MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY HÀ BẢO TOÀN LINGUISTIC FEATURES IN ENGLISH REVIEWS OF THE LATEST HIGH-END CAMERAS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 8. NGUYỄN QUANG NGOẠN e BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN HÀ BẢO TOÀN ĐẶC TRƯNG NGÔN NGỮ TRONG CÁC BÀI ĐÁNH GIÁ BẰNG TIẾNG ANH VỀ MÁY ẢNH CAO CẤP MỚI NHẤT NGÀNH: NGÔN NGỮ ANH MÃ SỐ: 8.01 Người hướng dẫn: PGS. NGUYỄN QUANG NGOẠN e i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP This thesis does not contain any material which has been previously submitted as a requirement of a degree or diploma at any institution. This thesis also does not contain any material which has been written or published by other another person except the reference is made in the text.
This work is completely implemented by myself. Quy Nhon, 2020 Ha Bao Toan e ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the support of many people. I would like to express the deepest respect and appreciation to those who provide me advice and assistance when I participated in this course, especially the time when I carried out this research. First and foremost, I am deeply gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc.
Nguyen Quang Ngoan, who has kindly given me advice, useful references and constant encouragement in this study. Without his guidance and help, this thesis would not have been complete. I would like to express my thanks to Mr. Dang Trinh Truong Giang, an MA student of English Language from the previous course, for his advice and reference during the time I participated in this course.
I also would love to express my gratefulness to all the lecturers of the Department of Foreign Languages of Quy Nhon Univesity who have provided me with precious knowledge in the field of English language. Last but not least, my love is sent to my parents and my big thanks to my friends who have back me up through many difficulties during this period so that I can focus on the thesis and finish it in line. e iii ABSTRACT With the explosion of online product reviews in the last two decades, online reviews are quickly becoming a research trend for linguists to understand their characteristics. This study aims at investigating 2731 samples of lexical features and 399 samples of semantic functions in English reviews for the latest high-end cameras, under five videos of professional reviewers on Youtube.
Both quantitative and qualitative approaches with descriptive, analytic, and synthetic methods are employed to achieve the targets. Based on the theory of lexicology of Quirk and Greenbaum (1973) as well as sematic functions of Lyons (1977) and Leech (1981), the theoretical framework suggests the criteria for collecting and analyzing the samples. The analysis reveals interesting results concerning the five word classes (nouns, lexical verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and modal auxiliaries) contributing the lexicology of English reviews, as well as the five semantic functions (informing, praising, denoting disappointment, suggesting, and others) in English camera reviews. To be more specific, nouns, lexical verbs, and adjectives take a large contribution in review lexicology while informing, praising, and denoting disappointment are the superior distributions in semantic functions of English camera reviews.
The findings drawn out from the study make some significant contribution to the teaching and learning of descriptive language, as well as the people in the field of reviewing product. e iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. III TABLE OF CONTENTS .IV LIST OF TABLES .VIII LIST OF GRAPHS.IX LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS. AIM AND OBJECTIVES.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY. DEFINITION OF TERMS. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY.
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND. PARTS OF SPEECH. LANGUAGE FOR REVIEW. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES.
RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. LEXICAL FEATURES OF ENGLISH IN CAMERA REVIEWS. Nouns denoting physical features.
Nouns denoting non-physical features. Nouns describing specifications and softwares. Nouns describing camera‟s functions. Nouns denoting judgments.
Lexical verbs denoting actions. Lexical verbs denoting emotions. Modals denoting possibility and ability. Modals denoting necessity.
Modals denoting prediction and volition. Adjectives describing physical quality. Adjectives describing performance quality. Adjectives describing characteristic and judgment.
Adverbs of manner. Adverbs of degree. Adverbs of frequency. SEMANTIC FUNCTIONS OF ENGLISH IN CAMERA REVIEWS.
Hearer oriented suggesting. Company oriented suggesting. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS. Lexical features in English reviews of the latest high-end camera.
Semantic functions in English reviews of the latest high-end camera. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY. 1 Camera Review 1 – Canon EOS R.
1 Camera Review 2 – Nikon Z6. 6 Camera Review 3 – Sony A7R4 mark IV. 13 Camera Review 4 – Fujifilm X-H1. 20 Camera Review 5 – Panasonic S1R.
28 e viii LIST OF TABLES N0 Tables Page 3.1 Data overview of English reviews for the latest high-end 20 cameras on Youtube 3.2 The Linguistic Category Model proposed by Semin and 22 Fiedler (1991) in the study of Krishnamoorthy (2015) 3.3 Framework for analysis of lexical features in English camera 23 reviews 3.4 Framework for analysis of semantic functions in English 24 camera reviews 4.1 Distribution of lexicology in camera reviews 26 4.2 Semantic function in English camera review 46 e ix LIST OF GRAPHS N0 Graphs Page 4.1 Percentages of lexicology in English camera reviews 27 Percentages of sub-nouns in lexicology of English camera 4.2 28 reviews Percentages of sub-lexical verbs in lexicology of English 4.3 33 camera reviews Percentages of sub-adjective in lexicology of English camera 4.4 39 reviews Percentages of sub-adverbs in lexicology of English camera 4.6 Distribution of semantic functions in English camera reviews 47 e x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS (1): The first example [CR1.15]: Source in appendix: camera review 1, data no.15th DSLR: Digital Single-lens reflex cameras MR: Mirrorless cameras e 1 CHAPTER 1. RATIONALE Online reviews for products are becoming a distinction of this era of digital age due to the combination of the modern technology and the art of language in use. The reviews contain the information that can provide the necessary and probably the deeper technical information about the subject. The approaches to the online reviews are not only fast, but also easier than ever before.
All of that gives the consumer a wider understanding on a product and also helps them to take a careful decision on buying a product or not in their circumstances. Online reviews can be recognized by 2 major types, in written and spoken reviews. The spoken reviews are the main focus point of this study due to its versatile combination between the visual videos as evidences and the presentation of the reviewers to the audiences. The language of reviews has many linguistic features that have interested the linguist to explore how effective it is in persuading people to make decisions.
Online-review helpfulness is the major aim of many linguists (Markus et al., 2015; Laurie et al., 2017; Goele et al., 2017; Hijbul et el., 2016; Sohail et al. To achieve that aim, they use the sentimental analysis on the written language of online reviews collected from many ordinary reviewers and customers on several famous selling websites. Some linguists are interested in semantic analysis in online product reviews to enable helpfulness prediction (Yang et al, 2015) but still mainly focus on the written type. e 2 Due to the gap in the reviews of English spoken language, this study focuses on the linguistic features, including the lexical features and semantic functions, of English in reviews for the latest high-end cameras.
The conducting of this work, hopefully to some extent, can cover some of the linguistic features of the spoken English reviews. AIM AND OBJECTIVES The aim of my research is to study the lexical features and semantic functions in English that are used in online reviews, especially for the latest high-end cameras. In order to achieve the aim of the research, the researcher follows the objectives: - To identify and analyze the lexical features in English reviews of the latest high-end cameras. - To identify and analyze the semantic functions in English reviews of the latest high-end cameras.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS This thesis focuses on answering the two main questions that can clarify the objectives: 1. What are the lexical features in English reviews of the latest high- end cameras? 2. What are the semantic functions in English reviews of the latest high-end cameras? e 3 1. SCOPE OF THE STUDY This thesis only focuses on the lexical features and the semantic functions of English in product reviews, specifically the online reviews of the latest high-end cameras.
In the lexical features, the researcher attempts to study the open class words, in the word level only, for investigating what kinds of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs that participate into the English reviews of the camera. In the sematic field, the researcher attempts to recognize the functions of the lexical features that are used in the reviews of the latest high-end cameras. The researcher performs an investigation in the latest high-end digital cameras because they are one of the electronic products that own a huge community and the reviews of the latest high-end cameras can have a huge influence on the consumer‟s decision. The samples of reviews for the latest high-end cameras are taken from the high reputation reviewers and in different camera brands which can give the most diversity of language in reviews.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This research can provide a significant contribution to the knowledge of lexical features and the semantic function in English reviews. It helps clarifying the features of lexicology as well as some essential semantic functions which are embedded in professional English camera reviews. The findings of the study can help the people in teaching description language and provide the learner a wider range of vocabulary in the field of electronic products reviews in general, especially in camera reviews. Plus, English users can be better of identifying the intentions or indications within the context of the reports or reviews.
DEFINITION OF TERMS Camera: a device for taking photographs and/or videos. Camera review: a report from a reviewer toward the camera features such as: Photographs and description of camera, detailed specifications, description of function and operation, timings and performance measures, image quality measures, competitive camera comparisons, conclusion and suggestion based on test results and experience with the camera, etc. High-end camera: The cameras that are on top of the line; referring to the most sophisticated, and typically the most expensive, product in a line. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY The study is organized in five chapters as follows: Chapter 1, Introduction, gives the rationale, aim and objectives, the scope, research questions, the definition of term, and the organization of the study.
Chapter 2, Literature Review and Theoretical background, provides some of previous studies in the field and the basic concepts, and theoretical background related to the study. Chapter 3, Research Methodology, deals with the research methods, procedures, description of data, data collection, data analysis, and reliability and validity. Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, draws out the results of the research with the researcher‟s comments e 5 Chapter 5, Conclusions and Implications, presents the summary of the findings and conclusions within the limitation of the study and some suggestions for further study. LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND This chapter concerns the theoretical background and previous studies that are related to the language of description and semantic functions in English reviews of the latest high-end cameras.
PARTS OF SPEECH Parts of speech are the basic of grammar and they are the most important units for starting to understand the language. Quirk and Greenbaum (1973) argue that parts of English speech are units that, when combined, make up the constituent elements of a sentence. They divide parts of speech into the system of open-closed classes.