Minor Sentences in Selected Disney Children's Stories
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This study is intended to investigate the use of minor sentences in Disney children’s stories. These sentences do not follow the regular clause structure patterns or the variants of those structures. Minor sentences are of two types: irregular sentences (henceforth IrrSs) and nonsentences (henceforth NonSs). The study aims at (i) investigating the most frequent subtypes of IrrSs and NonSs in Disney stories, and (ii) identifying the most frequent type of minor sentences in Disney children’s stories. Fulfilling the above aims, the study hypothesizes that independent phrase is the most frequent subtype of NonSs, while elliptical sentence in dialogue is the most frequent subtype of IrrSs. The study examines the use of IrrSs and NonSs in fifteen Disney children’s stories. The data are analyzed according to Quirk et al.'s (1985) model. The results show that IrrS appears (293) times while NonS occurs (711) times, with percentages of (29.18%) and (70.81%) respectively. It is found also that elliptical sentences in dialogue is the most frequent subtype of IrrSs with a frequency rate amounting to (126, 43%) and independent phrases is the most frequent subtype of NonSs that occurs (302) times with a percentage of (42.47%). The study concludes that NonS is the most frequent type of minor sentence. It is also concluded that elliptical sentences in dialogue and independent phrases are the most frequent subtypes of IrrSs and NonSs respectively.
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