Publication details
Style Markers of Resolutions: Clause Patterns and Verb Complementation
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2007 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty Brněnské univerzity, Řada anglistická: Brno Studies in English 33 |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Linguistics |
| Keywords | style markers - verb complementation - main clause patterns - performatives - semantic domains of verbs - directive verbs - expressive verbs - genre analysis |
| Description | The primary aim of the present investigation is to describe stylistically relevant clause patterns and verb complementation in resolutions, a genre of formal written discourse in institutional settings. As resolutions are typically one-sentence texts of different lengths, they are characterised by considerable structural complexity, which is motivated by the presence of embedded clauses, heavily modified noun phrases and nominalizations. Since processing condensed structures imposes greater demands on the reader, structural complexity is related to processing complexity; however, in the case of highly specialized professional discourses which are not intended for the general public, processing complexity is reduced as a result of the experience gathered in working with the genre. Therefore an awareness of the recurrent structural patterns used in the genre of resolutions may be seen as a factor facilitating discourse processing and thus reducing its complexity. |