The Typicality and Centrality of “Although” and “Though” for EFL Learners in China

While much research has been conducted on the usage of two subordinate conjunctions 'although' and 'though', one question remains unanswered: do Chinese EFL learners use them in the same way as English native speakers? This paper aims to answer this question by identifying, classifying, and generalizing the typicality and centrality of the two words by comparing the differences in using them between Chinese EFL learners and English native speakers. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze users' preferences, word positions in the sentences, and semantic prosodies. The results showed distinctive differences. For Chinese EFL learners, more although than though were used in their writings. They prefer to use although in pre-posed concessive clauses but though in post-posed ones. Regarding semantic prosodies, although is more likely to show positive meaning in pre-posed clauses but negative meaning in post-posed ones, while though is usually used to produce negative discourse.