A Corpus-based Study Of Shell Nouns In The-N-of Structure In Journal Articles By Chinese And Native English Authors

The-N-of structure is a particularly popular noun phrase bundle in research-oriented texts,but the previous study has little to say about the dynamic usage of the nouns in this structure.The study presented here considers the comparative use of shell nouns in the-N-of structure based on corpora of published papers in mechanical science and engineering by Chinese speakers of English(CSE)and native speakers of English(NSE).The comparative analysis is based on the taxonomy of interactional function proposed by previous studies.The retrieving results were analyzed regarding: 1)the frequency of interactional categories in two corpora;2)the variations of shell-noun usage by CSE and NSE writers.Data analyses reveal that the two groups of writers share a common distribution of interactional function: The entity noun has the largest proportion and it is followed by the attribute noun and the relation noun successively.In spite of the overall similarity in functional distribution,there are distinct variations in shell-noun uses across the two groups of writers.Overall,CSE writers have a higher proportion of the-N-of structure than NSE writers.And in the specific comparison,NSE writers use more emotive and creditive nouns than CSE writers in the sub-class of cognition nouns;CSE writers tend to apply more positive quality nouns while NSE use more negative ones;about the dynamic modality of status nouns,CSE writers show a slight preference to declaim rather than proclaim.These data could confirm the following conclusions.The CSE group are more inclined to use this noun phrase and tend to be more indirect in quality evaluations and humble in expressing certainty than members of the NSE group are.In their interactions with readers,CSE writers tend to passively impose information on readers,whereas NSE writers tend to give readers more hints in learning the content of shell nouns.With modesty and respect virtues,CSE writers dislike apparent displays of confidence.In contrast,individualism and the ownership of ideas in western countries are taught and considered appropriate for both authors and readers,so the identified status nouns in NSE are more affirmative and confident than those of CSE.Influenced by the native language transferring,CSE writers tend to apply more gerund form as the realization of shell nouns.Therefore,understanding the interactional function of shell nouns in the-N-of structure can help improve Chinese writers? awareness of cultural variations in academic writing.