Research Tanja Mortelmans

Abstract

Previous research on verbal interruptions in parliaments has suggested the speaker's gender has an influence on the quantity and quality of verbal interruptions occurring during their speech. However, the corpora investigated in these studies were far too small and none of them combined quantitative statistical methods and qualitative methods to analyse a large diachronic data set. The proposed project aims to contribute to closing this gap in research by analysing a data set of 90,000 verbal interruptions collected from the plenary protocols of the German federal parliament from three different time periods, i.e. the 1950s, 1980s and 2010s, quantitatively with regard to differences in the treatment of female and male speakers. We want to investigate whether, parallel to the increased emancipation and participation of women, (1) the frequency of interrupting female (vs. male) speakers changes, as well as (2) the way they are addressed. The qualitative analysis of a smaller data set of verbal interruptions collected from debates on the gendered topic of abortion will rely on linguistic politeness theory will take a closer look at fine-grained differences between interruptions targeted at female and male speakers respectively. By doing this, the project hopes to lay bare how gradual but fundamental societal changes with respect to female emancipation are reflected in the linguistic dynamics of public interaction in an established political institution.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Mortelmans Tanja
• Co-promoter: Vandekerckhove Reinhild
• Fellow: Irmer Marie

Research team(s)

• Grammar and Pragmatics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project investigates how advanced learners of German as a foreign language (L2) establish cohesion in their academic writing. The ability to write cohesive texts, that is, use grammatical and lexical devices appropriately to signal the logical structure of a text to readers, is important for academic writing. Research into L2 English has shown that L2 learners use cohesive devices differently from L1 users. Therefore, it is surprising that the use of cohesive devices by learners of languages other than English has received little attention in language acquisition research to date. This project sets out to fill this gap by proposing an analysis of grammatical cohesion in academic L2 German summary writing. The aim is threefold: (1) investigate empirically the effects of L2 German writers´ L1 on how they use cohesive devices, (2) analyse similarities and differences in the use of cohesive devices in L1 and L2 German, focusing on specific characteristics of cohesion in writing produced by learners with L1 Dutch and (3) create the corpora necessary for this analysis. I will adopt a novel approach to contrastive corpus-based analysis, comparing three corpora in consecutive cycles. In so doing, I will contribute to the growing body of learner corpora and advance the theoretical knowledge of learner language by identifying L1-specific and L1-independent characteristics of cohesion in academic learner language.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Strobl Carola
• Co-promoter: Mortelmans Tanja
• Co-promoter: Ureel Jim
• Fellow: Wedig Helena

Research team(s)

• Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies (TricS)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Previous research on verbal interruptions in parliaments has suggested the speaker's gender has an influence on the quantity and quality of verbal interruptions occurring during their speech. However, the corpora investigated in these studies were far too small and none of them combined quantitative statistical methods and qualitative methods to analyse a large diachronic data set. The proposed project aims to contribute to closing this gap in research by analysing a data set of 90,000 verbal interruptions collected from the plenary protocols of the German federal parliament from three different time periods, i.e. the 1950s, 1980s and 2010s, quantitatively with regard to differences in the treatment of female and male speakers. We want to investigate whether, parallel to the increased emancipation and participation of women, (1) the frequency of interrupting female (vs. male) speakers changes, as well as (2) the way they are addressed. The qualitative analysis of a smaller data set of verbal interruptions collected from debates on the gendered topic of abortion will take a closer look at fine-grained differences between interruptions targeted at female and male speakers respectively. By doing this, the project hopes to contribute to the ongoing research on gender bias in public interaction and female emancipation.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Mortelmans Tanja
• Co-promoter: Vandekerckhove Reinhild
• Fellow: Irmer Marie

Research team(s)

• Grammar and Pragmatics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project investigates how advanced learners of German as a foreign language (L2) establish cohesion in their academic L2 writing. To enable effective and reader-oriented written communication in academic and professional settings, language learners must develop the ability to create cohesion, which is a crucial component of advanced communicative competence. This means that L2 learners must learn to use grammatical and lexical devices appropriately to signal the logical structure of a text to readers, connecting words into sentences, paragraphs, ideas and texts. Since the use of cohesive devices is highly language-dependent, cohesion is an important aspect of the language acquisition process, transcending traditional grammar–vocabulary distinctions. Given the importance of cohesion in high-quality writing, it is surprising that the cohesive devices deployed by language learners have received little attention in second language acquisition (SLA) research to date. While there is a growing body of research into cohesion in translation studies, which has led to theoretical insights into how languages differ in terms of cohesion, SLA research into cohesion has been limited to a handful of studies in advanced L2 English writing. SLA research into other languages – including German – has until now largely neglected cohesion as an important aspect of language acquisition. A similar lack of attention to cohesion has also been witnessed in L2 pedagogy, where cohesion is often neglected (e.g., in learning materials). As a result, L2 writers often make non-nativelike choices with respect to cohesion, even at advanced stages of language proficiency. Our project sets out to fill the two gaps above by proposing a comprehensive analysis of cohesion in academic L2 German writing, more specifically, summary writing. Our aim is threefold: (1) analyse similarities and differences in the use of cohesive devices by native (L1) and non-native (L2) writers in German; (2) investigate specific characteristics of cohesion in learners with L1 Dutch. To this aim, we will compile, annotate and publish a corpus of texts written by advanced Dutch-speaking L2 learners of German and (3) suggest fruitful applications of our theoretical findings to L2 pedagogy. We will adopt repeated contrastive corpus-based analysis, which is a new method consisting, in our project, of the comparison of three purposefully selected comparable corpora: (1) an existing corpus of summaries produced by L1 writers of German, (2) an existing corpus of summaries produced by L2 writers of German with different L1 backgrounds and (3) our newly created corpus of summaries produced by L2 writers of German with L1 Dutch. In so doing, we contribute to the growing body of learner corpora, which are gaining momentum in SLA research. In addition, we advance the theoretical knowledge of learner language by identifying L1-specific and L1-independent characteristics of cohesion in academic learner language, using novel methods and proposing evidence-based innovation in advanced L2 pedagogy.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Strobl Carola
• Co-promoter: Mortelmans Tanja
• Co-promoter: Ureel Jim
• Fellow: Wedig Helena

Research team(s)

• Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies (TricS)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The deictic analysis of sollen, wollen and the present subjunctive, as markers of indirect verbal information, unearths a number of differences in the relation of the speaker and the information source in each of these elements. These differences are taken to be indicative of a gradual continuum that holds between the categories of 'evidentiality' and 'indirect speech', which seem to be more strongly associated than previously assumed. Moreover, the deictic analysis raises questions as to the categorial status of sollen, wollen and the present subjunctive as modal or evidential elements.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Mortelmans Tanja
• Fellow: Vanderbiesen Jeroen

Research team(s)

• Grammar and Pragmatics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The deictic analysis of sollen, wollen and the present subjunctive, as markers of indirect verbal information, unearths a number of differences in the relation of the speaker and the information source in each of these elements. These differences are taken to be indicative of a gradual continuum that holds between the categories of 'evidentiality' and 'indirect speech', which seem to be more strongly associated than previously assumed. Moreover, the deictic analysis raises questions as to the categorial status of sollen, wollen and the present subjunctive as modal or evidential elements.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Mortelmans Tanja
• Fellow: Vanderbiesen Jeroen

Research team(s)

• Grammar and Pragmatics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Purpose of the research project is an analytic study of the relationship between on the one hand the compositional strategies in the free-atonal works by Arnold Schönberg, and on the other hand the characteristics of the affiliated German poetry. By means of a thorough analysis of both the musical score and the poems (form, structure, content) set to music, it will be investigated to what extent certain aspects of the contemporary poetry may have given direction to the musical composition.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Liska Vivian
• Co-promoter: Mortelmans Tanja

Research team(s)

• Institute of Jewish Studies

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Mortelmans Tanja

Research team(s)

• Grammar and Pragmatics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project investigates the systems of sentence mood and of (deontic and epistemic) modality and their interrelations. There are two parallel lines of investigation: a typological one, involving a 'horizontal' analysis of these systems in 500 languages, and a language specific one, involving a 'vertical' in depth analysis of the systems in Dutch, German and English. The project aims to contribute to theory formation in cognitive-functional approaches to language.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: van der Auwera Johan
• Co-promoter: Mortelmans Tanja
• Co-promoter: Nuyts Jan

Research team(s)

• Grammar and Pragmatics

Project type(s)

• Research Project