ESP视角下学术词汇与专业词汇的边界:一项基于学科语料库的实证研究

Exploring the Boundaries from Academic Words to Technical Words:A Corpus-based Disciplinary Study from an ESP Perspective

专业词汇研究在EAP/ESP研究中一直处在较为边缘的位置,本研究从专业词汇和学术词汇的边界问题出发,尝试通过语料库方法探讨两者之间的内在联系。研究创建了100万词的信息工程专业英语语料库,借助Range软件提取248个信息工程专业核心学术词族及166个核心专业词族,以较为合理的词表长度实现了14.11%的语料覆盖率。对比研究结果发现,词汇的专业性可以通过派生、词义引申或组合搭配等多种形式存在于各类词汇中。学术词汇与专业词汇之间的边界连续且模糊,而语料库技术为词表开发与词汇教学评估提供了有力的数据支持。

Lexical studies on technical vocabulary have only occupied a peripheral place in the EAP/ESP research field until very recently.The present study attempts to inquire into the relationship between technical words and academic words by exploring the boundary issues of the two groups of vocabulary.A one-million-word Information Engineering English Corpus(IEEC)has been compiled for the purpose.An optimized discipline-specific academic word list and technical word list of a reasonable length were extracted using Range Program,which contain 248 and 166 word families respectively with a total lexical coverage of 14.11%.A subsequent comparative study was conducted which reveals that the specificity of technical words could exist in various forms such as lexical derivation,semantic extension or collocations between mixed lexical category items.Academic words and technical words should be best described as operating on a continuum rather than being mutually exclusive within clear-cut boundaries.The implications of the use of corpus technology in word list compilation,vocabulary teaching and assessment are also discussed.