The ability to express detachment increases with age and occurs more frequently in written than in spoken texts
The University of Barcelona (UB) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona developed a study which proves that the ability to use linguistic resources to express detachment in expository texts increases with age and occurs more frequently in written than in spoken texts. The paper, published on the Journal of Pragmatics, points at fundamental differences between use and awareness with regard to the demands of the expository texts. It concludes that bilingual speakers are more skilled at using detachment devices.
The University of Barcelona (UB) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona developed a study which proves that the ability to use linguistic resources to express detachment in expository texts increases with age and occurs more frequently in written than in spoken texts. The paper, published on the Journal of Pragmatics, points at fundamental differences between use and awareness with regard to the demands of the expository texts. It concludes that bilingual speakers are more skilled at using detachment devices.
Elisa Rosado, lecturer from the Department of Teacher Training in Language and Literature at UB, and Liliana Tolchinsky, professor from the Department of General Linguistics of UB, affirm that “the study aimed at identifying the linguistic resources used by Catalan/Spanish bilingual and Spanish monolingual speakers for expressing degrees of detachment in expository texts at different ages (children, adolescents and adults)”.
In previous studies, researchers found the most frequent forms used by Spanish speakers for expressing detachment in expository texts. Experts decided to carry out this study to prove, on the one hand, if resources used spontaneously coincided with the ones they considered more appropriate to express detachment in this kind of texts. On the other hand, researchers wanted to observe differences between monolingual and bilingual speakers.
Researchers affirm that results are significant “because, first, they analyse the relationship between the resources used when speaking or writing and the ones considered most appropriate —even if we do not use them—, and proves that bilingual speakers exhibit higher levels of metalinguistic awareness in comparison with monolinguals”. Second, the study “illustrates the wide range of linguistic resources used by speakers to express detachment, particularly in the case of bilingual speakers”.
As we know more clearly speakersʼ possibilities and limitations at different ages and linguistic situations, and the manner in which they organise their speech in different communicative situations, we can orientate better education practices. Rosada and Tolchinsky ensure that “this type of studies, focused on speakersʼ linguistic uses and preferences, may be useful for the elaboration of textbooks, teaching materials and tools to assess linguistic skills”.