Traditionally, the English article system has been viewed and presented as a unitary system which does not change in form or function throughout the scope of the entire language, from text to speech. However, the literature has continued to evolve from this position into a "formtomeaning approach", and more recently into a call for a "formmeaningpragmatics" approach for understanding the article system (Byrd, 1996). By adding the dimension of pragmatics to the study of articles, context becomes crucial to analysis. This type of approach brings us to view the role of the article, no longer as a solitary unit of form, but as an integral part of a cohesive whole. When researching article use, it becomes necessary to analyze how the articles are used in various types of discourse. Our goal in this section is to review various examples of academic discourse in order to see if there are differences in noun phrases and article use among and between those examples.
It is not a stretch of the imagination to understand that various genres of discourse will have divergent structures; an accounting text will be of an entirely different quality than a Shakespearean sonnet. Even with less dramatic comparisons, the differences between texts are very noticeable. Expository texts, for example, will vary greatly from narrative texts. Both will "entail conventions of organization , style, language, and purpose, … to follow the flow of information, logical arguments, explanations, and examples, the reader needs to be familiar with the appropriate conventions" (Bensoussan, 1990, p. 49). In academic writing, we can expect there to be such shifts in convention between the time frame of the writing. History, for example, would tend to be written in the past time frame, where an accounting text would most likely to be written in a General Truth time frame (Byrd, class notes). An introductory psychology text might tend to be written with elements of both time frames. It is also to be expected that all three texts would be variant with respect to the types of noun phrases used. It would also follow that if noun types are different, then the articles attached to those noun phrases will vary across texts.
We selected three college entry level texts for purposes of survey: a psychology text (Myers, 1996), an accounting text (Salmonson et al, 1985), and a history text (Upshur et al, 1991) to give us a random sampling of the types of discourse a college freshman might encounter. From each text, we selected a 3000word sample of a chapter which appeared in the approximate center of each textbook - postulating that the "middle" of the text would yield the most representative sample of writing. After looking at other examples of discourse analysis, and the textbooks themselves, we felt that 3000 words was an acceptable, yet manageable number of words required to obtain an accurate sampling.
Furthermore, we also focused on other features which we felt might yield relevant information about how students should be taught about various discourse types. The literature in genre analysis implies that there may be structural differences in textual subdivisions themselves, such that the introduction of an academic text may vary considerably from its main body or conclusion (Swales, 1990). To investigate this position, we subdivided each chapter into three parts for separate analysis: introduction, main body, and conclusion. Also, due to the fact that these textbooks are aimed toward helping entry level college students gain an understanding of terminology in various fields, we also thought that focusing on the definitions presented in the texts would be relevant.
In the accounting and psychology texts, we chose Chapter 10 for analysis, in the history text, we chose Chapter 5. In each chapter we:
After having identified the above, we analyzed each and tabulated the percentages of noun types and articles used. As we predicted, there were marked differences in the distribution of the identified structures between the three types of textbooks.
The title of this chapter is "Emotions, Stress, and Health". The introduction to the chapter begins with a literaryalmost poetic tone." Feelingspowerful, spontaneous, sometimes unforgettable" (Myers, 1996, p.335). In the first paragraph the author poses four questions which begin rhetorically and end with a general hypothesis about correlations between emotions and physical world being. In the second paragraph the author's tone becomes narrativelike. The narrative is followed by a definition:
Emotions are a mix of 1) physiological arousal (heart pounding), 2) expressive behavior (quickened pace), 3) conscious experience (interpreting the person's intent and feeling fearful) (Myers, 1996, p.335).
This seems to be the standard format for definitions in this text. The defined word is highlighted in bold. Also, as in this example, most of the noun phrases found in definitions are generic in meaning. In this example, the zero article primarily is used to show generic meaning.
The body of the chapter is filled with cause and effect type rhetoric with each subheading beginning with a question and a generalization which then is explained in detail using many examples. Hypotheses and cause and effect structures appear in the General Truth time frame, whereas supporting evidence is presented using a mix of General Truth and past time frame.
For example, a section on polygraph testing yielded these two examples which show the variance in time frame and the concurrent effect on the types of articles used:
Polygraph: A machine commonly used in attempts to detect lies that measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion (such as perspiration, heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing changes) (Myers, 1996, p.338).
...Kleinmuntz and Julian Szucko (1984) had polygraph experts study the polygraph data of 50 theft suspects who later confessed to being guilty and 50 suspects whose innocence was later established by someone's confession. Had the polygraph experts been the judges, more than onethird of the innocent would have been declared guilty... (Myers, 1996, p.338).
These examples, only inches apart on the printed page, display variant characteristics. The noun phrases in the first example consist of generic references, taking a variety of articles. The noun phrases in the second example consist of specific references, using mostly the definite article.
Figure 1.1
Figure 1.2
Of the 3000word sample, there were 584 noun phrases found, 36% singular, 32% plural, 22% non count, 7% proper, and 2% gerunds (Figure 1.1). In regard to frequency of article, out of 584 noun phrases found, 16% had definite articles, 10% had indefinite articles, and 74% took the zero article. (Figure 1.2)
The conclusion of the chapter is presented in an academic questionandanswer format, reiterating the main concepts of the body of the chapter. Since the conclusion merely reiterates content, there is no significant difference in the grammatical structures.
We found some interesting uses of the definite and indefinite articles as in the following example:
A terrified person may feel a clutching, sinking sensation in the chest, and a knot in the stomach. An angry person may feel 'hot under the collar'… The sexually stimulated person… The sad person.... (Myers, 1996, p.338).
There appears to be no grammatical reason for changing from the indefinite to the definite article. The only possible reason might be for reasons of style, i.e. to make the text flow better. This type of change in article choice to meet stylistic standards may be a feature of this particular discourse community.
Also worth noting is the number of hyphenated noun phrases like "an angerprovoking film", "a 2second scene", or "the JamesLang and CannonBard Theory" (Myers, 1996). These are interesting in that such structures might tend to be confusing to the ESL reader, and should be addressed beforehand should such structures indeed belong to the genre of psychology texts.
The title of the chosen chapter is " Statement of Changes in Financial Position". In contrast to the complexity of the psychology text, the structure of this text chapter is very straightforward. General Truth time frame is the rule in this chapter, with narrative chunks randomly interspersed used primarily as heuristic devices.
The introduction, like the psychology text, begins with questions posed in the past time frame - which seems to be used in hypothetical reference. The second paragraph begins with two consecutive definitions:
The statement that provides information to answer these types of questions is called the statement of changes in financial position. This statement reports the flows of funds into and out of a business in an accounting period and often is called a funds statement (Salmonson et al, 1985, p. 277).
This quote provides a good example of the standard kinds of definitions found throughout the text. Definitions in repetitive format are the rule in this text.
The nouns phrases also follow suit in their repetitive nature. Of the 589 noun phrases in the text, 37 % were singular, 30 % were plural, 26 % were non count, 3 % were proper, and 4% were gerunds (Figure 2.1). It was surprising to find so few gerunds, as we had expected this to be a primary feature of discourse written in the General Truth time frame. Of the 589 noun phrases, 28% were definite, 11% were indefinite, and 62% took the zero article (Figure 2.2).
Although this accounting text tends to use generic nouns, there are also instances when specific nouns are used in this text. These two examples provide an accurate account of the types of nouns found in this accounting text:
The journal entry to record depreciation requires a debit to an expense account and a credit to an accumulated depreciation account (Salmonson et al, 1985, p.280).
Consider the following example. Company A had a net income for the year of $20,000 after deducting depreciation of $10,000 (Salmonson et al, 1985, p.280).
In the first example, the text is referring to a generic journal entry; in the second example, the text is referring to a specific company. Thus, the types of noun phrases differ. Also, the second example demonstrates how proper nouns are used in accounting texts for heuristic purposes. The second example is followed by a chart which contains the tabulated figures of Company A's financial records. The use of these types of charts is frequent in this accounting text. These charts might be a feature of accounting texts in general as they serve as reference points for the ideas expounded upon in the text.
Figure 2.1
Figure 2.2
One interesting feature of the noun phrases in this text is that number quotations tended to take the definite article, when referring to dollar figures found in charts or examples. This use might be confusing to an ESL student. For example:
The $ 6000.00 inflow from the sale of the equipment will be shown on the funds statement as a source of funds (Salmonson et al, 1985, p. 281).
Generally, there are not very many instances when we see a definite article placed before a dollar amount. It might be worthwhile to explain to the ESL student that the article belongs to the word "inflow", not to "$ 6000.00".
The conclusion contains a summary of the material as well as possible implications of use of the material, providing practical information and advice. The tone is different than the introduction or the body in that it is less matteroffact. It ends with some comprehension questions.
The chapter, "Disruption and Renewal in West Asia and Europe, 400 1200 C.E.", begins by providing a chronological outline in the left margin. This seems to be particularly helpful considering the 800 years of history to be covered in one chapter. Unlike the other two texts analyzed, the introduction here is a narrative accounting of the Huns arrival in the Roman Empire. This section proves to be a preamble to the chapter proper, setting up the context, and drawing the reader in with a kind of "suspense".
When the Huns arrived on the frontiers of the (Roman) empire, they were an unknown quantity. Our modern chatter about little green men in flying saucers is not too different from the popular reaction… to Huns mounted on wiry horses (Upshur et al, 1991, 177).
Nouns tend to be specific when making reference to the scene, as shown in the first sentence above. Also in these introductory sentences, we can see another important feature of noun phrases in this text. History texts by their very nature have an abundance of proper nouns. Proper nouns are problematic in that one person's name can appear in various formats (Byrd, 1996, p.13). We found several examples of this: Carolus is also Charles the Great, who is also Karl, who is also Charlemagne. Another interesting feature of this particular chapter was the historical propensity to name persons after a certain trait, using the definite article: Pepin the Younger, Louis the Pious, and Charles the Great, serve as examples. There also seems to be an issue with using what would otherwise be considered specific proper nouns as mass nouns: Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, etc. However, in certain cases, the definite article is used: the Byzantines, the Romans, the Huns, etc.
In terms of definitions, this text differs from the other two texts. The psychology and accounting texts utilized a standard, formal approach to defining new terms. The definitions in the history text appear "couched between commas" as appositives, which are frequent devices used in historical writing (Byrd, 1996) and not readily visible to the reader as definitions:
The Huns, fast moving horsemen from the steppes of Asia, provided one catalyst of change (Upshur et al, 1991, p.179).
Tribes contained free persons, slaves, and halffree persons, later known as serfs (Upshur et al, 1991, p. 181).
The types of noun phrases that appear in this text are quite different than those found in the other texts. Of the 668 noun phrases, which is a significantly higher number than with the previous two texts, 28 % were singular, 38 % were plural, 11 % were non count, 22 % were proper, and less than 1 % were gerunds (Figure 3.1). Article usage was different in that out of 668 noun phrases, 18% took definite articles, only about 2% took the indefinite article, and 80% took no article (Figure 3.2)
The conclusion of the chapter proved to be in the same style of the main body, except that there were no appositive definitions. The conclusion proved to be merely an expansion of the timeline offered in the opening of the chapter.
Distinctive features of this writing which may prove difficult for ESL learners include the altering of semantic categories of certain words, e.g. "people" to "peoples", as in "Germanic peoples". As in the psychology book, hyphenated noun phrases are common, as in "the slaveraiding activity", "the halffree", etc. Proper nouns and place names are another problematic issue altogether, which have been discussed in other sections of this paper.
Figure 3.1
Figure 3.2
We feel that our decision to analyze the introduction, main body and conclusions of chapters provided no salient grammatical differences. However, each text did show differences in style between the introduction and conclusion. It stands to reason that the differences may be due to stylistic variations between the authors and their discourse communities. More research based on a larger sampling is needed to draw firm conclusions. As far as the main bodies are concerned, we feel that the types of noun phrases and article types are representative of those in other texts of similar genres; again, more research is required to support such a general statement. There does appear to be a significant, measurable effect of time frame on article use. Our research shows, for example:
Evidence from this review could indicate that time frame influences noun and article choice. Should future research bear this supposition out, there may be important pedagogical implications for the teaching of the English article system. As stated in Byrd (1996), "When form and meaning are viewed out of discourse, then the grammar content of curricula and materials can be rethought into clusters that represent the authentic nature of particular discourse types" (p.15).