and retrieved on 27th September 2004 from http://dictionary.reference.com/
Graeme, Kennedy. An Introduction to Corpus Linguistics. London: Longman, 1998.
Hanston, Susan. Corpora in Applied Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Hornby, A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English (4thEd.). Cowie, A.P. (Chief Ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989
.
No comments:
Post a Comment