Verbs of visual perception as evidentials in research article texts in English and Croatian

Scientific paper - Chapter in Book

• Author: Ivana Bašić
• Editor: Agnes Pisanski Peterlin
• Editor: Tamara Mikolič Južnič
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature)
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract (english)

This paper analyses the use of verbs of visual perception in research articles in English and Croatian, claiming that in academic discourse these verbs are used as functional evidentials. The term evidentiality is used in the meaning of a broad cognitive category that reflects natural epistemology. As natural epistemology is based on assessing evidence, we assume that the prominence of verbs of visual perception in research articles is pragmatically motivated by the wish to make the claims more reliable, reflecting the fact that the acquisition of knowledge in research begins with observing and seeing, on the basis of which we make inferences. An analysis of evidential rhetorical strategies is conducted on a corpus of 95 original research articles in English and 70 in Croatian in nine disciplines, and it is found that the typical syntactic frames in which verbs of visual perception are used in research article texts in both languages and all the disciplines analysed can be considered as conventionalized rhetorical devices used to ensure the acceptance of the claims made in the text.

Abstract (slovene)

V prispevku je analizirana raba glagolov vidnega zaznavanja v znanstvenih člankih v angleščini in hrvaščini; postavi se teza, da se v akademskem diskurzu ti glagoli uporabljajo v funkciji evidencialnosti. Izraz evidencialnost je uporabljen v smislu široke kognitivne kategorije, ki odraža naravno epistemologijo. Ker naravna epistemologija temelji na ocenjevanju dokazov, domnevamo, da je prominentnost glagolov vidnega zaznavanja v znanstvenem članku pragmatično motivirana z željo, da bi bile trditve bolj zanesljive, kar odraža dejstvo, da se pri raziskovanju pridobivanje znanja začne z opazovanjem in videnjem, na podlagi česar nato izpeljujemo zaključke. Analiza evidencialnih retoričnih strategij je narejena na korpusu 95 izvirnih znanstvenih člankov v angleščini in 70 izvirnih znanstvenih člankov v hrvaščini iz skupno devetih ved. Pokaže se, da je mogoče tipične sintaktične okvire, v katerih se glagoli vidnega zaznavanja uporabljajo v besedilih znanstvenih člankov v obeh jezikih in v vseh analiziranih vedah, smatrati za konvencionalizirana retorična sredstva, katerih uporaba naj bi zagotovila sprejemanje trditev, ki se postavijo v besedilu.

• Keywords (english): verbs of visual perception; evidential rhetorical strategies; research article texts
• Keywords (slovene): glagoli vidnega zaznavanja, evidencialne retorične strategije, besedila znanstvenega članka
• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Chapter in Book
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review - international
• Publication version: Published version
• Book title: Academic writing from cross-cultural perspectives: exploring the synergies and interactions
• Series title: Translation Studies and Applied Linguistics
• Numbering: pp. 196-216
• ISBN: 978-961-06-0309-2 (Tiskano izdanje)
• ISBN: 978-961-06-0308-5 (pdf)
• p-ISSN: 2335-335X
• e-ISSN: 2712-3855
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4312/9789610603085
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:315247
• Publication: 2020
• Document URL: https://e-knjige.ff.uni-lj.si/znanstvena-zalozba/catalog/view/212/313/5129-1
• Type of resource: Text
• Publisher: Ljubljana University Press, Faculty of Arts
• Publishing place: Ljubljana
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2020-05-04 10:37:10