Correlation between end-weight principle and adjective clauses in

Correlation between end-weight principle and adjective

clauses in English: Q1 SCOPUS applied linguistics

articles and Thai EFL learners’ essays

Abhinan Wongkittiporn

English Language Department, Rangsit University, Thailand.

Accepted 26 March, 2024

ABSTRACT

The researcher in this study applied the notions of quantitative method, theoretical linguistics and applied

linguistics to examine the correlation between the linguistic theory of end-weight principle and English

adjective clauses in Q1-SCOPUS applied linguistics articles and Thai EFL learners’ descriptive essays. The

significance of this study is that structure and use in writing should be learned simultaneously. This current

study also innovatively supports Thai EFL learners to examine their linguistic competence in structuring

information in their English writing. The data collection in this study was divided into two datasets. The first

dataset was 20 Q1-SCOPUS applied linguistics articles published between 2022 and 2024. Approximately

200,000 words provided 117 sentences containing adjective clauses in the final position or VP-

postmodifiers. On the other hand, the second dataset was 67 descriptive essays written by Thai EFL high-

school learners from both public schools and private schools under the supervision of the Ministry of

Education, Thailand. The original theory of the end-weight principle proposed by Quirk et al. (1972) is

followed in this study. The syntactic structure of adjective clauses follows Radford (2009) who analyzed

adjective clauses as complementizer phrases (CP). The inferential statistical analysis of correlation follows

SPSS 29. The results showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between the datasets of

applied linguistics articles and EFL learners’ descriptive essays where the p-values were reported at 0.01

and 0.02, respectively. Not only do these statistical relationships show that English is an end-weight

language, but also Thai EFL learners can follow the norm accurately. This is due to the positive effect of the

mother tongue interference since the Thai language is an end-weight language. The pedagogical

implication of the study to EFL learners is that information structures should be contributed to grammar

classes. For future studies, it is recommended to test the hypothesis of the end-weight principle with

reduced adjective clauses in the medial position of sentences.

Keywords: Adjective clauses, applied linguistics articles, descriptive essays, end-weight principle, Thai

EFL learners.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: abhinan.w@rsu.ac.th.

INTRODUCTION

Information structure is an important linguistic aspect of

arranging information into clauses, sentences and

paragraphs (Birner and Ward, 2009). It is viewed as

similar to that of building constructions that connect

everything. However, most English language learners are

apt to ignore studying information structure. They seem to

pay more attention to the study of vocabulary and

grammar in writing (Wongkittiporn, 2024). Although the

notion of vocabulary and grammar could help them write

to communicate, the way information is linked to creating

African Educational Research Journal

Vol. 12(1), pp. 67-77, March 2024

DOI: 10.30918/AERJ.121.24.016

ISSN: 2354-2160

Full Length Research Paper

Afr Educ Res J 68

the smoothness of reading seems problematic.

The English Language is heavy-ended. This means

that the head is short, while the longer part is left for the

final position of the sentence. In other words, writing a

long subject is not uncommon in English, such as (1a).

(1)

(a) To swim for 50 minutes every day is good.

(b) It is good to swim for 50 minutes every day.

Examples (1a)-(1b) are arbitrary control constructions,

which are factual or habitual information applicable to

everyone. Even though both examples are semantically

the same, the way the information is structured is

different between the two examples. Example (1a) shows

the heaviness of the subject. On the other hand, example

(1b) shows that the expletive it is the shorter DP which is

dropped at the Spec T or the subject position (Radford,

2009). When making a comparison, this explains why

example (1b) is a more common structure in English due

to the end-weight principle.

Since theory plays an important role in English writing,

literature shows that there are three main camps of

researchers who applied the end-weight principle to study

written texts in different materials. The first group of

researchers used the theory to study the written texts of

novels and poems (Nofal, 2012). The long and heavy

information on VP-postmodifiers in novels gives a climax

to the story. The second group of researchers applied the

theory to study ditransitive verbs in international corpora

(Arnold et al., 2000; Ottmar, 2015). The results showed

the NP shift to the final position mostly at 70 percent. The

third group of researchers applied the end-weight

principle to study EFL learners’ writing (Lozano and

Mayamendikoetxea, 2009). This group is so interesting

as the results show that only advanced EFL learners, or

about C1 level, applied the end-weight principle correctly.

Whilst previous studies focused on the end-weight

principle to study novels, international corpora, and

advanced EFL writing, this study innovatively contributes

to the field by using SCOPUS-Q1 applied linguistics

research articles and Thai EFL learners’ descriptive

essays.

The ways that information structures in applied

linguistics articles are structured are regarded as effective

examples for novice researchers and graduate students

in the field. Today, research is a part of education in every

degree. We are taught what research is, but not everyone

is taught how to write research. Consequently, both

native and non-native English students struggle to

structure information in their research writing. This study

provides guidelines and examples of information

structures for new researchers entering the field. This

study also innovatively encourages Thai EFL learners to

examine their linguistic competence in structuring

information in English. This information leads one to the

following objective of the study.

Objectives of the study

1. To investigate the correlation between the end-weight

principle and English adjective clauses in Q1-SCOPUS

applied linguistics articles

2. To investigate the correlation between the end-weight

principle and English adjective clauses in Thai EFL

Mattayom learners’ descriptive essays

Hypotheses of the study

1. There is no significant relationship between the end-

weight principle and English adjective clauses in Q1

SCOPUS applied linguistics articles.

2. There is no significant relationship between the end-

weight principle and adjective clauses in Thai EFL

Mattayom learners’ descriptive essays.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Conceptual framework

This section shows the conceptual framework in this

study. The conceptual framework in this study is divided

into independent variables and dependent variables. The

independent variable in this study is the theoretical

framework of the end-weight principle (Quirk et al., 1972).

On the other hand, the dependent variables are adjective

clauses and the materials of applied linguistics research

articles and Thai EFL learners’ descriptive essays. Figure

1 shows how independent variables in this study were

investigated using the end-weight principle as presented

in concordance lines.

investigated using end

weight principle as presented in concordance lines.

(2)

(a) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, who OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(b) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, which OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(d) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, whose OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Figure

Concordance Lines

Figure 1. Concordance lines.

Wongkittiporn 69

Figure 1 shows concordance lines of how information is

keyed. The semiotics XXX is the main clause. On the

other hand, the semiotics OOO represents adjective

clauses. This study is interested in whether the OOO part

is linguistically expressed with adjective clauses or

reduced adjective clauses. English is a heavy-end

language. It is assumed the adjective clauses are the

structures of the final position of the sentence.

Theoretical background of the end-weight principle

Historically, the end-weight principle originated from the

Prague School of Linguistics in the 1920s. The school

integrated the philosophies of structuralism and

functionalism into linguistic study (Pribylová, 2019). End-

weight principle, sometimes called grammatical weight

(Wasaw, 1997) or the short-before-long ordering principle

is a theory in the branch of information structure (Aarts,

2011). The end-weight principle refers to the placement of

shorter information at the beginning and the longer and

heavier information at the final position of the sentence.

Quirk et al. (1972) was the first scholar who termed the

heaviness of constructions in the final position as end-

weight as follows:

[…] One is the tendency to place new

information toward the end of the clause,

and another is the tendency to reserve the

final position for the more complex parts of

a clause or sentence. (Quirk et al., 1972,

p. 766)

In English, a sentence usually conveys one main topic

and the topic of the sentence is short and written in the

subject position. In English, the topic, focus and important

information are generally provided at topicalization or the

syntactic position of spec T, referring to the subject

position. On the other hand, the longer information is a

post-verbal modifier, which is placed at the final position

of the sentence, such as adjuncts, temporal adverbs and

complements. This principle cognitively helps reduce the

workload of the brain in remembering the information at

the beginning of the sentence (Aarts, 2011). Basically, the

topic should be given before elaborating.

If a sentence in the English language is divided into two

parts which are pre-verbal and post-verbal, the pre-verbal

position is the position of the subject. Although the

subject carries the most important position of the

sentence, the information in this position should be

lighter, and less informative than the post-verbal section

(Smolka, 2017).

(3) Running improves the metabolism, blood circulation

and digestive system.

Example (3) shows how to structure information pre-

verbally and post-verbally. The pre-verbal position

running is lighter and contains only the topic. The post-

verbal position is the elaboration of this topic. When we

elaborate, we are likely to give longer details to support

the readers’ understanding of the topic (Smolka, 2017).

When compared with written language, the end-weight

principle is more common than spoken register as the

subject in this register tends to be short, such as the

pronouns I and you.

End-weight principle supports the ease of reading the

text (Nofal, 2012). Postponing the longer information,

such as adjective clauses and adverbial clauses could

help the readers to understand the text more easily.

Wasaw (1997) suggested that the end-weight principle

is for the benefit of information preparation or information

planning. Using the end-weight principle shows that the

speakers prepare information effectively. To prove this

statement, Wasaw (1997) analyzed approximately 800

sentences of the following collocation: attribute... to,

bring... to, and obtain... from, share... with. The results

show that approximately 55 percent are fixed colligations

as in obtain from and share with, such as (4).

(4)

(a) Pat brought a box with a ribbon around it to the party.

(b) Pat brought to the party a box with a ribbon around it.

(Wasaw, 1997, p. 355)

Example (4b) shows the colligation of brought to or the

use of verb and preposition in an adjacent area. The

information the party a box with a ribbon around it was

left at the final position in accordance with the end-weight

principle.

Generative grammar of adjective clauses in English

Adjective clause in English is structurally known as a DP

post-modifier. It gives additional or extra information

about its head, which is expressed in the determiner

phrase DP, such as the man, the animal and the object.

These DPs could be either the subject or the object of the

sentence (Radford, 2009).

(5)

(a) Mary, who has nine cats in her house, got married

yesterday.

(b) Peter got married to Mary, who has nine cats in her

house.

The adjective clauses in (5) who has nine cats in her

house are the DP post-modifier to modify the person. The

examples presented show that adjective clauses can be

placed in the medial position and final position. However,

they cannot be positioned in the initial position of the

sentence.

This point allows us to see that adjective clauses are

Afr Educ Res J 70

heavy-ended constructions. They are used to express

supplemental information, such as numerical data,

examples, classifications and details. However, adjective

clauses can be reduced into reduced adjective clauses,

such as (6).

(6)

(a) Mary, having nine cats in her house, got married

yesterday.

(b) Peter got married to Mary, having nine cats in her

house.

The present participles having in (6a) and (6b) show that

the adjective clauses were reduced.

Related previous studies

The literature review shows that the end-weight principle

was examined using different materials, such as English

novels and poetry, international corpora as in British

National Corpus (BNC) and EFL learners’ written texts.

This section presents the similarities and differences in

the results of the end-weight principle in different texts.

Novels and poetry in English

Mothibeli (2023) studied the different positions of that-

nominal clauses in English novels, as exemplified in (7).

(7)

(a) I forgot that I was wearing iron shoes.

(b) We will teach this miserable traitor that he cannot

undo our work so easily.

(Mothibeli, 2023, p. 37)

Although that-nominal clauses can be used in different

positions, such as the subject and the object, the majority

of the that-nominal clauses were usually found in the final

position. The that-nominal clause in (7a) is the direct

object of the sentence. It can be replaced by the pronoun

it as in I forgot it. On the other hand, the that-nominal

clause in (7b) is syntactically classified as an adjunct.

Removing this information does not impact the

grammaticality of the sentence. With this information,

Mothibeli (2023) explained that the final position of that-

nominal clauses was explained by the end-weight

principle. Although the structure of that-nominal clause

complements is applicable grammatically in the subject

position, such as (8), Mothibeli (2023) said that this

violates the principle of end-weight.

(8) That nothing of the kind existed in writing was

certainly true. (Mothibeli, 2023, p. 39)

Violating the end-weight principle does not mean that it is

wrong grammatically. However, there is another effective

way to structure example (8) as in it is certainly true that

nothing of the kind existed in writing. In addition, Nofal

(2012) found that the relative clauses in poems were

written in the final position, such as (9).

(9)

(a) I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon

you which shall be the darkness of God.

(b) And smale foweles maken melody, that slepen at the

nyght with open eye.

(Nofal, 2012, p. 233)

According to Nofal (2012), not only do the relative

clauses in poems comply with the end-weight principle

but also the final position is kept for the most complex

part. In addition, Leech (2007) also found that the end-

weight principle is a common stylistic practice in English

fiction. Heavy constituents follow light constituents, as in

(10).

(10) Ours was the marsh country. (Leech, 2007, p. 122)

The syntactic structure in (10) is subjective complement

where the complement provides additional information

about the subject. The two positions between the subject

and complement could be swapped, while they denote

the same semantically. However, the longer part is placed

in the final position.

International corpora

Previous studies used international corpora to study the

end-weight principle. Park (2002) employed corpus tools

such as BNC and LOB to study the ordering of adverbial

clauses in English. The results show that the majority of

adverbial clauses are used in the final position to indicate

adverbial clauses of time, place and manner. These are

the additional information or details, which are considered

the new piece of information. This complies with the

pragmatic discourse of given and new information where

new information is structurally placed at the end.

Not only does heavier information go to the end of the

sentences, but also complex structures are placed at the

final position. Complex structures are exemplified into

adverbial clauses, adjective clauses, and noun clauses

and the head of the clauses are under the CP nodes

syntactically, such as (11).

(11)

(a) Add some salt if needed.

(b) James knows that this is a difficult job.

first-year language students.

Examples (11a) are adverbial clauses. The connector if is

Wongkittiporn 71

a concessive adverbial connector, which is located under

the branch of the complementizer phrase if. In (11b), that

this is a difficult job is a noun clause. The relativizer that

is located under the C node. In (11c), which is useful for

first-year language students is an adjective clause. It

provides the author’s subjectivity concerning the elective

course GER101.

(12)

(a) I gave several historical research papers to Mary.

(b) I gave Mary several historical research papers.

Ottmar (2015) indicated that the structure presented in

(12b) rather conforms to the end-weight principle and

sounds more English than (12a).

Arnold et al. (2000) studied heavy NP shift in the

corpus in the Canadian parliament. The data was

gathered from the spoken register. The two structures,

(V+NP+PP) and (V+PP+NP), were compared. The

results showed that the heavy NP was shifted to the final

position. The explanation for this shift is fixed colligation

as the VP and NP are formulaically used together, as in

bring to and take into account.

EFL learners’ writing

The end-weight principle is commonly investigated

through L2 writing. Sung and Kim (2016) investigated the

end-weight principle with non-native English learners.

They used the Yonsei English Learner Corpus (YELC)

which is the corpus of non-native English language

learners to investigate the end-weight principle via the

learners’ argumentative essays. 39 essays were collected

to be studied. The results of their study showed that most

advanced English learners follow the end-weight principle

in English, while lower proficiency users are likely to

violate the rule.

Lozano and Mayamendikoetxea (2009) found in their

experiment that L2 English language learners and native

English speakers can apply the end-weight principle in

their production process. This study is interesting as it

points out the number of words to be judged as it is a

long constituent.

[…] There is no agreement in the literature as to the

most appropriate measuring instrument for syntactic

weight. While word length, as measured by a number of

words, is standardly used, it cannot tell us how long (or

short) a constituent must be to be considered “heavy” (or

“light”). […] the most frequent lengths for the subject

constituent in the learner corpora were 2 and 5 words,

and the mean of all lengths was 7.5 words. (Lozano and

Mayamendikoetxea, 2009, p. 483)

A constituent that is interpreted to be heavy and long

contains between seven to eight words. Lozano and

Mayamendikoetxea (2009) found that the mean score of

length in the final position is 7.52, despite some

students creating a length of 13 to 19 words at the end.

(13)

(a) In 1880, it begun the experiments whose result was

the appearance of television some years later.

(b) Thus began the campaign to educate the public on

how one contracts aids.

(Lozano and Mayamendikoetxea, 2009, p. 490)

Although both L2 English language learners and native

speakers can apply the end-weight principle correctly, the

average length of heaviness in the final position was

reported to be different. The average range of the final

position as produced by L2 English learners is longer

than native English speakers. Okuyama (2015) found that

engineering academic research papers used by-phrase

agents with the long-expression for the information of

mathematic calculation. This complies with the end-

weight principle.

Applied linguistics articles

While previous studies used the materials of novels,

international corpora and L2 learners’ writing, this study

contributes something new to the field by using the

materials of applied linguistics research articles as

indexed in the SCOPUS database to test the end-weight

principle in the English language. Wongkittiporn (2023)

addressed the advantages of using English-applied

linguistics research papers to study. Firstly, the papers

are written by academic people in the field of language.

Some people have many years of experience in using

language in the field, so the materials can be used as

examples for learners. Secondly, the journal publication

teams have editors and proofreaders. Not only do the

editors screen the information in the articles to be

published, but there is a team of reviewers to give

feedback regarding the accuracy of the content. After

that, the copyediting process allows the proofreaders to

check the accuracy of the language used. Thirdly, most

graduate courses provide courses in research

methodology. However, the language used in writing

research is not yet taught officially in the class. After

studying the subject of research methodology, most

students can figure out which methods are appropriate for

their research papers. Nevertheless, they struggle to

express their ideas linguistically according to the norms

of research writing. This study provides examples for

novice researchers and new scholars who are just

entering the field to structure their research writing

accurately and appropriately.

METHOD

Unlike previous studies, the current study is a quantitative

Afr Educ Res J 72

study to test the hypothesis of the end-weight principle.

The experiments were divided into two phases. The first

phase is the experiment of the end-weight principle on

applied linguistics articles from the SCOPUS Q1

database. After that, the end-weight principle was tested

with Thai EFL learners’ descriptive essays.

Participants and materials

For the first experiment, the data collected in this study

was 20 academic research articles from the Q1 SCOPUS

database, consisting of approximately 200,000 words.

There are a total of 117 sentences containing adjective

clauses in the final position. The data were collected for

System and Journal of English for Specific Purposes from

2022 to 2024. These two journals were selected because

they are applied linguistics journals that have been

indexed in the Q1 SCOPUS database for longer than a

decade. This ensures the validity and reliability of these

two publications.

In the second experiment, the population in this study is

Thai high-school EFL learners. In Thailand, this group of

learners is called Mattayom learners. The participants in

this study were gathered by the convenience sampling

method. They willingly volunteered to join this writing

activity. They studied in either Thai private or public

schools under the supervision of the Ministry of

Education, Thailand. The sample consisted of 67

students. 45 students came from public schools, whereas

22 participants came from private schools. In the process

of recruiting the participants, a private university in

Thailand organized an academic writing contest where

the information about the event was posted on the

internet and the university website. The participants

national competition and the winner received a trophy

from the Ministry of Culture, Thailand. This ensured that

the participants put in optimal effort and paid close

attention when writing their essays. The essays were

written in a controlled room at a private university in

Thailand with five proctors to control the process of

writing.

Data collection

For the first experiment, in order to analyze syntactic

structures in academic research papers, the purposive

sampling method was adopted in this study. The inclusion

criteria of data collection in the study follow Okuyama

(2015).

Condition A: The journal is highly ranked in the field.

Condition B: The university affiliation is the United States

of America, the United Kingdom or Australia.

These criteria help refine the quality of the writers. Not

only are they native American, British or Australian

students, native lecturers, scholars or professors, but

non-native students who can enter American, British and

Australian universities are required to have the minimal

requirement of either TOEFL or IELTS scores. Moreover,

highly ranked journals usually have proofreaders to check

the accuracy of language before the paper is published.

For the second experiment, the data collection came

from Thai EFL learners’ writing. They were asked to write

a 250-word academic essay. The duration of writing was

120 minutes. The topic of writing was “Thai Soft Power”,

which is a campaign of the Thai government from 2023 to

2024. This topic is about descriptive writing and adjective

clauses are likely to be used often in this type of essay.

Approximately 17,000 words provided 36 sentences

containing adjective clauses. In the writing process, the

participants were asked to type their academic essays in

Microsoft Word. Therefore, the tokens of adjective

clauses were manually extracted and kept in Microsoft

Excel for subsequent study. The grammatical errors

found were kept as original.

Data analysis

In order to seek correlation as stated in the objectives of

the study, this study was quantitatively designed. The

theoretical concept of the end-weight principle originally

follows Quirk et al. (1972) as elaborated in the section of

the literature review. Adjective clauses in this study follow

Radford (2009) who classified the adjective clauses as

complementizer phrases (CP) structurally. The keys for

the examination in this CP are who, which, that, whom

and whose, such as (14).

(14)

(a) Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [CP which

ooooooooooooooooooooo].

(b) Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, [CP which

ooooooooooooooooooooo].

The objective of this study is to test the end-weight

principle only. As such, restrictive relative clauses and

non-restrictive relative clauses are not the main focus of

this study. Both were gathered to study. With these

patterns, the coding schema in this study is given in Table

1. (15)

After that, the code was put into SPSS29 in order to

calculate the significant relationship of Pearson

correlation. The p-value in this study is set up at 0.05.

The P-value of two tails was chosen. In this study, the

correlation was significant when the p-value was reported

as equal to or less than 0.05 (Rasinger, 2013). The value

of r is between 0 and 1 (Rasinger, 2013). If the r value is

closer to 1, it is interpreted to have a higher correlation.

Wongkittiporn 73

Table 1. Coding schema.

Condition A

Compliance with end-weight principle

Condition B

Non-compliance with end-weight principle

Code 1 when adjective clauses are placed at the final

position. This was interpreted as compliance with the end-

weight principle in English. Accordingly, code 1 was given.

Examples

Mary visited Schönbrunn Palace that is located in Vienna,

Austria.

Thailand is a tourist destination because of its own culture

which attract people all over the world.

Code 2 when reduced adjective clauses are placed at the

final position. This was interpreted as violating the end-

weight principle in English. Accordingly, code 2 was given.

Examples

Mary visited Schönbrunn Palace located in Vienna,

Austria.

The vehicle itself is more of a bike than a car, having

three wheels.

Tail 1

Tail 2

Figure 2. P-value of two tails.

The p-value of two tails is applied in this study (Figure 2).

This means that the significant relationship can be

reported with minus. With this methodology, the results of

the study are given in the following section.

RESULTS

Results of Experiment 1

From a total of approximately 200,000 words, there were

117 tokens of both adjective clauses and reduced

adjective clauses occurring in the final position in applied

linguistics research articles. Their statistical data is

reported in Table 2.

Table 2 reveals the statistically significant relationship

between the theory of end-weight principle and adjective

clauses in applied linguistics articles as indexed in

SCOPUS Q1 databases. The p-value was reported at

.001, which means that there was a significant correlation

between the two variables. In addition to a quantitative

study, this section presents the qualitative results of the

adjective clauses and reduced adjective clauses in

applied linguistics research articles.

Table 2. Correlation between end-weight principle and adjective clauses in applied linguistics articles.

Correlations

Adjective clauses Eng-weight principle

Tokens of adjective clauses in applied linguistics articles

Pearson Correlation 1 .297**

Sig. (2-tailed) .001

N 117 117

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Although the majority of adjective clauses were used in

the final position, there were some cases where reduced

adjective clauses were used in the final position. Some

examples of adjective clauses and reduced adjective

clauses in applied linguistic articles were given as

follows:

(16)

(a) Additionally, the participants were confident about

their communicative competence (M = 3.83, SD = 0.68),

which indicated that they were confident to communicate

in Korean (M = 3.75, SD = 0.55). (Kim and Yuzhu, 2024,

p. 7)

Afr Educ Res J 74

(b) Building upon these studies, our research takes a

novel approach by adopting the perspective of

translanguaging as co-learning which encourages

participants to play fluid expert/learner roles during the

exchange to investigate translingual and transmodal

practices in teletandem from a social semiotics lens.

(Satar, Aranha, Cavalari and Almijiwl, 2024, p. 1)

psychology which states that auditory processing can be

considered domain-general and this ability forms the

basis of multiple domain-specific phenomena. (Ruan and

Saito, 2023, p. 1)

(d) The engagement rate of tweets is a common way to

measure interactions with social media posts; it is based

on a post’s “engagement actions,” which include replies,

retweets (when another user simply retweets the original

post), and likes. (Tardy, 2023, p. 14)

The adjective clause in (16a) provided numerical data

through a mean score standard deviation. The adjective

clause in (16b) gave extra information about the

advantages of co-learning. The adjective clause in (16c)

is the definition of cognitive psychology. The adjective

clause in (16d) provided the elements of engagement

action. Therefore, adjective clauses provide

supplementary data concerning numerical information,

definitions, and explanations of terms and components.

Despite having many examples of adjective clauses

concerning form and meaning, reduced adjective clauses

were also found in applied linguistics articles, such as

(17).

(17)

(a) On the other hand, turbulences in international

relations and the outbreak of a global pandemic have

increased uncertainties, posing threats and disruption to

people’s daily lives, leading to school closures, travel

restrictions and precarious working prospects. (Wu and

Forbes, 2023, p. 2)

(b) The results showed that the three subtests were

clustered as one single factor (explaining 75.5% of the

variances), suggesting that the three subtests may have

tapped into one single aspect of participants’ auditory

processing ability. (Ruan and Saito, 2023, p. 6)

The reduced adjective clause in (17a) denoted a

consequence of a certain action. The reduced adjective

clause in (17b) provided a recommendation of a certain

result. Reduced adjective clauses were for the semantic

denotations of consequences and suggestions.

However, after taking a closer look, the semantic

denotation of consequences was also found to be used

with adjective clauses, such as (18).

(18) Rather, the presented analysis focuses on the

development of one interdiscursive trajectory, which was

the most consequential in terms of the evolving

relationship between the researcher and participant.

(Shahri, 2023, p. 3)

With this evidence, semantic denotations were the

variable to manipulate the variance of adjective clauses

and reduced adjective clauses in the final position. If

English was an end-weight language where adjective

clauses are not normally reduced at the final position, it

would be interesting to establish why writers use the

reduced adjective clauses in the final position in applied

linguistic articles. Okuyama (2015) also found that

engineering academic research papers used by-phrase

agents with the long-expression for the information of

mathematic calculation. This complies with the end-

weight principle. The explanation was given in the

discussion section.

Results of Experiment 2

This experiment of two alternative variances between

adjective clauses and reduced adjective clauses

confirmed the theory that English is an end-weight

language. However, there was an exception in that the

reduced adjective clauses in English in the final position

could be used to avoid the horror-aequi principle. This

first experiment shows that those writers of the SCOPUS

Q1 database from well-known American, Australian and

British universities strictly follow the principle of end-

weight in their writing as it was an acceptable condition of

information structure in standard English and academic

writing.

Once the researcher linguistically understood the

theory of end-weight and its exceptions, the researcher

used this theory and exceptions to continue the

experiment on Thai EFL learners who studied in Thai high

schools, which are known as Mattayom. They were

neither international students nor international schools.

They were Thai Mattayom students who studied at either

public or private schools in Thailand. The objective of the

second experiment was to examine whether Thai

Mattayom students had this principle embedded in their

brains or not.

The results showed that Thai Mattayom EFL learners

followed the end-weight principle the same way as the

writers in SCOPUS Q1. The quantitative results of this

study are given in Table 3.

Table 3 reveals the inferential statistical results between

the end-weight principle and the adjective clauses in Thai

Mattayom EFL learners’ essays. The p-value was

reported at 0.02 and this means that there were

statistically significant relationships between the two

variables.

Although there were two variances between adjective

clauses and reduced adjective clauses to select for the

final position of the sentence, they knew that adjective

clauses should be filled in the final position. However,

Wongkittiporn 75

there was only one occurrence where an EFL writer used

a reduced adjective clause in the final position. Both

examples are given below.

(19)

(a) Thailand has one of the most beautiful temples in the

world. People often travel there by the iconic Tuk Tuk,

which is a three-wheel mini car with open spaces for

you to enjoy

(b) Some famous Thai dishes are Tom Yom and Som

Tom, which are found in almost every part of

Thailand.

culture which attracts people from all over the world.

(d) The vehicle itself is more of a bike than a car, having

three wheels.

Table 3. Correlation between end-weight principle and adjective clauses in Thai EFL learners’ essays.

Correlations

Adjective clauses Eng-weight principle

Adjective clauses in Thai EFL learners’ essays

Pearson Correlation 1 .385*

Sig. (2-tailed) .020

N 36 36

*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Examples (19) showed the use of adjective clauses and

reduced adjective clauses by Thai EFL learners. In (19a),

the writer could use appositive NP while the relativizer

which and the auxiliary are could have been deleted.

However, the writer chose to use an adjective clause at

the final position. Similarly, another option for (19b) and

(19c) was the present participle and the past particle as in

found and attracting, respectively. However, only one

token was found to violate the horror-aequi principle as a

reduced adjective clause in (19d) was used without any

repetitive form in an adjacent area.

DISCUSSION

English as an end-weight language

The inferential statistical data in this study proves that

English is an end-weight language (Quirk et al, 1972).

Although there are two grammatical variances between

adjective clauses and reduced adjective clauses, the

writers selected the variance of adjective clauses, which

are longer, to place at the final position. However, there

are a few tokens that are contradictorily used with the

theory. This means that the authors used reduced

adjective clauses in the final position, such as (20).

(20)

(a) The results showed that the three subtests were

clustered as one single factor (explaining 75.5% of the

variances), suggesting that the three subtests may have

tapped into one single aspect of participants’ auditory

processing ability. (Ruan and Saito, 2023, p. 6)

(b) Moreover, […] reported that academic collocations

were learned significantly better than technical

collocations, suggesting that the type of collocations can

also be a factor in learning through listening. (Tuzcu,

2023, p. 4)

The writers used reduced adjective clauses together with

adjective clauses to avoid the repetition of the same form

in adjacent areas. This is technically known as horror

aequi principle (Ruohonen and Rudanko, 2019). The

repetition is modified in (21).

(21) Moreover, […] reported that academic collocations

were learned significantly better than technical

collocations which suggests that the type of

collocations can also be a factor in learning through

listening.

Writers are often fearful of repeating the relativizer that

twice in adjacent areas. Therefore, the use of the first that

relativizer is deleted, while the verb suggest is modified

into the present participle.

In addition to the end-weight principle, the topic or the

spec T position in English is normally short and

nominalized (Wongkittiporn, 2023). This is because the

subject is an old piece of information that has already

been elaborated on in the previous discourse. Once the

writers want to link the topic with the previous discourse,

they normally summarize it. For example, the

nominalization of the sentence the car is red becomes

the red car.

While most previous studies addressed this section

with the errors that EFL learners made in their writing,

this section addresses the causes of accuracy. The high

correlation between the end-weight principle and

adjective clauses in Thai EFL learners’ essays is not

accidental, but there are several reasons to explain

Afr Educ Res J 76

this phenomenon.

Avoidance of reduced adjective clauses

It is difficult for Thai EFL learners to produce reduced

adjective clauses. Wongkittiporn (2024) investigated Thai

EFL learners' use of reduced adjective clauses. The

results showed that they have difficulty in using reduced

adjective clauses at approximately 75 percent. To be able

to use reduced adjective clauses correctly, EFL learners

are required to have the notion of syntactic features of

deletion and inflectional morpheme (Radford, 2009) as

explained in (22).

(22)

(a) Thailand is a tourist destination because of its own

culture which attracts people all over the world.

(b) Thailand is a tourist destination because of its own

culture attracting people all over the world.

Example (22a) represents adjective clauses, whereas

example (22b) represents reduced adjective clauses. To

transform the adjective clause in (22a) into the reduced

adjective clause in (22b), the syntactic feature of wh-

deletion must be applied at the same time as auxiliary be.

The verb attract must be changed into a present participle

via the deviation of the inflectional morpheme -ing as in

attracting. Due to this complexity, the variance of reduced

adjective clauses tends to be avoided by Thai EFL

learners. This interpretation of EFL learners avoiding the

use of reduced adjective clauses is relevant as this essay

writing competition was a national competition. The

structures used in their writing were thought about

carefully as making mistakes led to a score deduction.

Therefore, they were likely to avoid using complex

structures with a lot of modification, which may have led

to errors.

Mother tongue influence

The Thai language is an end-weight language. Although

Thai is a null subject-parameter, where the subject of the

sentence can be omitted without ungrammaticality, the

sentences in Thai could be continued where the writers

provide a number of modifiers at the final position

(Timyam and Bergen, 2010). When the same principle

between the two languages is shared in common

between the first and the second language, it is likely to

reduce the errors in the production of the second

language. One prominent study to support this argument

was written by Leenakitti and Pongpairoj (2019).

(23)

(a) (…) Mr. H. the person who had ordered Allan

Mitchison’s execution.

นายเอช ผู สั่ง ฆา อัลลัน มิตชิสัน

(Black and Blue as cited in Leenakitti & Pongpairoj,

2019, p. 122)

(b) (…) had one tooth which overlapped another(…)

(…) มี ฟนสองซี่ เกยกันอยู (…)

(Black and Blue as cited in Leenakitti and Pongpairoj,

2019, p. 122)

Although Leenakitti and Pongpairoj (2019) show the

different strategies of English-Thai translation in novels,

the end-weight principle is there, which has never been

changed.

CONCLUSION

This study examines the theory of end-weight principle in

English adjective clauses between the two different

samples of publication of writers in SCOPUS Q1

databases and Thai EFL learners in order to answer the

following questions. To answer research question one,

there is a statistically significant relationship between the

end-weight principle and English adjective clauses in

applied linguistics articles indexed in the SCOPUS Q1

database. The author selected the variance of adjective

clauses to be placed at the final position of the sentences

although there is another variance of reduced adjective

clauses, which can make the sentence shorter. The

results of this study seem to suggest that post-verbal or

post-VP position is where complex structures, such as

adjective clauses are placed. Even though a previous

study found that the end-weight principle is associated

with advanced language learners, this might be true in

some cases. However, this study suggests that the issue

of the similarity of information structure between the first

language and the English language is also relevant. The

English language and the Thai language are the same in

that they are both languages of end-weight. The results of

this study show that it is possible for the first language to

show positive interference with the second language,

where Thai high-school students could apply the

information structure of adjective clauses pragmatically,

the same as SCOPUS Q1 writers.

The results in this study theoretically contribute to the

end-weight principle, which is viewed as a significant

notion in writing English. Previous studies gave examples

of different texts relating to the end-weight principle in

English. However, this study uses an inferential statistical

approach to study this theory. This study is innovative

methodologically in that the results gained by this study

could provide both external validity and add more

examples to the field. With this method, it seems fair to

claim that English is a heavy-ended language.

Applying functional grammar or functionalism is

recommended when teaching complex sentences.

Complex structures, such as adjective clauses are

encouraged to be taught at the same time as the end-

Wongkittiporn 77

weight principle, or packaging structure. This allows

English language learners to have the conceptual

framework in their mind that a longer clause like an

adjective clause is usually placed at the final position.

(24) I like ice cream, which is creamy and custard-based.

Example (24) shows that the subject of the sentence is

DP and nominalization, which is short and subjective. On

the other hand, the adjective clause is placed at the final

position of the sentence as it is longer and more

informative. Teaching this way allows English language

learners to understand the concept that nominalization

should be placed at the spec T or the subject position, but

complex clauses are post-verbal structures. This helps to

answer why the adjective clauses in English cannot occur

in the initial position of the sentence as it will violate the

end-weight principle. However, the results of the end-

weight principle in this study can be generalized to only

applied linguistics research articles and Thai EFL

learners’ essays. Generalizing the data in this study to

other areas might not be applicable to optimal levels. In

other words, the data in this study were specific to only

two groups of the population, and the writing cannot be

generalized to other writing styles of Thai EFL learners. It

is recommended for future studies that the quantitative

study of reduced adjective clauses in the medial position

of sentences would contribute something new to the field.

As mentioned at the beginning of this study, this study

pedagogically and innovatively contributes to EFL

learners. English language teachers normally pay

attention to teaching grammar and vocabulary to their

students because they are important to support their

learners’ writing. This is true in some cases. However,

only a few English teachers teach students how to

combine clauses. Teaching this aspect could make your

EFL learners different from others.

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