历时视角下英语社会学学术论文摘要的语类特征

Genre Features of English Academic Paper Abstracts:A Diachronic Perspective

针对有关学术论文摘要的历时研究不足的特点,基于自建语料对1980-1984年和2010-2013年发表的英语学术论文摘要的宏观体裁结构和微观语言特征进行了对比考察。结果发现:与80年代的摘要相比,目前的摘要长度增加了,语步结构更趋完整和规范化;构建语步结构时过去时和被动语态的使用较80年代显著减少;模糊限制语、加强语和作者身份指称语的使用呈增加态势,使摘要具有更强的推销功能和人际意义。这些结果表明摘要语类具有演变性,对学术论文阅读与写作具有重要的参考价值。

Based on corpus analysis, this paper examines the generic structure and linguistic features of abstracts in Eng- lish academic articles published in 1980 - 1984 and 2010 - 2013. The findings show that abstracts published in the 2010s tend to be longer and more complete and standard in terms of the move structure than those published in the 1980s. Abstracts published in the 2010s are characterized by significantly less use of past tense and the passive voice than those pub- lished in the 1980s. Meanwhile, more hedges, boosters and authorial references are employed in the abstracts published in the 2010s than in the 1980s. These results suggest that the genre of abstracts has an evolutionary nature and are significant for reading and writing of article abstracts.