Different worlds, different audiences
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Rosa Lorés-Sanz
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the rhetorical variation between the RA (research article) abstract written in English for international journals and the RA abstract written in Spanish for national publications. For such purposes a total of 80 RA abstracts written in English and Spanish were selected, 40 written in English, from five leading international journals in linguistics, and 40 others from five Spanish journals, also in the field of linguistics. Two different rhetorical organisations of abstracts were found to be favoured in each subcorpus: whereas English RA abstracts tended to follow the canonical IMRD structure, Spanish abstracts included long introductions and tended to omit both the methodology and the results obtained. It is here argued that an explanation for divergences should be sought not only in the different linguistic background but mainly in the relationship between the writer and the disciplinary community s/he belongs to.
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the rhetorical variation between the RA (research article) abstract written in English for international journals and the RA abstract written in Spanish for national publications. For such purposes a total of 80 RA abstracts written in English and Spanish were selected, 40 written in English, from five leading international journals in linguistics, and 40 others from five Spanish journals, also in the field of linguistics. Two different rhetorical organisations of abstracts were found to be favoured in each subcorpus: whereas English RA abstracts tended to follow the canonical IMRD structure, Spanish abstracts included long introductions and tended to omit both the methodology and the results obtained. It is here argued that an explanation for divergences should be sought not only in the different linguistic background but mainly in the relationship between the writer and the disciplinary community s/he belongs to.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- As academics we are not disposed to say “I know the world is round...” 19
- Certainty and commitment in the construction of academic knowledge in the humanities 33
- Citation in business management research articles 49
- A cross-cultural comparison of the functions and sociolinguistic distribution of English and German tag questions and discourse markers in academic speech 61
- Polyphony in academic discourse 83
- Academic voices in the research article 109
- Author identity in economics and linguistics abstracts 123
- Exploring the polyphonic dimension of academic book review articles in the discourse of linguistics 135
- Notes on notes 151
- The use of contrastive strategies in a sociology research paper 165
- Different worlds, different audiences 187
- Spoken rhetoric 199
- Argumentative strategies in conference discussions sessions 219
- Clash of the Titans 243
- Semantic and discursive construction of the “Europe of knowledge” 275
- Magna Charta Universitatum 294
- Index 297
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- As academics we are not disposed to say “I know the world is round...” 19
- Certainty and commitment in the construction of academic knowledge in the humanities 33
- Citation in business management research articles 49
- A cross-cultural comparison of the functions and sociolinguistic distribution of English and German tag questions and discourse markers in academic speech 61
- Polyphony in academic discourse 83
- Academic voices in the research article 109
- Author identity in economics and linguistics abstracts 123
- Exploring the polyphonic dimension of academic book review articles in the discourse of linguistics 135
- Notes on notes 151
- The use of contrastive strategies in a sociology research paper 165
- Different worlds, different audiences 187
- Spoken rhetoric 199
- Argumentative strategies in conference discussions sessions 219
- Clash of the Titans 243
- Semantic and discursive construction of the “Europe of knowledge” 275
- Magna Charta Universitatum 294
- Index 297
