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Discourse Pressure, Genre and Grammatical Alignment — After Du Bois
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- Source: Studies in Language. International Journal sponsored by the Foundation “Foundations of Language”, Volume 14, Issue 2, Jan 1990, p. 365 - 403
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Abstract
This study adds a genre dimension to the findings of Du Bois (1987) concerning the discourse basis of grammatical patterns. Although Du Bois' and other studies have ascertained that a pressure toward ergative patterning exists even in nominative-accusative languages, I hypothesized that this pressure is a function of narrative discourse, which was the focus of those studies; and that a different genre may motivate a different grammatical alignment as new information is introduced. This study tests the hypothesis in the context of an orally-delivered paramedical training session.
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