英语学术语篇互动性研究——以第一人称代词及其构建的作者身份为例

A study on the interactiveness of English research articles: Evidence from the use of the first person pronouns and their identity construction

本文以第一人称代词这一最为显性的学术语篇互动性标识手段为切入点,以Tang&John(1999)提出的作者身份类型为分析框架,通过自建学术语篇语料库,对比分析我国学者与英语本族语者在学术论文中对第一人称代词及其构建的作者身份的使用异同。研究发现:1)国内作者倾向于选择第一人称代词的复数形式,凸显其团体属性;而英语本族语者倾向于选择人称代词的单数形式,强调其研究的独特性和新颖性;2)国内作者通过第一人称代词主要构建团体代表者、观点发起者和研究过程重述者三种身份,而英语本族语者主要构建观点发起者、团体代表者、论文构建者和内容指引者四种身份;3)在构建相同身份时中外作者所选用的具体人称代词也存在一定差异。

The interactiveness of academic writing is best manifested in the use of first person pronouns. Taking this into consideration,the present study aims to explore how Chinese writers and native English writers use these pronouns and what identities they construct by these words in English research articles. Results show that： 1） Chinese authors overuse the plural forms of first person pronouns to show their belongingness to a group,while English authors significantly overuse the singular forms to highlight the originality and novelty of their findings; 2） Chinese authors prefer to manifest themselves as a representative,an originator and a recounter of the research process,while native English writers mainly construct themselves as an originator,a representative,an architect and a guide through the essay; and 3） the choice of first person pronouns by both Chinese and English writers are also quite different with regard to constructing respective authorial identities.