Open AccessThe Use of Nominal Subordinate Clause as a Syntactic Complexity Measure by Some National University of Lesotho Students
Author(s) -
ʼMATŠITSO Eugenia Morato-Maleke,
Lehlohonolo Phafoli
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of linguistics, literature and translation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2708-0099
pISSN - 2617-0299
DOI - 10.32996/ijllt.2020.3.11.17
Subject(s) - generative grammar , scripting language , linguistics , computer science , transformational grammar , measure (data warehouse) , grammar , dependent clause , transformational leadership , mathematics education , artificial intelligence , natural language processing , sentence , psychology , programming language , social psychology , database , philosophy
The paper explores the use of nominal subordinate clause as a syntactic complexity measure in some examination scripts of the National University of Lesotho (NUL) fourth year students. The study is based on the employment of the interpretivist paradigm as well as descriptive and case study designs. Data was collected from the students’ essays in the (2016/2017) examination papers and analysed qualitatively, following the Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG) and the Cognitive Grammar (CG), both of which formed the theoretical frameworks for the study. The paper shows that NUL students have a reasonably high level of syntactic complexity with the use of nominal subordinate clause.