Open AccessDiscourse function of nominalization : a case study of English and Slovene newspaper articles
Author(s) -
Katja Plemenitaš
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
acta neophilologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2350-417X
pISSN - 0567-784X
DOI - 10.4312/an.38.1-2.153-166
Subject(s) - nominalization , newspaper , linguistics , sample (material) , function (biology) , history , sociology , media studies , philosophy , noun , evolutionary biology , biology , chemistry , chromatography
The article deals with nominalization as a linguistic form with a universal discourse function. lt offers an explanation ofthe discourse function of nominalization as a topicalization mechanism. From this stems the assumption that the use of nominalization is associated with specific text types, which is supported by a comparative study ofnominalizations carried out on a sample of English and Slovene newspaper articles from two different periods. The study tests some predictions with regard to the use and frequency of nominalizations in the sample, which are based on general assumptions about the function ofnominalizations and some previous obseniations about nominizing tendencies in English and Slovene. The results of this study show that both English and Slovene newspaper articles yield similar global patterns in the distribution of nominalization in connection with the text type.