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YflK 811.111 + 811.163.2
V.L. Spasova
Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski Agricultural University - Plovdiv
CORPUS-BASED STATISTICS ON THE OCCURRENCES OF ALTERNATIVE INTERROGATIVE STRUCTURES IN ENGLISH AND BULGARIAN
The article outlines the basic characteristics of English and Bulgarian alternative interrogative structures and presents statistical data on their occurrences in four English and four Bulgarian corpora. Corpora data show that alternative interrogatives are a rare type of structure in both English and Bulgarian. In general, they are more frequent in spoken language than in fiction.
Keywords: subtypes of alternative interrogative structures, occurrences, correlative pairs, or, whether - or, if - or, ili, dali - dali, dali - ili, li - li, li - ili.
I. Introduction
The purposes of this article are to outline the basic characteristics of English and Bulgarian alternative interrogative structures and to provide statistical data on their occurrences in four English and four Bulgarian corpora. The paper gives brief information about the corpora used in this research, the form and subtypes of English and Bulgarian alternative interrogative structures, and the types of coordinators and correlative pairs used to join their constituents.
In the article the term alternative interrogative structure is abbreviated to AIS.
II. Corpus-based statistics on the occurrences of alternative interrogative structures in English and Bulgarian
1. Corpora used in this research
My study of the occurrences of English and Bulgarian AISs is based on eight corpora - two corpora of English fiction works, two corpora of spoken English, two corpora of Bulgarian fiction works, and two corpora of spoken Bulgarian.
1.1. English Fiction Corpus (EFC, 90 508 word forms) compiled by V. Spasova.
1.2. English Corpus of Fiction Monologue (ECFM, 50 370 word forms) compiled by V. Spasova.
1.3. Charlotte Face-to-Face Corpus of Spoken English (CFCSE, 90 630 word forms). It is part of a larger corpus of spoken data (198 295 word forms in total) included in the Open American National Corpus (Open ANC) [1].
1.4. Switchboard Telephone Corpus of Spoken English (STCSE, 50 476 word forms). It is part of a larger corpus of spoken data (3 019 477 word forms in total) included in the Open American National Corpus (Open ANC) [1].
1.5. Bulgarian Fiction Corpus (BFC, 90 326 word forms) compiled by V. Spasova.
1.6. Bulgarian Corpus of Fiction Monologue (BCFM, 50 508 word forms) collected by Tzvetomira Venkova of Sofia University.
1.7. Corpus of Spoken Bulgarian (CSB-A, 89 959 word forms) collected by Krasimira Aleksova of Sofia University [2].
1.8. Corpus of Spoken Bulgarian (CSB-NV, 50 000 word forms) collected by Cvetanka Nikolova and Tzvetomira Venkova [3].
2. Basic characteristics of English and Bulgarian alternative interrogative structures
2.1.Form, coordinators and subordinators
An English AIS is an interrogative structure whose constituents are joined by means of the coordinator or [4, p. 163], or by one of the correlative pairs of subordinators whether - or and if- or [5, p. 1053].
A Bulgarian AIS is an interrogative structure whose constituents are joined by means of the coordinator ili (equivalent to the English or), or by one of the correlative pairs dali - dali, dali - ili, li - ili, li - li, dali da - ili da, da ... li - ili da, da ... li - da ... li [6, p. 51; 7, p. 122].
As we can see, a larger number of correlative pairs are used in Bulgarian. Unlike their English counterparts which function only as subordinators, the abovementioned Bulgarian correlative pairs are used both as coordinators and as subor-dinators [6, p. 342].
The interrogative structure is called alternative because it offers a choice between two (or more) usually mutually exclusive alternatives expressed by the constituent units [5, p. 824; 6, p. 51, p. 342; 7, p. 123].
Both English and Bulgarian AISs can be made up either of two (or more) phrasal constituents (ex. 1, 4) or of two (or more) interrogative clauses (ex. 2, 3, 5, 6). In the latter case both clauses can be full (ex. 2, 5), or the first clause can be full and the second elliptical (ex. 3, 6).
In all examples below the coordinators and the correlative pairs are in bold type, while the AISs are underlined with a single line.
(1)Had this been a dream, or a day-time vision? (ECFM)
(2)As both Vandervoort and Wainwright knew, there were devices used by criminals to decide whether a credit card in their possession could be used again, or if it was "hot." (EFC)
(3) And uh, I don’t know who thought of it, I don’t know if it was me or Jeff or Craig but uh, we uh, we had some cigarettes on us and we were smoking trying to be the big rebels, you know, and we had a lighter. (CFCSE)
(4) Kolko bjaha stapalata do parvata plostadka - sedem ili osem ? (BFC)
‘How many steps were there to the first landing - seven or eight?’
(5)Mi tja e stara moma. Moma li e, razvedena li e, ne znam, no kaza, ce e gospozica. (CSB-A)
‘Well, she is a spinster. I don’t know if she is a spinster or a divorcee, but she said she was single.’
(6) Dovecera ste vidim dali Kondov i Berovski sa dejstvuvali pootdelno, ili v sadruzie. (BFC)
‘We’ll find out tonight whether Kondov and Berovski have acted separately or in co-operation.’
2.2. Subtypes of English and Bulgarian alternative interrogative structures
Neither in English nor in Bulgarian linguistic literature are AISs divided into types or subtypes. In my opinion, however, they can be divided into subtypes according to the type of coordinator and correlative pair used to join their constituents. Hence, in English we can talk about three subtypes - or-subtype, whether - or subtype, and if - or subtype of AIS. In Bulgarian we can talk about eight subtypes -ili-subtype, dali - dali subtype, dali - ili subtype, li - ili subtype, li - li subtype, dali da - ili da subtype, da ... li - ili da subtype, da ... li - da... li subtype.
(7) Was that (i.e. story) told to you or did you read that? (CFCSE)
(8) She debated, driving north, whether to stop off at home on the way to Berkeley or coming back. (ECFM)
(9) I read a thing, I don't even remember if it was in the Dallas Site or the Inside one, about, uh, companies allowing you and they said that TI was looking into it to purchase extra vacation days, which I thought sounded like a good idea. (STCSE)
(10) Koj, a, Ljubo i Didka ili ti i tatko ti mi se smejat? (CSB-A)
‘Who, Ljubo and Didka or you and your father are kidding me?’
(11) Saglasen sam, ce Kamenov e bil ubit. No dali tova e stanalo vav vrazka s radiopredavatelja, dali s ubijstvototo na Jakimov, ili po druga pricina? (BFC)
‘I agree that Kamenov was murdered. But did this happen in connection with the radio transmitter, or in connection with Jakimov’s murder, or for some other reason?’
(12) I dali za tova, ili ot sazalenie, no tja zapocna da place i da me zastitava, kato kazvase, ce sam nevinen. (BCFM)
‘And whether because of this or out of pity, but she started crying and defending me saying that I was innocent.’
(13) Opitvat li se (mitniceskite sluziteli), ili naistina vi iznudvat? (BFC)
‘Are they (i.e. the customs officers) only trying or are they really blackmailing you?’
(14) To se ocakva utre li, drugiden li zastudjavane. (CSB-NV)
‘A cold spell is expected, I am not sure whether tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.’
(15) Covek ne znae da gi sazaljava li ili da se smee. (BFC)
‘You don’t know whether to feel sorry for them or to laugh at them.’
(16) Da be, az ne znam kakvo da go pravja tova “Boze”, da go maham li (ot teksta), da stoi li? (CSB-A)
‘Yes, I don’t know what to do with this word “God”, shall I delete it or shall I keep it the text?’
Careful examination of the Bulgarian corpora shows that there are AISs which, in my opinion, could be best described as formed by means of li - k-duma (i.e. li - wh-interrogative word). Although such AISs are not mentioned in Bulgarian grammar books, they display the above-described basic features of AISs and this is the reason why I have decided to treat them as a subtype of AIS on the same footing as all other subtypes. The li - k-duma subtype is therefore the ninth subtype of Bulgarian AISs.
In an AIS formed by means of li - k-duma the two alternatives are expressed by the constituent to which li is attached and by the wh-interrogative word. A wide range of wh-words can be used to mark the second alternative - kakvo (what), kol-ko (how much, how many), koga (when), kakav (what - masc, sg), kakva (what -fem, sg). The choice of the wh-word depends on the communicative intention of the speaker and the type of information they ask for [8, p. 30]. Yet, there is a strong tendency among native Bulgarian speakers to use kakvo (what) as a general substitute for the second alternative.
(17) “Slim” li e tova, kakvo e? (CSB-NV)
‘Is this “Slim” or what?’
(18) Sega v dvanajse li, v kolko tam, ste se snemat maskite i ste se vidi koj e (toj), i vsicki ste se vidim. (CSB-NV)
‘Now maybe at twelve or what time was it, we’ll take our masks off and we’ll find out who he is, and we’ll find out who everyone is.’
(19) Proletna umora li, kakvo stava. (CSB-A)
‘Is it spring fatigue or what’s going on.’
(20) Mnogo sa golemi nesto nomerata. Sto li, petdeseta li mjarka bese (toj), koja. (CSB-A)
‘The sizes are very big. Does he take size one hundred, or fifty, or what.’
3. Statistical data and conclusions about the occurrences of English and Bulgarian alternative interrogative structures in the eight corpora
3.1. Occurrences of English alternative interrogative structures
The corpus-based study of the occurrences of the three subtypes of English AISs leads to the following statistical conclusions:
a) AISs are a rare type of structure in English. The total absolute number of occurrences of all the three subtypes in the four corpora (281 984 word forms in total) is only 239 (i.e. 0.08 %). There are 34 occurrences (0.04 %) in the EFC (90 508 word forms), 11 occurrences (0.02 %) in the ECFM (50 370 word forms), 134 occurrences (0.15 %) in the CFCSE (90 630 word forms), and 60 occurrences (0.12 %) in the STCSE (50 476 word forms).
b) The or-subtype is the most frequent of the three subtypes. There is a total of 175 occurrences (0.06 %) in the four corpora. The number of the occurrences of the or-subtype is 4.7 times higher than that of the whether - or subtype and 6.5 times higher than that of the if - or subtype.
c) The whether - or subtype is the second most frequent subtype. There is a total of 37 occurrences (0.013 %) in the four corpora. The number of the occurrences of the whether - or subtype is 4.7 times lower than that of the or-subtype, but 1.4 times higher than that of the if- or subtype.
d) The if - or subtype is the least frequent subtype. There is a total of 27 occurrences (0.01 %) in the four corpora. The number of the occurrences of the if- or subtype is 6.5 times lower than that of the or-subtype and 1.4 times lower than that of the whether - or subtype.
e) AISs are much more frequent in spoken language than in works of fiction. Out of the total of 239 occurrences, there are 194 in the spoken corpora and only 45 in the fiction corpora. The total number of occurrences of the AISs in the spoken corpora is 4.3 times higher than it is in the fiction corpora.
f) All the three subtypes are more frequent in spoken language than in works of fiction. The number of the occurrences of the or-subtype in the spoken corpora (146 occurrences) is 5 times higher than it is in the fiction corpora (29 occurrences). The number of the occurrences of the whether - or subtype in the spoken corpora (28 occurrences) is 3.1 times higher than it is in the fiction corpora (9 occurrences). The number of the occurrences of the if - or subtype in the spoken corpora (20 occurrences) is 2.9 times higher than it is in the fiction corpora (7 occurrences).
Table 1 shows the total number of occurrences of the three subtypes of English AIS in each of the four corpora used in this research.
Table 1
Occurrences of English alternative interrogative structures in the four corpora
Corpus Subtype of Alternative Interrogative Structure EFC (90 508 word forms) ECFM (50 370 word forms) CFCSE (90 630 word forms) STCSE (50 476 word forms) Total (Absolute Number in 281 984 word forms) Total (%)
or 22 7 106 40 175 0.06
whether - or 5 4 15 13 37 0.013
if - or 7 0 13 7 27 0.01
Total (Absolute Number) 34 11 134 60 239
Total (%) 0.04 0.02 0.15 0.12 0.08
3.2. Occurrences of Bulgarian alternative interrogative structures
The corpus-based study of the occurrences of the nine subtypes of Bulgarian AISs leads to the following statistical conclusions:
a) Like in English, in Bulgarian AISs are a rare type of structure. The total absolute number of occurrences of all the nine subtypes in the four corpora (280 793 word forms in total) is only 248 (i.e. 0.09 %). There are 66 occurrences (0.07 %) in the BFC (90 326 word forms), 30 occurrences (0.06 %) in the BCFM (50 508 word forms), 105 occurrences (0.12 %) in the CSB-A (89 959 word forms), and 47 occurrences (0.09 %) in the CSB-NV (50 000 word forms).
b) The /'//-subtype is the most frequent of the nine subtypes. There is a total of 74 occurrences (0.03 %) in the four corpora. The number of the occurrences of the ///-subtype is 1.5 times higher than that of the // - // subtype and 1.6 times higher than that of the // - /// subtype.
c) Next in frequency come the // - // subtype (48 occurrences, 0.02 %), the // - /// subtype (47 occurrences, 0.02 %), the // - k-duma subtype (39 occurrences,
0.014 %), and the da// - /// subtype (30 occurrences, 0.011 %).
d) Very rare are AISs of the da// - da// subtype (6 occurrences, 0.002 %) and the da ... // - /// da subtype (3 occurrences, 0.001 %).
e) There is only one AIS of the da ... // - da ... // subtype. There are no AISs of the da// da - /// da subtype testified in the four corpora.
f) In general, AISs are more frequent in spoken language than in works of fiction. Out of the total of 248 occurrences, there are 152 in the spoken corpora and 96 in the fiction corpora. The total number of occurrences of the AISs in the spoken corpora is 1.6 times higher than it is in the fiction corpora.
g) AISs of the ili subtype are equally frequent in fiction and in spoken language. The total number of occurrences of the ili-subtype in the fiction corpora is the same as that in the spoken corpora - 37.
h) AISs of the li - ili subtype are slightly more common in spoken language than they are in works of fiction. The total number of occurrences of the li - ili subtype in the spoken corpora (28 occurrences) is 1.5 times higher than it is in the fiction corpora (19 occurrences).
i) The li - li subtype is characteristic predominantly of spoken language. There are 40 occurrences in the spoken corpora and only 8 in the fiction corpora. The total number of occurrences of the li - li subtype in the spoken corpora is 5 times higher than it is in the fiction corpora.
j) The li - k-duma subtype is found only in spoken language. All the 39 occurrences are in the spoken corpora.
k) The dali - ili subtype is typical mainly of fiction. Its occurrences in spoken language are only sporadic. The total number of its occurrences in the fiction corpora (26 occurrences) is 6.5 times higher than it is in the spoken corpora (4 occurrences).
Table 2 shows the total number of occurrences of the nine subtypes of Bulgarian AISs in each of the four corpora used in this research.
Table 2
Occurrences of Bulgarian alternative interrogative structures in the four corpora
Corpus Subtype of Alternative Interrogative Structure BFC (90 326 word forms) BCFM (50 508 word forms) CSB-A (89 959 word forms) CSB-NV (50 000 word forms) Total (Absolute Number in 280 793 word forms) Total (%)
ili 25 12 24 13 74 0.03
li - li 4 4 29 11 48 0.02
li - ili 14 5 20 8 47 0.02
li - k-duma 0 0 26 13 39 0.014
dali - ili 18 8 3 1 30 0.011
dali - dali 3 1 2 0 6 0.002
da ... li - ili da 2 0 0 1 3 0.001
da ... li - da ... li 0 0 1 0 1 0
dali da - ili da 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total (Absolute Number) 66 30 105 47 248
Total (%) 0.07 0.06 0.12 0.09 0.09
III. Conclusions
The corpus-based study of the occurrences of English and Bulgarian AISs results in the following conclusions:
a) English and Bulgarian AISs have almost the same percentage and number of occurrences.
b) On the whole, AISs are a rare type of structure in both English and Bulgarian.
c) The English or-subtype and its Bulgarian counterpart the ili-subtype are the most frequent subtypes.
d) In general, in both English and Bulgarian AISs are more typical of spoken language than of fiction.
e) All the three English subtypes are more frequent in spoken language than in works of fiction.
f) In Bulgarian, the ili-subtype is equally frequent in works of fiction and in spoken language. The li - ili subtype is slightly more common in spoken language than in works of fiction. The li - li subtype is found mainly in spoken language, while the dali - ili subtype is characteristic mostly of fiction. The li - k-duma subtype is found only in spoken language.
g) Although dali da - ili da and da ... li - da ... li are mentioned in grammar books as correlative pairs joining the constituent units of Bulgarian AISs, corpora data show that AISs of these subtypes are characteristic neither of spoken language nor of works of fiction.
References
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3. Nikolova Cv., Venkova Tz. Corpus of Spoken Bulgarian. Корпус от разговорен български език [Online resource]. - URL: http://folk.uio.no/kjetilrh/ bulg/Nikolova/ (accessed 14.03.2013).
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6. Grammar of Modern Standard Bulgarian. Volume III. Syntax. Граматика на съвременния български книжовен език. - Том III. Синтаксис / БАН. - София, 1983.
7. Ницолова Р. Прагматичен аспект на изречението в българския кни-жовен език. Народна просвета. - София, 1984. - С. 122-123.
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В.Л. Спасова
СТАТИСТИКА РАСПРОСТРАНЕННОСТИ АЛЬТЕРНАТИВНЫХ ВОПРОСИТЕЛЬНЫХ КОНСТРУКЦИЙ В АНГЛИЙСКОМ И БОЛГАРСКОМ ЯЗЫКАХ (на материале КОРПУСА ПИСЬМЕННЫХ ТЕКСТОВ)
Рассматриваются основные характеристики английских и болгарских альтернативных вопросительных конструкций и приводятся статистические данные по их частотности в четырех английских и четырех болгарских корпусах текстов. Данные корпусов показывают, что альтернативные вопросительные конструкции являются редкими в английском и болгарском языках. В целом они более распространены в разговорной речи, чем в художественной литературе.
Ключевые слова: подтипы альтернативных вопросительных конструкций, распространенность, корреляционные пары, or, whether - or, if - or, или, дали - дали, дали - или, ли - ли, ли - или.
