Spoken Corpus: Grammatical Item Analysis: NOT

 The Corpus

The data for the written corpus was obtained from the internet. Five websites were viewed and retrieved, and all of them are related to hobbies. The websites are, Anuar’s Fishing Site: Fishes, Anuar’s Fishing Site: Articles (issues on fishing), New Gunung Online: Gear Page, Kuala Lumpur Mountainbike Hash: Trails in Peninsular Malaysia and Dan Loh’s Martial Arts Site: Background Page.

The pages from Anuar’s Fishing Site, which are Fishes and Articles (issues on fishing)were viewed and retrieved on 21^st July 2004 from http://www.fortunecity.co.uk/olympia/martial/70/ and http://www.fortunecity.co.uk/olympia/martial/70/article1.html respectively. Fishes deals with the types of fish which can be found and caught in Malaysia. It also explains the details of the fishes and how to fish them. Articles (issues on fishing) on the other hand, consists of two articles. Sportsfishing for Dummies talks about the types of fishing equipment, and Is fishing a game or just a hobby or just to cari makan?? talks about issues of game fishing.     New Gunung Online: Gear Page was viewed and retrieved on 21^st July 2001 from http://marina.fortunecity.com/harbourside/83/. It deals with the types of necessary equipment and gear suitable for jungle trekking in Malaysian climate and weather. Kuala Lumpur Mountainbike Hash: Trails in Peninsular Malaysia was viewed and retrieved on 22^nd July 2004 from http://www.bikehash.freeservers.com. The Website offers details of the various mountbiking trails found in Peninsular Malaysia.Dan Loh’s Martial Arts Site: Background Page was viewed and retrieved on 25^th July 2004 from http://members.tripod.com/%7EKerg/dan/index.html. The page tells the history and experience of a martial artist, and how he got to be who he is today.

Grammatical Item Analysis

For the grammatical item analysis, the negation aspect is selected for both spoken and written corpora, which is not. Not, according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1989), basically has three meanings:

1.         a.         used with auxiliary verbs and modals to for the negative; often contracted to (n’t) in speech or informal writing,

b.         used with non-finite verbs to give the negative,

2.         a.         used after believe, expect, hope, trust etc. instead of a clause beginning with that or containing a negative verb,

b.         used to indicate the negative alternative after questions with are you, do you etc.,

3.         a.         used to reply in the negative part or all of a question, and

b.         used to deny the significance of the following word or phrase.

Spoken Corpus

NOT has the frequency of 80 and the contracted form N’T has the frequency of 37 in the spoken corpus. NOT collocates mainly with modals, be-copula and auxiliary verbs do and have in the corpus (61 occurrences, including in questions). For example:

1.         Preceded by modals

3	be remembered or you would	not	be valued for it whereas his talents and his
5	would not be but unfortunately he would	not	be remembered or you would
5	stuff legends being made up that may	not	uh  Tell us what happened then
14	you will uhm enjoy success and you will	not	be given preferential treatment just because
20	about how the Malay agenda should	not	be uh uh abandoned or vacated and how
32	too too much on crutches they would	not	be able to compete I’m not talking
42	could not decision political decision could	not	handle them right , because it’s
53	purely on the Malays would not will	not	give us enough people to go forward
56	don’t have that then the country will	not	benefit right You you’re talking
64	thing is you know this time now you could	not	decision political decision could

2.         Preceded by be-copula

1	thumbs down All right the clue is	not	good supposedly Hi Good morning
2	Australia New Zealand Erm we’re	not	far behind and sometimes I think we can
4	they would not be able to compete I’m	not	talking about crutches , you know
7	few and far between uh I mean they’re	not	many in numbers Yes you
8	uhm my my so called retort that you are	not	my father or you are not old enough
23	But after two years I found that I was	not	qualified to do anything else so I stayed
44	the ambition of No I I was	not	thinking of saying oh after this fight
51	job in the private sector Uhm we are	not	we are different from the Malays
58	you said that Vision twenty-twenty is	not	for the Malays It’s not something
63	Yes yes I think uhm uhm those are	not	the reasons why I joined politics
68	The the conflict is	not	driven by ambition? Uhm you think
69	anybody was there verify that I’m	not	going to say it happened unless somebody

3.         Preceded by auxiliary verbs do and have

15	fascination for motor sports did	not	happen overnight It started in 1910
28	I talk about the Malay agenda uh it does	not	necessarily mean that you give crutches
29	happened in the past for the Malays do	not	necessarily do not necessarily go to the best
57	uh the things that you mentioned uh did	not	happen uh in cabinet uhm my my so called
78	you know they can’t they’re not they do	not	know how to network with the
79	how you speak to you father and did you	not	say well but you are not my father
60	You made the comment that there have	not	been democracy in UMNO since

Some instances of NOT in the study is also found to be followed adjectives, nouns or noun phrase, generally as compliments to the be-copula. For instance:

1.         Followed by Adjectives

1	me thumbs down All right the clue is	not	good supposedly Hi Good morning
2	Australia New Zealand Erm we’re	not	far behind and sometimes I think
23	But after two years I found that I was	not	qualified to do anything else so I stayed
33	that you are not my father or you are	not	old enough to be my father didn’t
35	Rainforest No no they’re	not	connected the two words They’re
45	comments of you? Uhm perhaps it’s	not	right because uh I’m not allowed
77	something that do you do you were you	not	polite or were you not asked this

2.         Followed by Nouns or Noun Phrase

8	my my so called retort that you are	not	my father or you are not old enough
21	Uh huh  Is that is that	not	a good thing you think uh? Well
22	drive a taxi Uh I mean that’s totally uh	not	an unpleasant job and , and that’s
26	uhm I don’t look like a businessman I’m	not	the corporate type So I suppose it’s a
27	call Beckham Lose loser I mean it’s	not	a nice thing to call somebody but
55	and did you not say well but you are	not	my father? Laugh Is it true all these things?
63	Yes yes I think uhm uhm those are	not	the reasons why I joined politics
70	Melayu ya we say you know you’re	not	a kaki bodek ya? But it could be

Besides that, NOT is also followed by verbs in base form when a modal or auxiliary verb do precedes it, and verbs in progressive form (-ing) when be-verb precedes it. We can see this is in:

1.         Followed by verbs in base form

3	not be remembered or you would	not	be valued for it whereas his talents
5	be but unfortunately he would	not	be remembered or you would
13	crutches right it could be done but would	not	be but unfortunately he would
14	you will uhm enjoy success and you will	not	be given preferential treatment
15	Malaysia’s fascination for motor sports did	not	happen overnight It started in 1910 in
20	about how the Malay agenda should	not	be uh uh abandoned or vacated and
28	I talk about the Malay agenda uh it does	not	necessarily mean that you give crutches
29	in the past for the Malays do	not	necessarily do not necessarily go to the
32	too too much on crutches they would	not	be able to compete I’m not talking
42	could not decision political decision could	not	handle them right , because it’s
53	purely on the Malays would not will	not	give us enough people to go forward to
56	you don’t have that then the country will	not	benefit right You you’re talking about
57	uh the things that you mentioned uh did	not	happen uh in cabinet uhm my my so
79	you speak to you father and did you	not	say well but you are not my father

2.         Followed by verbs in progressive form

4	they would not be able to compete I’m	not	talking about crutches ,
19	no matter how good you are you’re	not	going to go anywhere you know
41	I’m sorry uh we’re	not	hearing you too well Can you can
44	mean the ambition of No I I was	not	thinking of saying oh after this fight I’m
46	relatives our friends you know We’re	not	getting the best Malays , You must
65	allowed to get No no we’re not we’re	not	campaigning or anything like
69	anybody was there verify that I’m	not	going to say it happened unless somebody
75	uh you know Uh uhm I’m	not	talking necessarily of your ambition

Although this is spoken corpus, instances of NOT when used with modals, be-copula or be-verb, or other auxiliary verbs, instead of the contracted form N’T, is considered to be quite high. There are perhaps two reasons why the speakers chose to use NOT in its non-contracted form. Firstly, the speakers wanted to stress the negation of the statement, where NOT has a stronger negative than the contracted form N’T. Secondly, some of the be-copula or be-verb or other auxiliary verbs are already contracted with the subject of the sentence. Therefore, another contraction of NOT is not possible.

The contracted form of NOT, N’T, which occurs 37 times in the spoken corpus, is found to occur only with auxiliary verb do: 33 times with do, twice with did and twice with does. Out of 33 occurrences, N’T occurs 22 times with the first person pronoun I. For example:

1	look like a statis statistician uhm I	don’t	look like a businessman I’m not the
2	anyway Thanks anyway Uh I	don’t	know if there’s any more call if there isn’t
5	All Come Come on Joe cock I	don’t	know Nigel’s giving me thumbs All right
6	think it was I don’t think it was I	don’t	think it was uh you Uh uhm I’m
7	Beckham is OK I don’t like him but I	don’t	like to say bad things about
8	about rate Uhm I don’t think it was I	don’t	think it was I don’t think it was
9	OK you don’t fully deny it Laugh I	don’t	think anybody was there verify that I’m
11	Guess who’s gonna be gone now? I	don’t	know You gonna be gone laugh
12	assumptions about I mean uh because I	don’t	look like a statis statistician uhm
13	can do Uh I don’t know Cockroach I	don’t	know Hi Good morning
14	Yea exactly I I’m very excited I	don’t	know who’s gonna win Yes somebody’s
15	wedding in November I! Exactly I	don’t	know when is the date but I think
19	love L O V Loved? Past tense? What? I	don’t	get it Loved Loved Loved
22	statistician to talk about rate Uhm I	don’t	think it was I don’t think it was I don’t
23	with kill little that Uhm Am I right? I	don’t	think so laugh OK Good
25	not a nice thing to call somebody but I	don’t	know some people say Oh come on
27	cockroach uh uh uh What cockroach I	don’t	know Come on you can do Uh I
28	peno Uh uhm Extremely Ya I	don’t	know how you ever get that close
30	playing the word game But you cheat I	don’t	cheat No I know you cheat No
31	some people Yea Beckham is OK I	don’t	like him but I don’t like to say bad things
33	I don’t Come on you can do Uh I	don’t	know Cockroach I don’t know
37	He walked in here I’m so lucky I	didn’t	say it again laugh All righty

The study also found that, because N’T is used with auxiliary verb do, it is followed by base form of verb, as we can see in the analysis above. Other instances in the corpus are:

3	How can you help me please	Don’t	embarrass me laugh
4	become as as good as can be and if you	don’t	have that then the country will not
16	environment is very demanding and and	don’t	you think that Malaysia also needs
17	The kind of company that uh	don’t	look like corporate
18	you know then then Malay and	don’t	you think uh it might be useful to had
24	think of household all No	don’t	give me the clues just give
26	He said ya give it a try for two If you	don’t	like it uhm you tell me then
27	have any recollection of OK OK you	don’t	fully deny it Laugh I don’t think
29	that uh don’t look like corporate	don’t	look like uh you know the fast-moving
32	the politicians So you have to if you	don’t	know anybody right no matter how
34	beautiful fact that they Malays	doesn’t	realise what was happening after
35	interpretation at that time and also that	don’t	mean it’s funny for a statistician to
36	you are not old enough to be my father	didn’t	happen in public event If it it

It is interesting to find that NOT is only contracted with auxiliary verbs do, does and did. Perhaps the speakers are more comfortable to contract NOT with the most common form of contraction in Malaysian English. Although we also see that NOT being used in non-contracted form with auxiliary verbs do, does and did, we do not see contracted form N’T being used with modals, be-copula or be-verb, or other auxiliary verbs.

Conclusion

In the grammatical item analysis, negation NOT and the contracted form N’T is selected for analysis. The most interesting finding in this section is that NOT collocates with only grammar function words, such as modals, be-copula or be-verb, or other auxiliary verbs, but not with any specific content word. This could suggest that the topic of discussion in spoken corpus is varied and of different genres. Therefore, patterns of collocation of content words are inadequate to be analysed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dictionary.com. Viewed and retrieved on 27^th 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 (4^th Ed.). Cowie, A.P. (Chief Ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989


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