PREDICATIVE ADJECTIVES IN ESP - A CORPUS-BASED METHODOLOGY Ilina Doykova, Temenuzhka Seizova-Nankova

This paper describes a three-year experience in teaching English to bachelor students at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Applied Sciences, amburg! The present first year intermediate ES" module in an international classroom is an attempt to teach students ho# to use engineering language so that their #ritten and oral communication is more nativeli$e! %eing non-native spea$ers, students often lac$ extensive practice and form linguistic expressions in an untypical #ay, thin$ing of individual ad&ectives outside the context of their modification and complementation! 'or that purpose attention is dra#n to the retrieval of predicative ad&ective patterns and the method described is an initial $ey stage in the recognition of patterns #ith the help of a linguistic soft#are program! The analysis is illustrated #ith corpus sentences! (ey #ords) predicative ad&ective patterns, technical corpus, linguistic tools!

In specialised language the most typical grammatical category is that of the noun [NP , follo!ed "y that of the ver"# $o!ever, ad%ectives are comple& enough in respect to their functions# 'hile prototypical nouns function as arguments and prototypical ver"s function as predicates, ad%ectives are associated !ith t!o main functions( they can predicate a property )!ith the help of a copular ver"* and they can function as modifiers# Thus they play a significant role in "oth their attri"utive and predicative use# +oncerning grammaticality the attri"utive ad%ective position in a sentence is optional )"roducts delivered to the customer need to be serviced and repaired during their useful lifetime!* "roducts delivered to the customer need to be serviced and repaired during their useful lifetime*# ,unctioning attri"utively ad%ectives primarily descri"e the referent in terms of some )descriptive, classifying, etc#* property, thus "eing premodifiers )attri"utive modifiers* in construction !ith the noun head )$er"st -../*# 0d%ectives in their predicative use are 1uite different as they parallel ver"s( The tensile strength of cast iron is very low, and excessive tightening of a set scre# into a cast iron thread may cause the thread to crumble, thus permanently damaging the casting! *The tensile strength of cast iron is very low, and excessive tightening of a set scre# into a cast iron thread may cause the thread to crumble, thus permanently damaging the casting! In this function they "ecome o"ligatory sentence mem"ers and ac1uire part of the properties associated !ith ver"s )$er"st -.2.*# In predicative position the ad%ective is the focus of the phrase )head*( Some plastics become soft #hen heated, and hard #hen cooled# 0d%ectival heads !hich participate in such

constructions are e&panded "y modification and complementation due to constituents !hich follo! the head# They can take prepositional phrases as posthead complements )"e 3 ad%# 3 prep( be accurate in+ be similar to+ be different from+ be suitable for, etc#*# The ad%ective head controls the complement !hich in return completes the meaning of the ad%ective# Thus complementation )the ma%or su"category of post-modification in our paper* provides specification of the meaning implied "y the head# This realization is possi"le only in predicative use and is especially typical for 4SP as compared to spoken discourse# ,or e&ample( A lot of time is re,uired for tool setting and tool changing, #ith the result that this type of #or$ is not suitable for production )/2 sentences in Technical corpus*5 Therefore - thin$ it #ould be a better idea if units could be set up and the children could be ta$en out of an ordinary school for perhaps one or t#o or three years, according to ho# much time is re,uired, #here they could give the individual attention and the specialist teaching to help them to overcome this particular problem )62 sentences in 7N+ spoken section*# We offer a small representative selection of examples, grouped according to importance of predicative adjective patterns appearing in a technical corpus collocations (Lewis 2007). reativit! in language is possi"le "! achieving freedom to approach the same head from different perspectives or "! seeing similarities "etween different patterns and experiment "! analog!. Part 1 Retrieval met !" 0d%ective patterns are usually outside the focus of attention in an 4SP classroom, thus left to the students8 intuition# 'hen encountering ne!5specialized voca"ulary one standard help is the use of on-line dictionaries in the classroom( +ollins +o"uild 0dvanced 9earner8s 4nglish Dictionary )http(55!!!#myco"uild#com*: ;erriam-'e"ster<s =nline Dictionary, 22th 4dition: http(55!!!#merriam-!e"ster#com: The 'ordsmyth 4nglish DictionaryThesaurus )http(55!!!#!ordsmyth#net*: .ne/oo$ 0http)**###!oneloo$!com1 to mention "ut a fe! among the most popular ones# The ad%ective hard had numerous dictionary entries )!ith as many as >.*, represented in +ollins 4nglish =n-line Dictionary )http(55!!!#collinslanguage#com5english-dictionaries-thesauruses5free-onlineenglish-dictionary-thesaurus* in attri"utive use only(
$ere is a random choice of sentences from the technical corpus for comparison ) hard*(

1. +utting tools, razors, etc# !hich need to be hard "ut not so tough, are tempered at -..--?.@+ and ac1uire a pale yello! colour# 2. Thermoplastics soften !hen heated and become hard on cooling#

3. The surface of the component becomes hard due to the formation of hard nitrides on the surface# 4. $ardened steel ac1uires a needle like grain structure called martensite !hich ma$es it glass hard!
Thus looking at the dictionary entries alone it is not possi"le to figure out and fully understand this phenomenon );ishan -..?, Schmitt 2AAB*# 0 "asic ad%ective )hard* usually depends on the !ider conte&t for its internal meaning and also for its typical syntactic "ehaviour# +omparing the same ad%ective !ith its 4rlangen Calency Pattern"ank profile !e "ecome familiar !ith the comple&ities of the !ord and its varying usage# Three ad%ective senses and the follo!ing patterns are listed there( ad%# 3 toDIN, , [it 3 ad%# 3 toDIN,: ad%# 3 forDNP: [it 3 ad%ective 3 forDNP 3 toDIN,: ad%ective 3 onDNP: [it 3 ad%ective 3 onDNP 3 toDIN,: ad%ective 3 toDNP# The 4rlangen Calency Pattern"ank )T# $er"st* is a free electronic "ank !hich provides a relia"le tool for linguistic research !ith a complete list of the valency patterns of selected ad%ectives as indicated in the Calency Dictionary of 4nglish )$er"st -..E*# It offers a description of ?EE ma%or ad%ective patterns )-BE nouns and ?22 ver"s are also included* for no!#

The method descri"ed in this section is the initial key stage in the e&traction of predicative ad%ective patterns from an electronic te&t"ook for mechanical engineering students, Englisch f2r Maschinenbauer )0# Fayendran -..B*# The te&t"ook articles are converted into te&t files prior to the application of the soft!are programme 'ordSmith Tools 6#. )Scott -.2-*# They serve as a technical corpus and the e&traction process is carried out for ad%ectives that also have a profile in 4CD# Three programme functions - 'ord9ist, Gey'ord and +oncord - are tested for 4SP purposes )Doykova -.2>*# 3ord/ist 0the unrefined procedure*(
0ccording to their fre1uency 3ord/ist generates a list of all the !ords in the corpus )Scott 2AA/*# Irrelevant le&ical units that tend to occupy top positions in 'ord9ists as pronouns, articles, etc# need to "e eliminated first "y applying a le&ical filter )a stop!ord list*# =ne disadvantage is that if a te&t-oriented approach is to "e relia"le it has to "e com"ined !ith close in-te&t o"servation on the part of the researcher# $ence the e&tracted !ords are conse1uently identified and analysed in conte&t in order to select true ad%ectives only# Those le&ical units that raise any dou"ts !ere left for further analysis in order to determine su"se1uently !hether they have ad%ectival status or not# Thus !e ended up !ith a list of E.. ad%ectives, appearing in our corpus )0ppendi& 2( 'ord9ist 0d%ectives in Technical Te&t"ook*# Hsually the top items are considered prototypical and the last ones - core or central for the specialized field, represented in the corpus# ,or our analysis ad%ectives that are considered representative have varied complementation patterns )comple& valency properties* and fre1uent language use#

0 'ord9ist )Ta"le -* is usually rather e&tensive and can serve to further o"tain a Gey'ord 9ist !hich reveals saliency# 0 Gey!ord9ist is important as it compares the corpus under study !ith a reference corpus#

Ta"le - e&emplifies the resulting 'ord9ist ad%ectives arranged in alpha"etical order# (ey3ord /ist 0the refined procedure1 =ther criteria could further complement the fre1uency data o"tained "y 'ord9ist as is the Gey'ord function# The Ikey !ordsI are calculated "y comparing the fre1uency of each !ord in our corpus !ith the fre1uency of the same !ord in a reference !ord-list# In this case the 7ritish National +orpus is selected as a reference corpus and a 7N+ !ord list is do!nloaded from http(55!!!#le&ically#net5do!nloads5versionE5do!nloadingJ-.7N+#htm# The 7ritish National +orpus )7N+* is a 2.. million !ord collection of samples of !ritten )A.J* and spoken )2.J* language from a !ide range of sources )ne!spapers, periodicals, fiction, academic "ooks, essays and many other kinds of te&t* from the later part of the -.th century# 'e can search for !ords and phrases, part-of-speech, surrounding !ords )collocates*, find their fre1uency in registers )spoken, academic, poetry, medical, etc#* or compare them# ;ost valua"le help is the possi"ility for a semantic search in a corpus# 'hen ad%ectives are e&plained !ith synonymous ad%ectives, their senses overlap and there are no "oundaries specified in dictionaries )be able to 4 -nf# K "e capa"le of: be accurate in K proper: be available K accessi"le: be different from K not identical: be appropriate K suita"le: be essential K necessary or re1uired: be possible K capa"le of: be tough K hard, resistant to or firm: be fixed K rigid: be important in K essential in, etc#) su"tle nuances are missed and most often !rong patterns are produced "y learners#

,or e&ample in Ta"le > "elo! t!o similar ad%ectives )re,uired*necessary* appear in the Gey'ord list# 0 comparison of results for re,uired*necessary in order to determine the difference in meaning or use "et!een them is essential )Nesselhauf -..?*#

Ta"le ># Gey te&t"ook ad%ectives - a sample of the results o"tained !ith the Gey'ord function of 'ordSmith Tool 6#. !hen compared to 7N+ 'ord9ist as a reference corpus# The snapshot sho!s )Scott 2AA/*( 2# each key !ord -# its fre1uency in the source te&t)s*!here these key !ords are key in# ># the J that fre1uency represents# E# its fre1uency in the reference corpus )L+# ,re1# column* ?# the reference corpus fre1uency as a J 6# keyness )log likelihood statistic* B# p value#

The statistic appears to the right of the display# $ere the procedure is log likelihood and the pro"a"ility )p* is displayed to the right of the value# The criterion for !hat counts as IoutstandingI is "ased on the minimum pro"a"ility value selected "efore the key !ords !ere calculated# The !ords appear sorted

according to ho! outstanding their fre1uencies of occurrence are# Those near the top are outstandingly fre1uent# The column Geyness assigns value to each !ord the higher the value, the stronger the keyness# +omparing the le&ical units from the 'ord9ist !ith the retrieved key!ords !e limit the scope of our research analysis as statistically high fre1uency !ords in the technical corpus are to "e later put to practical use#

T e C!#$!r"a#$e %&#$ti!# The +oncordance function determines the immediate Mneigh"oursN of a search !ord )a predicative ad%ective* and makes it possi"le to see !ords that occur immediately "efore and after it# Thus all the occurrences of a search pattern are displayed on the screen, together !ith a span of running te&t to the left and right# 0t this point the com"inatorial "ehavior of the le&ical units has to "e included in our analysis# +oncord can generate concordance lines )Gey!ord in conte&t or G'I+* !ith collocates, clusters )>5E5?-!ord groupings* and patterns for a selected !ord# It sho!s the source te&t and provides evidence of the use of the le&ical items in conte&t#

Ta"le ?# +oncordance lines !ith $0LD It is hard to find characteristic le&ical patterns in concordance lines hence the collocate, cluster and pattern functions can "e applied# +lusters are !ords !hich are found repeatedly together in se1uence# 0ll !ords have a tendency to cluster together !ith some others# These clustering relations may involve colligation )the linkage "et!een neigh"ouring !ords and grammatical items, usually prepositions in 4nglish( hard to+ hard due to1+ semantic prosody )the tendency for cause to come !ith negative effects such as

accident, trou"le, etc#* and collocation# +ollocates are the !ords that appear in the immediate conte&t of the search !ord )node* according to fre1uency of appearance# The present corpus is not representative enough in order to o"tain relia"le clusters for all ad%ectives )most ad%ectives do not e&hi"it clusters "ut mainly collocates*# $ence the clusters, collocates and patterns of necessary are e&emplified "elo!# Cl&'ter a((li$ati!# Thus the phraseology of the te&t"ook can "e e&tracted "y the +luster application of +oncord# The collocational horizons could "e set ?9 to ?L "y default or smaller if !e !ant the cluster to contain a particular search !ord# Ta"le 6 "elo! sho!s the clusters for the node !ord N4+4SS0LO )!ith a cluster setting of >9 and >L*#

Ta"le 6# ;eaningful clusters o"tained for N4+4SS0LO The higher fre1uency is highlighted in red and "y clicking at the position num"er the concordance lines are displayed# 9ike!ise the statistics in Ta"le B sho! top collocates of necessary !hich include is, it, to and very common !ords as often, that, the, and, etc#

Ta"le B# +ollocates of the node N4+4SS0LO The Patterns application performs a similar function "ut the display of !ords is different# The !ords ad%acent to the search !ord are organized in terms of

fre1uency !ithin each column# The effect is to make the most typical items in the neigh"ourhood of the search !ord to appear to the top# Thus !hen !e are interested in the ha"itual company of predicative ad%ectives !e activate the Search $orizons option of the 'STool and o"tain results as in Ta"le / !hich !e consider the most straightfor!ard option of the three +oncord applications for our technical corpus#

Ta"le /# Patterns for the node N4+4SS0LO

$aving selected the applications that are suita"le for our analysis, !e initiated the retrieval process for each predicative ad%ective from the Gey'ord 9ist and summarized the resulting corpus patterns in Ta"le A "elo!# 4&tracted corpus patterns are listed in t!o columns, !here the second column contains the prepositional patterns not included in the 4rlangen Calency Pattern"ank )$er"st -.2.*# To esta"lish the degree of o"ligatoriness of the prepositional element in the pattern !e consulted also the follo!ing sources(

3ord5et )http(55!ordnet#princeton#edu*: The %%- 6ombinatory Dictionary )7enson -.2.* Erlangen 7alency "atternban$ )http)**###!patternban$!uni-erlangen!de*cgibin*patternban$!cgi* A 7alency Dictionary of English )$er"st -..E*# 9ist of Predicative 0d%ective Patterns in Technical +orpus and 4rlangen Calency Pattern"ank )4CP*
"e a"le to 3 Inf# "e accurate in "e availa"le !ith5in5to 3 Inf#

"e different from "e difficult to 3 Inf# "e easy to 3 Inf# "e economical to 3 Inf5 in "e un5suita"le for "e essential in

"e useful in5for5!hen "e important in "e necessary for5to5!hen "e possi"le to5"y Ta"le A# Predicative ad%ective patterns in Technical te&t"ook and in 4CP ;ost dictionaries indicate typical usage !here ad%ectives are usually e&plained !ith synonyms )or other ad%ectives* "ut do not give a full account of the com"inatorial aspect of these !ords thus providing not enough evidence a"out the variety of prepositions accompanying them );ishan -..?*# The follo!ing ad%ective patterns from the technical corpus are not found in the Pattern"ank( make free of make free of "ecome hard due to "ecome hard on "e hard to 3Inf "ecome important !ith "e inclined at "e similar to "e perpendicular to "e proportional to "e composed of "e e1ual to "e true to "e permanent in "e uni1ue in "e dependent on "e parallel to "e e&pensive to "e smooth in

"e convenient to "e central to "e e1uipped !ith "e re1uired for "e fitted !ith "e fi&ed !ith5on "e suited for "e kno!n as "e stronger5softer5simpler51uicker5 smoother5smaller5greater than Ta"le 2.# 0n e&tensive list of ad%ectives in Technical corpus not included in 4CP Thus in predicative constructions the ad%ective "ecomes the most decisive and meaningful element in the right part of the sentence and opens slots for other primary sentence mem"ers to complete its meaning# 0d%ective phrase complements are primarily realized "y prepositional phrases or "y to-infinitive clause )or that, #h- su"ordinate clauses*# The corpus has proved very useful for finding information a"out collocates as sho!n in Ta"les 6, B, / for necessary 0Sei8ova-5an$ova1# $ence students are encouraged to investigate the information in the corpus "y generating concordance lines !ith recurrent ad%ectives )significantly consistent !ords as per fre1uency count* )7arlo! -..-*# 'hen a search !ord generates a large num"er of concordance lines )EE for necessary, /2 for re,uired*, students are taught to turn to the collocates and the clusters display )9e!is -..B*# 0 comparison "et!een the Technical corpus and the 7N+ corpus sho!s that re,uired and necessary are significant key !ords in the technical te&t"ook content# Some mathematics( a) ,re1uency of re,uired .,2BJ )Technical corpus*5.,.-J )7N+ reference corpus* K /?.J more fre1uent in Technical corpus: b) ,re1uency of necessary .,2.J )Technical corpus*5.,.-J )7N+ reference corpus* K ?..J more fre1uent in Technical corpus#

Thus a corpus often leads to some!hat une&pected discoveries# $ere is one more proof( 'ordSmith Tool applied to technical corpus makes a pattern it is often necessary to evident )Ta"le 6*, "ut no such pattern is found in 7N+ in comparison#

The higher fre1uency of occurrence of such une&pected patterns in a technical corpus is related to the features of the technical !riting style# ;ain features of technical style are the strengthening of !eak constructs )hence the use of participles and highly specific !ords* and in our case - predicative ad%ectives relating to importance )necessary, re,uired*# The visual thesaurus models of the t!o ad%ectives are compared "elo! as they are synonymous and often the "oundaries "et!een their senses are not clear enough for students(

,ig#2 Cisual thesaurus entry - re,uired )a participial ad%ective, strictly specific meaning*

from Thinkmap Cisual Thesaurus Phttp(55!!!#visualthesaurus#comQ

Dictionary entry( needed "y rule: necessary for relief or supply

,ig#- Cisual thesaurus entry - necessary )a modal ad%ective, general meaning* fromPhttp(55!!!#visualthesaurus#comQ Dictionary entry( a"solutely essential: unavoida"ly determined "y prior circumstances: incapa"le of "eing avoided or prevented: a"solutely necessary:
C!#$l&'i!# 7y introducing linguistic tools into the 4SP classroom the teacher assists students in "ecoming pattern sensitive and familiar !ith the special features of technical style )such as preference to precise ad%ectives and participles and ad%ective patterns as strong predicative elements*# Predicative ad%ective patterns and their effective teaching are further e&plored in future papers#

9eferences Barl!) *++*# 7arlo!, ;# )-..-*# 6orpora, concordancing, and language teaching# Proceedings of the -..- G0;099 International +onference# Dae%on, Gorea Be#'!# *+1+# 7enson, ;# 7enson, 4v#, Ilson, L# )-.2.*# The %%- 6ombinatory Dictionary! Fohn 7en%amins Pu"lishing +ompany D!,-!va *+1.# Doykova I# )-.2>*# -n search for semantic domains - a corpusbased analysis!9iter;edia, <http(55litermedia#com:
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=;%!r" C!ll!$ati!#' Di$ti!#ar, %!r St&"e#t' <<==<1, =HP C!lli#' C!/&il" A"va#$e" Lear#er=' E#:li' Di$ti!#ar, ;http(55!!!#myco"uild#com> Merriam-9e/'ter>' O#li#e Di$ti!#ar,, 22th 4dition ;http(55!!!#merriam!e"ster#com: T e 9!r"'m,t E#:li' Di$ti!#ar,-T e'a&r&' ;http(55!!!#!ordsmyth#net: O#eL!!- ;http(55!!!#onelook#com:!