Idiomatic Expressions Analysis in Joker Movie

This research aims to find out the types of idiomatic expressions and to identify the patterns of idiomatic expressions in the Joker movie. This research employed a descriptive qualitative method. In collecting the data, this research used a classification form, documentation, and monolingual dictionaries. The result showed that there were 4 types of idiomatic expressions found in the Joker movie; proverbs, clichés, fixed statements, and slang. The other types of idiomatic expressions such as simile, binomial, and other language were absent from the Joker movie. Moreover, the researcher identified the patterns of the idiomatic expressions in the Joker movie were; noun phrases, transitive verb phrases, verbal phrases, prepositional phrases, pair of words, and sentence pattern. The other patterns of idiomatic expressions such as be + prepositional phrases and alliterative comparison were not consisted in the Joker movie.

Prepositional Phrases in Modern Standard Arabic: An Agree-Based Analysis

Prepositions, in Arabic traditional grammar literature, have been analyzed as Genitive Case assigners (Hasan, 1976; Sibaweihi, n.d.). This paper presents a phase-based analysis for prepositions (Ps) in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The analysis is built on Chomsky's (2005, 2008) Feature-Inheritance model of Agree. In this proposed analysis, Prepositional Phrases (PPs) in MSA are analyzed as phases, where a Probe-Goal relation is established between the prepositional Probe p-P and the DP in its searching domain (i.e., its complement). The outcome of this relation is valuation of the unvalued Case feature on this DP complement (i.e., Genitive Case), and a similar valuation to the unvalued phi-features (φ-fs) on the Probe p-P.

Woes of the African Society: A Stylistic Analysis of Parallelism and Semantic Deviation in Philip Obioma Chinedu Umeh's Ambassadors of Poverty

Corruption has been one of the main challenges bedeviling the African society. Most artistic works in the form of writing and craft have dealt extensively with this canker of corruption. The poem ‘Ambassadors of Poverty’ is one of such works that touches on corruption in Africa. The present study seeks to examine the communicative implications underpinning the use of parallelism and semantic deviation in the poem. The study is situated within the linguistic and stylistic categories framework by Leech and Short (2007). The findings of the study identify forms of parallelism (noun phrases, prepositional phrases, simple and complex sentences) as well as forms of semantic deviation (metaphor, personification, irony, sarcasm, paradox, oxymoron and symbolism). The findings further unveil a preponderant use of varied shades of parallel structures to juxtapose the impoverished state of the ordinary African with the corrupt and luxurious lifestyle of African leaders while forms of semantic deviation are used to encode the unpatriotic attitudes of African leaders in figurative terms. The study concludes that literary works such as poems are potent instruments that are subtly used to expose and condemn the ills of society. The study has implications for research, theory and practice.

Lexicogrammar through colligation: Noun + Preposition in English and Norwegian

This study compares sequences of noun and preposition in English and Norwegian using data from the English-Norwegian Parallel Corpus. One purpose is to test the use of sequences of part-of-speech tags as a search method for contrastive studies. The other is to investigate the functions and meanings of prepositional phrases in the position after a noun across the two languages. The comparison of original texts shows that the function of postmodifier is most frequent in both languages, with adverbial in second place. Other functions are rare. English has more postmodifiers and fewer adverbials than Norwegian. Furthermore, the prepositional phrases express locative meaning, in both functions, more frequently in Norwegian than in English. The study of translations reveals that the adverbials have congruent correspondences more often than postmodifiers, particularly in translations from English into Norwegian.

Prepositional phrases and case in North American (heritage) Icelandic

The paper investigates the use of PPs, specifically prepositions and the case marking on their DP arguments, in moribund North American (heritage) Icelandic (NAmIce), using data from a map task experiment. Since prepositional phrases combine semantic properties with morpho-syntactic properties, PPs allow us to investigate the relative vulnerability of both domains at once. Our results show that while the prepositional inventory of NAmIce is not reduced as compared to Modern Icelandic, the choice of prepositions is subject to crosslinguistic influence from the dominant language English. For case, we find an increase in the use of nominative and accusative case at the expense of the dative; prepositions may take over case functions too. Our results are in line with previous research on case in heritage languages as well as studies on language change, while partially contradicting the assumption that loss is reversely related to acquisition.

Difficulties in using correct English prepositions among EFL students

The objectives of this study are to find out the reasons of this problem and find some solutions. The participants were ten students at levels seven and eight, at the Faculty of Sciences and Arts. The researcher used the Descriptive Statistical Method and collected the data via a written test as the main research tool. The data were then analyzed using a Statistical Package of Social Sciences Programme (SPSS). The results were as follows: Saudi students faced problems with using the correct prepositions after certain verbs. Students encountered difficulties in identifying the correct prepositional phrase. Students experienced the same problem with the use of English prepositions in writing tasks and in daily communication. The recommendations of this study are that students need to revise the use of English prepositions in general and need more practice in the use of prepositions after certain verbs. They also need to make a greater effort to use English prepositional phrases in their written work. Regarding writing courses, students need to focus more on the use of prepositions in general. Curriculum designers need more attention about teaching prepositions in their textbooks and curriculums. HIGHLIGHTS: Saudi students faced problems with using the correct prepositions after certain verbs. Students encountered difficulties in identifying the correct prepositional phrase. Students experienced the same problem with the use of English prepositions in writing tasks and in daily communication.

СЪС ИЛИ БЕЗ ПРЕДЛОЗИ: КОЕ Е ВЯРНОТО / WITH OR WITHOUT PREPOSITIONS: WHICH IS TRUE

The article focuses on the competition between noun phrases in which the head noun is modified by either a relative adjective, noun qualitative modifier or a prepositional phrase. Several tests are proposed to distinguish between phrases with noun qualitative modifier and compounds consisting of two nouns. The type of the prepositions that occur in the prepositional phrases is characterised, and the conclusion is drown that the semantic dependency in the three competing structures is the same, although it is overtly expressed only through the prepositions. Keywords: noun qualitative modifier, syntactic alternations with prepositional phrases, identification of compounds, Bulgarian language

A parametric approach to the acquisition of syntax

Three case-studies, using longitudinal records of children's spontaneous speech, illustrate what happens when a child's syntax changes. The first, examining acquisition of English verb-particle constructions, shows a near-total absence of commission errors. The second, examining acquisition of prepositional questions in English or Spanish, shows that children (i) may go as long as 9 months producing both direct-object questions and declaratives with prepositional phrases, before first attempting a prepositional question; and (ii) at some point, abrubtly begin producing prepositional questions that are correctly formed for the target language. The third case study shows that in children acquiring English, the onset of verb-particle constructions occurs almost exactly when that child begins using novel noun-noun compounds. After a discussion of the implications for the nature of syntactic knowledge, and for the mechanisms by which it is acquired, two examples are presented of as-yet untested acquisitional predictions of parametric proposals in the syntax literature.