• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.911-938
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• 2011

The present study examined the effect of two variables of task complexity, reasoning demand and time pressure, each from the resourcedirecting and resource-dispersing dimension in Robinson's (2001) framework of task classification. Reasoning demand was operationalized as the two types of texts to read and summarize, expository and argumentative. Time pressure was operationalized as the two modes of performance, oral and written. Six university students summarized the two types of text orally and twenty four students from the same school summarized them in the written form. Results from t test and ANCOVA showed that in the oral mode, reasoning demand tends to heighten the complexity of the language used in the summary in competition with accuracy but such an effect disappeared in the written mode. It was interpreted that the degree of time pressure is not the only difference between the oral and written modes but that the two modes may be fundamentally different cognitive tasks, and that Robinson's (2001) and Skehan's (1998) models were differentially supported by the oral mode of tasks but not by the written mode of the tasks.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.1043-1065
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• 2011

This study investigates i-umlaut which occurred in the period of pre Old English (OE) in two aspects: what motivates i-umlaut in OE and how the phenomenon can be analyzed within the framework of OT. Unlike root-controlled vowel harmony, i-umlaut in OE is triggered by the suffixal i or j in the unstressed syllable whereby a stressed root vowel becomes fronted or raised. In this study, it is proposed that i-umlaut in OE is driven by the weak trigger i or j to improve its poor perception: I-umlaut improves the poor perceptibility of the weak trigger by extending its feature-either [-back] or [-low]-onto the vowel in the stressed syllable. This study provides an OT-theoretic analysis utilizing the licensing account to vowel harmony proposed by Walker (2004, 2005). The licensing constraints, IDENT-IO(F) and the locally conjoined constraints are proposed and their interaction correctly captures the pattern of i-umlaut in OE. Also, it is shown that the licensing account proposed in this paper is superior to the previous analyses as well as the nonlicensing approaches in that it can provide a perceptual motivation couched in i-umlaut in OE.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.391-411
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• 2011

This paper examines Du Boisian critique of American exceptionalism through a close textual analysis of his writings from early essays to later works. As an attempt to respond to the persistent grip American exceptionalism has on both the academia and the intellectual world at large, this paper tries to fill in the gaps within the discourse of American exceptionalism by exploring the works of one of the most towering American intellectual figures, and suggests that the discourse of American exceptionalism has remained within the purview of white scholars. Although at times inconsistent and contradictory, Du Bois's trenchant critique of American civilization and Western imperialism deconstructs the original ideals of America, creating more than a fissure in the ideology/hegemony/state fantasy of American exceptionalism. I argue that Du Boisian critique of American exceptionalism shows its violent marginalization and racialization based on white supremacy. Du Boisian critique should be a cautionary tale for those scholars who talk of "reform" or "replenishment" or even who occlude the possibility that American exceptionalism has not always functioned as a "state fantasy" by assuming its absolute blinding powers.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.475-495
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• 2009

In this paper, I discuss some asymmetries of bracketing paradoxes from a corpus-based perspective. Through a critical examination of previous analyses of bracketing paradoxes, it is demonstrated that the cases of apparent asymmetries of bracketing paradoxes are consistently accounted for when combined with the frequency-based parsability in morphological processing. Based on the relative frequency, this paper argues that bracketing paradoxes are well-atttested when their immediate bases are frequent and productive enough to be accessed as a unit and stored as such in memory. This is an extension of Hay 2002 which conducted a comprehensive survey of differential frequency effects in suffix pairs. A frequency-based approach to bracketing paradoxes adopted in this paper can be a challenge to the conventional formal theory by assuming a major role of language use and have the potential to significantly advance our understanding of the asymmetries observed in the real language world.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.1135-1161
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• 2010

The interpretations of degree expressions require the postulation of new entities to represent degrees. Diverse entities such as degrees, intervals, and vectors are adopted for degree expressions. Positive degree sentences and questions are properly construed with the introduction of these entities, but their negative counterparts need more consideration. Negative degree sentences show dual patterns of entailments depending on contexts, and negative degree questions are unacceptable, making weak islands. To explicate the distinct nature of negative degree sentences and questions, Fox & Hackl (2006) provide an analysis based on degrees while Abrusan & Spector (2010) suggest a proposal in interval readings of degree expressions. I have pointed out the theoretical problems of these analyses and proposed an alternative in the framework of the vector space semantics, following Winter (2005). Bi-directional scales in vector space fit well with the dual patterns of negative degree sentences, and the notion of a reference vector is useful to accommodate the contextual influence in negative degree sentences and to deal with the unacceptability of negative degree questions.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.1105-1117
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• 2010

This study traces out female identity and sexuality in George Du Maurier's novel, Trilby. The heroine's sexuality in this novel plays some interesting roles invoking both male gaze and male homosocial desire. There seems to have been lots of debates about female subjectivity and gender relations in the Victorian age. George Du Maurier tries to redefine female identity which had been divided into two aspects in the age: angel and demon. When he describes Trilby's identity, the fixed duality as fallen, demonic and autonomous women might have been considerably fluid. Rather than returning to the old boundaries of female subjectivity and identity through his heroine, he unwittingly describes the female role as an erotic organizer. As Du Maurier shows that Trilby's identity plays a conduit role for male homosocial desire, he created the tension between masculinity and femininity and revealed a changing relationship between female nature and male culture as well. Furthermore, when George Du Maurier in his novel opened a new possibility for an erotic organizer through his heroin, Trilby, he seems to have represented the more fluid female role in the patriarchal culture that asked only some fixed roles for women.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.459-474
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• 2009

The Journal of English Language and Literature. The purpose of this study is to provide an optimality theoretic approach to NPIs (Negative Polarity Items) in English and Korean by proposing three universal constraints. The constraints are C-command Condition (CCC): NPI must be c-commanded by a constituent with negative meaning; Locality Condition (LOC): NPI must be bound in the local domain; Subjacency: NPI licensing must satisfy Subjacency Condition (SBJ); Previous analyses have shown that these three constraints control NPIs in one way or another. This study attempts to demonstrate that NPIs in both English and Korean languages can be nicely accounted for by setting a different constraint hierarchy for the two independent languages. That is, by slightly changing the constraint hierarchy, distributional differences of NPIs in both languages can be accounted straightforwardly within the framework of Optimality Theory.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.429-455
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• 2011

Numbers have been regarded as one-sided, and their exactly readings have been understood as the results of scalar implicature. This Neo-Gricean view on numbers becomes less persuasive due to theoretical and experimental counterarguments. In spite of growing evidence for theirtwo-sided readings, numbers are still one-sided in modal sentences. Moreover, the occurrence of a negative operator may worsen the acceptability of modal sentences with numbers. In the framework of Vector Space Semantics, I have derived two-sided readings of numbers with the simple notions of monotonicity of modals and scopal relations between modals and numbers. I have also argued that the awkwardness incurred by negation is the result of a split set of vectors for a number. The incoherent set of vectors is understood as the lack of an ideal behavior, which is against the deontic modality of the sentence.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.143-161
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• 2012

The primary purpose of the present essay is to survey the relationship between Chaucer's fatherhood and English nationalism. Chaucer as a nationalist poet with essential Englishness is a product of the pre-modern nationalist project initiated between the late thirteenth century and early fourteenth century. In this period, as Turville-Petre regards, the English nationalist identity started to rise in language and literature. Thus this essay surveys the pre-modern nationalist discourse before Chaucer and how it influenced Chaucer to spawn his own nationalist discourse. The latter half of this project, as a reception study, surveys the nationalist receptions of Chaucer in the nineteenth century, when the connection between Chaucer studies and jingoistic nationalism was highly circumstantial. In terms of Chaucer's reception, the nineteenth-century was a crucial period: during this period the nationalist discourse and Chaucer studies firmly combined and Chaucer was envisaged as a boastful nationalist poet. The essay's discussion generally revolves around Chaucer's fatherhood and his exclusive Englishness; "Chaucer the father" is nationalist rhetoric which mediates thirteenth century post-colonialism and nineteenth-century colonialism.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.1173-1198
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• 2011

In this paper, I discuss Chaucer's Clerk's Tale by viewing the relationship between Walter and Griselda as that of a medieval translator and his translation. My major concern is how a medieval translation can serve power, more specifically the consolidation of power under particular historical circumstances. The motive and the process of Walter's creative translation of Griselda are closely examined to show that his translation, which includes a creation of a new Griselda as a pinnacle of wifely virtue of patience, is performed as a form of political propaganda, ultimately aimed at strengthening his governing power over his people and land. My discussion of the Clerk's Tale ends with the comparison of the two translators, Walter and the Clerk, the latter of whom is an example of an unsuccessful translator for his lack of creation in the translation.