English Adjectives Used by Non-natives in ICNALE Spoken Dialogues

Adinda Faiz

doi:10.20884/1.jes.2024.5.1.11250

Adinda Faiz Gadjah Mada University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20884/1.jes.2024.5.1.11250

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine English adjectives found in spoken language corpus of English learners in Asia. This study employed theories of adjectives from language typology perspective by Dixon (2010) and Frawley (1992). Descriptive-qualitative approach was applied, using ICNALE Spoken Dialogues as the data source. This study utilized the corpus analysis tools AntConc. The results identified the top 20 adjectives in the corpus, with Value, Human Propensity, and Difficulty each representing 20% of the findings. This study has implications for the significance of foreign language learning. Teachers can use adjectives from these categories to teach students, as they are basic vocabularies for English learners. Students are also expected to gain a better understanding of the functional aspect of adjectives, which could improve their language performance. The interest of this study lies in the high frequency of occurrence in the corpus. However, some limitations should also be considered.

References

Ağçam, R., & Özkan, M. (2015). A Corpus-based Study on Evaluation Adjectives in Academic English. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 199, 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.480

Al-khresheh, M. H., & Alruwaili, S. F. (2024). Nominal-phrase premodifications by non-native English speakers: The case of attributive adjective word order of Saudi EFL students at tertiary level. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.59400/fls.v5i2.1602

Anthony, L. (2005). AntConc: Design and Development of a Freeware Corpus Analysis Toolkit for the Technical Writing Classroom. IEEE International Professional Communication Conference Proceedings.

Baker, M. C. (2004). Lexical Categories: Verbs, Nouns, and Adjectives. Cambridge University Press.

Blackwell, A. A. (2005). Acquiring the English adjective lexicon: relationships with input properties and adjectival semantic typology. Journal of Child Language, 32(3), 535–562. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000905006938

Blanco, M. P. (2020). Evidential adjectives in English and Spanish journalistic opinion discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 170, 112–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.08.014

Browne, C. (2013). The New General Service List: Celebrating 60 years of Vocabulary Learning. The Language Teacher, 13–16.

Cao, D., & Badger, R. (2021). Cross-linguistic influence on the use of L2 collocations: the case of Vietnamese learners. Applied Linguistics Review, 14(3), 421–446. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2020-0035

Dixon, R. M. W. (1982). Where Have All the Adjectives Gone? Mouton Publishers.

Dixon, R. M. W. (2010). Basic Linguistic Theory: Volume 2 Grammatical Topics (Vol. 2). Oxford University Press.

Dixon, R. M. W., & Aikhenvald, A. Y. (2004). Adjective Classes: A Cross-linguistic Typology (R. M. W. Dixon & A. Y. Aikhenvald, Eds.). Oxford University Press.

Fallah, N., & Jabbari, A. A. (2016). L3 acquisition of English attributive adjectives. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 8(2), 193–216. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.16003.fal

Frawley, W. (1992). Linguistic Semantic. Routledge.

Ishikawa, S. (2019). The ICNALE Spoken Dialogue: A new dataset for the study of Asian learners’ performance in L2 English interviews. English Teaching (The Korea Association of Teachers of English), 74(4), 153–177.

Kridalaksana, H. (2008). Kamus Linguistik (Edisi Keempat). PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (2024). Merriam-Webster.

Nuryantiningsih, F. (2022). Relevansi Adjektiva Human Propensity dalam Bahasa Jawa sebagai Cerminan Pandangan Hidup Manusia Jawa. Deskripsi Bahasa, 5(2), 50–57. https://doi.org/10.22146/DB.V5I2.5849

Oxford Learner’s Dictionary. (2024, April). Oxford University Press.

Platon, L. H. (2013). An Analysis or Lexical Fossilization: Near Synonym Errors [Postgraduate Thesis]. Srinakharinwirot University.

Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman Group Limited.

Roivainen, E. (2013). Frequency of the use of English personality adjectives: Implications for personality theory. Journal of Research in Personality, 47(4), 417–420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2013.04.004

Thongvitit, S., & Thumawongsa, N. (2017). A Corpus-Based Study of English Collocations Found in the Abstracts of Research Articles Written by Thai EFL Writers. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 7(12).

Vainik, E., & Brzozowska, D. (2019). The use of positively valued adjectives and adverbs in Polish and Estonian casual conversations. Journal of Pragmatics, 153, 103–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2019.02.001

Walenski, M., Sostarics, T., Mesulam, M. M., & Thompson, C. K. (2024). The production of adjectives in narratives by individuals with primary progressive aphasia. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 69, 101179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2023.101179

Wierzbicka, A. (2006). English: meaning and culture. Oxford University Press.

Wright, S. G. (1981). The Acquisition of Some Dimensional Adjectives by Both Normal and Language-Impaired Children. The South African Journal of Communication Disorders, 28, 127–139.