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Corpus Methods for Semantics: Quantitative studies in polysemy and synonymy
Edited by Dylan Glynn and Justyna A. Robinson
[Human Cognitive Processing 43] 2014
► pp. 179–204

A case for the multifactorial assessment of learner language

The uses of may and can in French-English interlanguage

ORCID logo | New Mexico State University
ORCID logo | University of California, Santa Barbara

In this study, we apply Gries and Divjak’s Behavioral Profile approach to compare native English can and may, learner English can and may, and French pouvoir. We annotated over 3,700 examples across three corpora according to more than 20 morphosyntactic and semantic features and we analysed the features’ distribution with a hierarchical cluster analysis and a logistic regression. The cluster analysis shows that French English learners build up fairly coherent categories that group the English modals together followed by pouvoir, but that they also consider pouvoir to be semantically more similar to can than to may. The regression strongly supports learners’ coherent categories; however, a variety of interactions shows where learners’ modal use still deviates from that of native speakers.

Keywords: Behavioral Profiles, hierarchical cluster analysis, logistic regression, modal verbs
Published online: 6 November 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.43.07des
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