A re-examination of (the) same using data from spoken english

Abstract

This paper reports on a qualitative discourse analysis of 290 tokens of (the) same occurring in spoken American English. Our study of these naturally occurring tokens extends and elaborates on the analysis of this expression that was proposed by Halliday and Hasan (l976). We also review other prior research on (the) same in our attempt to provide data-based answers to the following three questions: (1) under what conditions is the definite article the obligatory or optional with same? (2) what are the head nouns that typically follow same and why is there sometimes no head noun? (3) what type(s) of cohesive relationships can (the) same signal in spoken English discourse? Finally, we explore some typical pedagogical treatments of (the) same in current ESL/EFL textbooks and reference grammars. Then we make our own suggestions regarding how teachers of English as a second or foreign language might go about presenting this useful expression to their learners.