A Corpus-based Study on Usage Characteristics of “But” as a Discourse Marker in Chinese English Learners’ Writing
Keywords:
Discourse marker; “But”; Chinese English learners; English writing; CorpusAbstract
In English writing, discourse markers play a crucial role in the construction of texts that are coherent, clear, and logically structured. Based on the corpus-based research method, this study explores characteristics of the use of the discourse marker “but” in Chinese English learners’ writing from four aspects: usage frequency, syntactic position, collocation pattern, and pragmatic function. The research finds that Chinese English learners use “but” significantly more frequently in their writing than native English speakers. Chinese English learners tend to use “but” most often at the beginning of sentences, whereas native English speakers prefer to use it in the middle of sentences. Chinese English learners also exhibit certain limitations in using collocations of “but”, which is less rich and diverse compared to native English speakers. In terms of pragmatic functions, Chinese English learners are inclined to overuse “but” for stance expression but underuse it in other pragmatic functions. This study also proposes some targeted English teaching suggestions and attempts to provide valuable references and insights for corpus-based discourse marker studies and related English teaching research.
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