Table 2.9 – continued from previous page
No. Relations Definitions Examples References 20 result/ effect The inanimate
result of the 22 instrument An entity used in
an event/action
student account Moldovan et al. (2004)
Nastase & Szpakowicz (2003)
2.2 Functions of the Of -construction in Academic Writing
Investigating the functions of various lexical-grammatical patterns is a continuing concern within the field of EAP (e.g., Gosden, 1993; Hyland, 2002; Hyland & Tse, 2005; Yamasaki, 2008). However, researchers have not treated of -constructions in much detail. Instead, of -constructions are treated from their various grammatical roles including classifiers and nominalization. The rest of this section will present three major functions associated with the construction.
2.2.1 Quantifying and Vagueness
While quantification signals values and measurement, they can also be used to express vagueness (e.g. Myers, 1996; Banks, 1998; Cutting, 2012). Kennedy (1987) analyzes a written English corpus of journals and academic writing and the results indicate that among the 13 categories of quantification, categories like ‘specific quantities/degrees’, ‘non-specific quantities/degrees’, and ‘measurement and
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calculation of quantity’ are all associated with of -constructions as illustrated in Kennedy’s examples (see Table 2.10).
Table 2.10 Partial representation of Kennedy’s (1987: 270-271) categories of quantification.
Categories Sub-categories Examples
specific quantities/ degrees none none of them non-specific quantities/
degrees
unspecified a list of members; an accumulation of ash; the amount of land; an assortment of rocks; a degree of support; vast tracts of forests
non-specific parts of a whole
a piece of plastic; a slice of the market; a branch of geography; the fragment of rock; a bit of lava
measurement and calculation of quantity
an average of $2 billion; the weight of the air; a gallon of petrol
As illustrated in these examples, quantification not only involves measurement and calculation of quantity (e.g., an average of $2 billion), but also specific (e.g., none of them) and non-specific quantities or degrees. The latter can further be divided into
‘unspecified’ (e.g., a list of members) and non-specific parts of a whole (e.g., a piece of plastic), expressing a sense of approximation rather than precision.
Similarly, in a small-scale corpus-based study, Banks (1998) examines how vague quantification is expressed in scientific journal articles. He uses the term compensation to describe the phenomenon where a general expression is to be followed by an exact quantity as demonstrated in Example 2.9.
(2.9) However, when the readings were made with the eye immersed, the light-adapted value of 8.85° was significantly less than the dark-adapted value of 11.30°. ((Shelton 396) (example taken from Banks, 1998: 6; emphasis added)
In this example, the author points out that both of the of -constructions (underlined) consists of a vague expression at N1 (e.g., the light-adapted value and the dark-adapted value) and a precise number at N2 (e.g., 8.85° and 11.30°). In other words, compensation for the vagueness expressed by N1 is created with the additional information at N2.
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2.2.2 Signaling Nouns
In addition to quantification of constructions, there are other types of of -constructions which are also associated with vagueness, in particular, those of -constructions encapsulating abstract nouns like case, fact, idea, result, and problem in academic writing. This group of nouns have been given various names including container nouns (Vendler, 1968), general nouns (Halliday & Hasan, 1976), type 3 vocabulary (Winter, 1977), anaphoric nouns (Francis, 1986), carrier nouns (Ivanic, 1991), labels (Francis, 1994), shell nouns (Schmid, 1999, 2000), and signaling nouns (Flowerdew, 2003; Flowerdew & Forest, 2015). As the metaphor of these names implies, this group of nouns convey a very general meaning, acting like a label for a string of words.
Flowerdew (2003) writes that “a signaling noun is potentially any abstract noun, the meaning of which can only be made specific by reference to its context” (p.229).
Schmid (1999) coins the term ‘shell noun’ to exploit the metaphor of the word shell.
He explains that “shell nouns are thought of as providing conceptual shells for complex chunks of information which are expressed by clauses or longer stretches of text. These in turn are seen as the ‘contents’ which fill in the nominal shells” (p.116).
Throughout this study, the term signaling noun (SN) will refer to the various names discussed above. Previous discussion on the textual functions of SN can be traced back to Winter’s (1977) discussion of clause relations for type 3 vocabulary. This particular group of nouns function as a signpost to signal coherence relations in discourse. In her discussion on labeling discourse, Francis (1994) recognizes that there are two types of signaling nouns based on their syntactic positions to lexicalization, namely, advance labels and retrospective labels. While the former is cataphoric that signals the audience what comes next, the latter is anaphoric that “serves to encapsulate or package a stretch of discourse” (p. 85).
Of -constructions, among other grammatical constructions such as that construction (e.g., Flowerdew, 2003; Schmid, 2000), have been found to contain SNs.
For example, Flowerdew and Forest (2015) analyze how SNs are associated with a
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Table 2.11 Flowerdew and Forest’s (2015: 161) investigation of signaling nouns in of -constructions
Construction Type
Construction Frequency (per million
words)
Examples
SN + of +
deverbal/deadjectival noun
1441 the point of focus; fear of criminal sanctions
SN + of + ing-clause 500 this process of having a very small amount of something; hopes of boosting profitability
SN+ of + wh-clause 85 some idea of what some of these G values are; our consideration of what the law is today
wide range of constructions including the of -construction in a corpus of academic discourse including academic journals, textbooks, and lectures. They identify the following types of of -constructions as listed in Table 2.11 out of 29 construction patterns. As shown in Table 2.11, SNs occupy the N1 position and nominalization occupies the N2. Their research compares both cross-clause and in-clause SNs and shows that these in-clause SNs containing of -constructions are less frequently used as compared to their cross-clause counterparts. Yet, the first construction type in Table 2.11 is the largest in the in-clause category. In particular, it is the highest percentage of SNs in the social sciences but not even in the top three most frequent ones in the natural sciences. The second construction type [SN + of + ing-clause] is found to be more common in lectures as compared to other genres like journals and texbooks. The top five SNs include way, idea, chance, possibility, case, and process, all of which account for more than half of the pattern. Although the third construction type was not much discussed in the study, Flowerdew and Forest’s analyses demonstrate a good starting point for understanding these constructions in more details in different genres from a functional perspective.
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2.2.3 Writer’s Evaluation
Turning now to another important textual functions in academic writing is to express the writer’s evaluation (e.g., Hunston, 1994, 2000; Hunston and Thompson, 2000) or stance (Biber & Finegan, 1989; Hyland, 1999, 2005). While there are various parts of speech (e.g., nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) and constructions like [reporting verbs + that construction] (Hyland & Tse, 2005) to fulfill this function, the of -construction can also serve as a site of evaluation. An of -construction can carry an evaluative function by two means. First, an evaluative noun (e.g., importance, relevance, gain) can directly be in effect as demonstrated in (2.10).
(2.10) …the Guidelines fall short of recognizing that women as such constitute a particular social group. This shortcoming leads to problems…(Charles, 2003:
314, emphasis original)
Occasionally, the head nouns are spiced with modifiers for evaluative purposes as exemplified in this hotly-debated question and this far-sighted recommendation (Francis, 1994: 93-4). In a study on the textual functions of unspecific anaphoric nouns, Yamasaki (2008) demonstrates that these encapsulating nouns which replace a preceding stretch of discourse can also serve as an evaluation site.
The second means in which the of -construction serves an evaluative function has been demonstrated by Hunston (2010). She analyses a number of of -containing constructions in the form of [of + -ing] and isolates those with a modal-like potential.
The various grammatical patterns include [noun + of + -ing] form (e.g., the advisability of ), [adjective + of + -ing] form (e.g., be capable of ), [verb + noun + of + -ing] form (e.g., face the prospect of), and [noun + of + -ing] form preceded by a preposition (e.g., in the expectation of ). Among these constructions, the [noun + of + -ing] form can be found to demonstrate ‘obligation’ (e.g., the advisability of, the advantages of, the benefits of, the disadvantage of ), ‘inclination’ (e.g., aim of, goal of, hope of, policy of ), ‘possibility’ (e.g., have a chance of, in danger of, for fear of, in the event of, in the expectation of, the feasibility of, the likelihood of ), ‘degree of difficulty’ (e.g., the difficulties of, the impossibility of, have the job of, the problem of, the task of ), ‘ability’
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(e.g., have a knack of, a means of, method of, way of ), and ‘necessity’ (e.g., the importance of, the necessity of, the need of ). These examples may serve as the basis for analyzing evaluative functions in this thesis.
These evaluative devices are important for academic writers to establish their stance, or how writers present their position or attitude (e.g., Hunston & Thompson, 2000; Hyland, 1999, 2005). As the above review shows, the of -construction has a heavy-duty role in expressing the writer’s evaluation.