A Study of Shell Nouns in Senior English Majors writen production文献综述

 2023-04-20 02:04

文献综述

2. Literature ReviewWhile abstract nouns are not the main protagonists of linguistic research, this is certainly not the first study involving shell nouns or similar nouns. Previous scholars have studied abstract nouns from different perspectives and described them for different purposes. Their choice and selection of different names for shell nouns reflected their keen interest.2.1 The definitions and classifications of shell nounsLiterally, a shell noun sounds like a noun which act as a shell of a conch. Most students are not familiar with shell nouns, so an introduction to them is necessary.2.1.1 Definitions of shell nounsShell noun is a special kind of abstract nouns, which have no specific meanings. And their specific meanings are given only if the context is validated. According to their characteristic, different scholars named them differently from different research aspects. There are hundreds of such kind of nouns, including case, chance, fact, idea, news, point, problem, position, reason, report, situation, thing and so forth. Their high frequency arouses our great interest in this study. Whats more, they are usually used to capture the idea that they create conceptual shells for complex pieces of information expressed by clauses or even longer passages in a text or a discourse.Function is a focus on the application of shell nouns which many scholars are absorbed in. Schmid (2000) proposed shell noun that is based on the different functions of these nouns. From his perspective, a noun becomes a shell noun when it meets the need of three functions: characterizing, temporary concept-formation and linking. Shell nouns have characterizing function from sematic aspect, which shows shell nouns have abstract and inaccurate meanings. Thus, the writers put some information together in a general way by using shell nouns, and at the same time, the specific meanings of shell nouns can be found in certain context. From cognitive aspect, shell nouns can temporarily shape a concept of much complex information. From textual aspect, shell nouns act as a connection which are used to link the concepts which consist of phrases or clauses.Based on the above definition of shell nouns, and considering that this study is from a functional point of view, this paper chooses Schmids definition, which proves that a noun is a shell noun when one uses it in a shell-content to serve a certain aim.2.1.2 Classifications of shell nounsIn fact, though the research of shell nouns is not so popular at home or abroad, shell nouns should not be forgotten in linguistics. Before, the famous linguist Schmid(2000) made a scientific and systematic classification of shell nouns. In regard with shell nouns, Schmid(2000) proposed that their actual functions rather than their inherent properties could determine the classifications of shell nouns. That is to say, when nouns act as a shell to conclude and explain so much information and link the contextual contents as a whole, they could be defined as shell nouns. And, Schmid classifies shell nouns in his book English Abstract Nouns as Conceptual Shells: From Corpus to Cognition, where shell nouns own two main categories of typical and semantic categories. According to the semantic features, Schmid (2000) separates the shell nouns into six categories which are called factual shell nouns, linguistic shell nouns, mental shell nouns, modal shell nouns, eventual shell nouns, circumstantial shell nouns.The author will introduce each of them in brief in accordance with what Schmid(2000) has said in his book. At first, factual shell nouns mean that they act as a conceptual shell for facts and affairs which present an abstract state, such as fact, thing, problem and so on. Secondly, linguistic shell nouns refer to nouns that can show the characteristics of description of ones speaking. Take for example the worlds question and order. Thirdly, mental shell nouns usually mean nouns that reflect ones mental activity, such as idea, belief, assumption and so on. Fourthly, modal shell nouns refer to explanation of ones judgments on something that is possible to happen or to be proved right, where the typical example is the world truth as well as possibility and necessity. Fifthly, eventual shell nouns are usually used to describe the process or the condition of an event. For example, the words action, change, reflection and position are part of eventual shell nouns. At last, circumstantial shell nouns are connected with the information about situations, locations, conditions and personal practice, including the words place, way, time and procedure.2.2 Previous studies on shell nounsAlthough the studies on shell nouns are not so popular, in the few years, shell nouns still attract many scholars to be absorbed in them no matter in China or abroad. Their precious research achievements have greatly brought convenience and reference for the later research.2.2.1 Previous studies on shell nouns abroadSchmid(2000:21-23) summarized the syntactic characteristics of shell nouns, and believed that their frequently co-occurring lexical grammatical forms mainly fall into four categories: shell noun clause, shell noun be clause, deictic noun shell noun and deictic noun be shell noun, the proposal of which provides a convenient method for the retrieval of shell nouns in corpus. Previous studies also mainly focus on these four types of operable shell nouns. Foreign scholars have made great achievements in the study of shell nouns. The work of Hyland et al. (2005) and Charles(2007) focuses on the constructive role of shell nouns in the context of academic terms. Francis et al.(1998) analyzed the generation of shell nouns in the written language of Singaporean students and found that the frequency distribution, semantic categories and modifiers of shell nouns were significantly less than those of Native English students. Aktas et al. (2008) studied the use of shell nouns in the writing of American second language learners and found that some shell nouns were used more frequently than published English science books.2.2.2 Previous studies on shell nouns at homeThe concept of shell noun was put forward by Schmid in 2000. Domestic research on shell Nouns began in 2004, when Zhang Gaoyuan and Yang Xiaojun published an introduction about Schmids book English Abstract Nouns as Conceptual Shells: From Corpus to Cognition in Foreign Language Teaching and Research, which indicates that such a new linguistic concept as shell noun has not attracted enough attention in China, and it also reveals that domestic scholars lack close discussions on exchanging the latest achievements in linguistics with international scholars. However, since 2004, the number of literatures related to shell nouns has gradually increased, but in 2016, the number of literatures related to shell nouns has decreased, and until 2018, the number of literatures related to shell nouns has slightly increased each year, especially in 2020 and 2021. This shows that domestic scholars are following up to understand and develop new linguistic fields as well. Hei Yuqin et al. (2011) analyzed the evaluation function of abstract nouns in English academic discourse, and the results showed that due to different research directions, the selection and evaluation construction of abstract nouns in the same discipline showed different characteristics. Lou Baocui (2013) discussed the characteristics of the use of 'This/These shell nouns' in graduate students academic English writing based on learners academic English discourse corpus, and the results showed that the frequency and quantity of the use of shell noun symbols by graduate students were significantly less than that of native speakers. Liu Qin et al. (2016) studied the use of shell nouns in English abstract science and engineering masters thesis, and the results show that Chinese science and engineering masters students lack the diversity of lexical semantic choices, and tend to use knowledge locational markers more frequently than attitude locational markers. In the article written in 2018, Wang Yanan made a summary of the research status of shell nouns in China by analyzing the relevant articles published on CNKI with the method of data statistical analysis, and obtained the following results: Shell nouns are seldom studied in China. Their main research methods are descriptive and empirical, which mainly involve knowledge introduction, discourse function, usage analysis and collocative constructions.2.3 Research gapShell nouns have not been paid much attention in China, and their functions are much more than Schmids theoretical achievements. Theory and practice are inseparable, and the grammatical construction of shell nouns plays an important role in English writing. Therefore, the study of shell nouns can be properly connected with English learners, instead of being an armchair strategist. Once associated with pedagogy, shell nouns will contribute to the innovation and better development of English writing teaching to a certain extent.

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