Definite and Indefinite Articles With Abstract Nouns in L2

Lee Kenton Alan (Lee Kenton)

doi:10.18095/meeso.2020.21.4.1

Definite and Indefinite Articles With Abstract Nouns in L2

Modern English Education
Abbr : MEESO
2020, 21(4), pp.1-10
DOI : 10.18095/meeso.2020.21.4.1
Publisher : The Modern English Education Society
Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Language Teaching
Received : September 15, 2020
Accepted : November 15, 2020
Published : November 30, 2020

Lee Kenton Alan ¹

¹부경대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Past studies have examined the problems that learners have with English definite, indefinite, and zero articles, particularly for learners whose L1 lacks an article system, such as Korean. Many of the empirical and theoretical studies of article acquisition have examined particular error types and types of nouns that are more problematic. In doing so, they have typically focused on more concrete nouns to the exclusion of abstract nouns. Abstract nouns tend to be used without articles, i.e., as bare nouns, a fact that learners may be aware of. However, such nouns can sometimes be used with articles for a more specific nuance. This study examines the difficulties that abstract nouns might pose for learners, as standard article rules may be unhelpful, especially for less familiar nouns. For this study, a linguistic survey with more abstract nouns was administered. The results showed that they had difficulties with more abstract noun patterns (as measured by semantic indices), and their difficulties were also affected by lexical frequency and complex noun phrases. Article patterns for more abstract nouns can be difficult to learn and teach, as their nuances can vary according to context. Some suggestions are sketched out for teaching such noun patterns.

KEYWORDS

definite articles, indefinite articles, abstract nouns, cognitive linguistics

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

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Modern English Education 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.55

Definite and Indefinite Articles With Abstract Nouns in L2

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

Modern English Education 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.55

Definite and Indefinite Articles With Abstract Nouns in L2

ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS

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