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ACADEMIC DISCURSIVE FEATURES OF CONDITIONAL SENTENCES IN
ENGLISH
This article deals with the analysis of academic discursive features of conditional sentences in English. It studies conditional sentences as a part of academic discourse which makes up a complex syntax of an academic discourse. In particular, conditional sentences are studied as a syntactic pattern which contributes to the complex structure of an academic discourse.
Key words: discourse, academic discourse, condition, conditional sentence, syntax, syntactic unit.
Данная статья посвящена анализу академических дискурсивных особенностей условных предложений в английском языке. В ней рассматриваются условные предложения как часть академического дискурса, составляющие сложный синтаксис академического дискурса. В частности, условные предложения изучаются как синтаксическая модель, вносящая вклад в сложную структуру академического дискурса.
Ключевые слова: дискурс, академический дискурс, условие, условное предложение, синтаксис, синтаксическая единица.
INTRODUCTION
Conditional sentences are the sentences which combine two clauses, namely the conditional clause (protasis) and the answer clause (apodosis), and each clause completes meanings of the conditional sentences. The concept of conditionality is central to human thought and action. Conditional clauses are main part of the syntax of the academic discourse. So, it is therefore relevant to study academic discursive features of conditional sentences.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Condition clauses are most common in conversation, and moderately common in academic prose. However, in comparison to fiction and news contexts, academic prose has a higher level of conditional clauses both as a semantic category and a syntactic adverbial clause, reaching about two million (Mohammad Abdollahi-Guilani, Mohamad Subakir Mohd Yasin, Tan Kim Hua, 85). So, now it is important
Saidiy Shahnozakhon Alisher kizi,
MA student of UzSWLU Islom Urol ugli Minnikulov,
PhD, Associate Professor of UzSWLU
ABSTRACT
АННОТАЦИЯ
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to deal with the potential of conditional sentences to reveal linguistic features of academic discourse in English and Uzbek.
Syntactic features of academic discourse are characterized by: a) sentences instead of prosodic segmentation; b) local coherence by cohesion markers (e.g., conjunctions) complex sentences (e.g., relative, conjunctive, and disjunctive clauses; infinitival, participle clauses); c) mode of representation: declarative mood impersonal expressions (e.g., agentless passives) (Vivien Heller, Miriam Morek, 2015, 176).
METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH
It should be noted that academic linguistic features of conditional sentences could be analyzed from syntactic and lexical viewpoints. Firstly, we will analyze the potential of conditional sentences to express linguistic features of academic discourse in English from the viewpoint of syntax. Firstly, let's analyze the potential of conditional sentences to make the academic discourse syntactically complex and wide.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
We will analyze the potential of conditional sentences to realize such syntactic features in the following examples: Additionally, if one utilizes the social constructivist position that social talk is a precursor to the construction of deeper understanding or critical thinking, then one might expect that specific patterns of talk might tend to lead to the construction of specific types of learning or understanding (Constance Bradamanda Josephine Workman, 2018, 9). In this example, we can see a complex syntactic construction by a conditional sentence. As one of the specific features of academic discourse is the use of complex syntactic structures such as conditional, relative, conjunctive, and disjunctive clauses; infinitival, participle clauses. Here, conditional clause is carrying out this function. In particular, in the example above the both clauses (main and subordinate) contain the relative element (that) for attributing a clause which makes a conditional sentence syntactically complex. We can see such features of conditional sentences in the following example: Were there any patterns to their talk about texts? If there were patterns of discourse in evidence in their peer discussions, as a classroom teacher, I could use that knowledge to formulate instruction to more effectively guide students toward deeper learning and discussion (Constance Bradamanda Josephine Workman, 2018, 7). In this example, we can observe some other syntactic means like emphatic statements within this conditional construction. And, it is clear that both clauses like main and subordinate clauses are too long enough to express an idea. And the following examples also illustrate such features of conditional
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sentences: We can see content talk and procedural talk would be understandably necessary for a literary discussion between paired students in the classroom setting, but off-task and tangential discourse might serve a purpose here as well. If we take a reader-response perspective, where the meaning of a text is assumed to reside in the reader, then the 42% of time spent on personal-related talk becomes important to the construction of meaning from the text (Constance Bradamanda Josephine Workman, 2018, 111). If students are unconsciously mimicking this manner of talking, this may explain why the academically-related interactional sequences (content, procedural, and tangential) were more often initiated with a question or directing turn at talk when compared to off-task sequences (Constance Bradamanda Josephine Workman, 2018, 115). If we examine this exchange in terms of horizons of possibility, we can see that these students were developing their thoughts about the "effects" of the text through discussion (Constance Bradamanda Josephine Workman, 2018, 126). However, if students had carried on the conversation, we can see that there might have been many other horizons of possibilities that they could have explored, using their initial impressions of the texts, such as the one from lines 186-196, as stepping stones as they socially construct ever-changing understanding(s) about the text through discourse (Constance Bradamanda Josephine Workman, 2018, 126). If I wanted students to use argumentation effectively, I see that I would have to teach them not just how to begin an argument (e.g., state a claim and evidence, etc.) but also how to engage in discussion, become active listeners, and pose follow-up questions that "evoke a variety of responses" from their partner (Wilkinson, in Finley, 2013) (Constance Bradamanda Josephine Workman, 2018, 128-29).
In the following example, we can note that conditional sentences are used within other constructions and serve as a part of such complex syntactic construction: Since my study involved a close analysis of a series of student conversations to see if any particular patterns were in evidence, and to see what some of the possible consequences of those patterns might have been, my work primarily utilized a grounded theory methodology (Corbin & Strauss, 1990; Glaser & Strauss, 1967) (Constance Bradamanda Josephine Workman, 2018, 8). The following examples also show such features of conditional sentences: This interpretation leads to a more practical conclusion, which is that if teachers would like their students to hold rich, meaningful discussions with higher levels of discursive interaction, ways to engage in various aspects of a deep discussion may need to be taught from beginning to end (Constance Bradamanda Josephine Workman, 2018, 123). Some of the questions on the worksheets were going "beyond the text" but were also personal in nature, such as the question in the second videotaped conversation where students had to think about
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what they would do if they had to inform a relative that they had HIV (Appendix I) (Constance Bradamanda Josephine Workman, 2018, 125). It must be acknowledged at the outset that there are two obstacles to answering this question. The first is that sources for the CA statements, if they exist, could come from elsewhere than the database used here (Diane Pecorari, 2008, 24). It is therefore possible to establish if repetition has occurred, but not the reverse (Diane Pecorari, 2008, 24).
In the following example, even we can observe more complex syntactic structure by a conditional sentence which is a specific feature of an academic discourse. Applebee explains that if the teacher structures the learning so that he or she is viewed as the provider of answers and students merely need to parrot back information, then students will not learn to think for themselves but only to mimic their teacher. In contrast, if students are allowed to come to their own conclusions through use of peer discussion, they learn to think critically (Constance Bradamanda Josephine Workman, 2018, 39). Here, it is clear from the example that two different ideas are contrasted by two conditional sentences and it makes an academic discourse more specific in terms of its syntax. Also, conditional sentences can be used in the academic discourse to make two ideas similar to each other. If both students are offering a fairly equal number of initiations and claims, we might infer that the conversation is reasonably balanced in terms of who is contributing responses. Similarly, if students are interacting in a less equal manner (such as one person always posing questions or advancing claims), we might suppose that the conversation is less balanced in terms of who is considered able to contribute responses (Constance Bradamanda Josephine Workman, 2018, 103).
CONCLUSION
So, it can be summarized that the conditional sentences in English academic discourse are syntactically characterized by the following features: both clauses of the conditional sentence have a relative element (that), it is used as an attributive function, emphatic expressions are used within a conditional sentence, or vice versa, conditional sentences can be used within other syntactic constructions, conditional sentences are used as contrasting or resembling forms, main clause of the conditional sentence has a relative component, complex object, enumeration of adverbial modifier of manner, conditional sentences are as a modifying sentence (so, they are used in brackets as a modifier), conditional sentences are used as repeated parallel structures, conditional sentences are as impersonal sentences or agentless passives, enumeration of conditional sentences, repetition of subordinate clauses, enumeration of both main and subordinate clauses, ellipsis phenomenon in the subordinate clause, enumeration of subordinate clauses.
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REFERENCES
1. Constance Bradamanda Josephine Workman. Analyzing Peer Discourse Patterns During Paired Discussions About Literature. PhD dissertation, The Ohio State University, 2018, 183 p.
2. Diane Pecorari. Repeated Language in Academic Discourse: The Case of Biology Background Statements// Nordic Journal of English Studies, Vol. 7 No. 3, 2008, pp. 9-33.
3. Mohammad Abdollahi-Guilani, Mohamad Subakir Mohd Yasin, Tan Kim Hua. A Comparative Analysis of Conditional Clauses in English and Persian: Text Analysis//The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies - Vol 18(2): pp.
4. Vivien Heller, Miriam Morek. Academic discourse as situated practice: An introduction//Linguistics and Education, 31, 2015, pp. 174-186.
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