Modern Conscience: Modalities of Obligation in Research Genres

Abstract

Despite growing evidence of its social and rhetorical aspects, research writing still has a reputation for impersonal neutrality and 'facelessness'. This study revisits that neutrality by investigating expression of moral obligation-deontic modals and related expressions-in 105 research articles in three disciplines: Forestry, Social Psychology, Urban Geography. In all three disciplines, deontics express obligation to pursue knowledge, these expressions composing disciplined cohorts of researchers. In all three disciplines, but with varying frequency, deontics express obligations to take action in the world, these expressions imagining arenas of professional and public responsibility to act on research-attested knowledge. Urban Geography is unique in quoting, in some cases, deontically modalized statements from worldly sources and thereby implicating rather than directly prescribing action. Modal mergers-pragmatic blends of deontic and dynamic modality-found in Forestry and Social Psychology are described as epitomizing the reciprocity of research-attested knowledge and ratified action. Deontic expressions appear to be a discursive resource for representing knowledge and orienting it to social sectors-research communities and public systems. Findings are interpreted as evidence for the cooperation of neutrality and sociality in research writing-a modern basis for conscientious action.

Disciplinary and paradigmatic influences on interactional metadiscourse in research articles

“…For example, Hyland (2005b) examined interactional metadiscourse in 240 RAs from eight disciplines straddling the hard/soft division and reported that RAs from the soft disciplines used interactional metadiscourse more frequently than RAs from the hard disciplines. Differences between hard and soft disciplines were also reported for specific types of interactional resources: hedges (Abdi, 2002;Hyland, 1998Hyland, , 2005bVold, 2006), boosters (Hyland, 1998(Hyland, , 2005bPeacock, 2006), attitude markers (Abdi, 2002;Giltrow, 2005), selfmentions (Harwood, 2005a;Hyland, 2001b;Lafuente-Millán, 2010), and engagement markers (Hyland, 2001a(Hyland, , 2002b(Hyland, , 2005b. Taken together, the findings from these cross-disciplinary studies point to disciplinary variation in the use of interactional metadiscourse.…”

Reader engagement across cultures, languages and contexts of publication in business research articles

“…There is some agreement in the literature as to the precise linguistic structures that can be used to establish the presence of the readers into the discourse. Following previous studies on this type of metadiscoursal elements (for example Chrismore, Markkanen and Steffensen ; Hyland 2001b; 2002a,b; 2004b; Dafouz ; Hyland and Tse ; Giltrow ) writers can address readers directly using a number of resources including second person pronouns and possessives ( you, your ) and inclusive pronouns and possessives ( we , our , us , one ). In addition, writers can develop a relationship with the readers using asides (direct comments addressed to the reader that are inserted in parentheses), questions, references to shared knowledge or common expectations, and directives.…”

Neepisteminis modalumas lietuvių ir anglų mokslo kalboje: kiekybiniai ir kokybiniai vartosenos ypatumai | Nonepistemic modality in English and Lithuanian academic discourse: quantitative and qualitative perspectives

“…Būtent tokią vartoseną ir matome pavyzdžiuose (9) ir (10), kuriuose dėmesį patraukia ir kitos įtikinamą autoriaus tekstą kuriančios priemonės: žodžiais dabar, tuojau pat, pradedant nuo pirmadienio primygtinai raginama neatidėlioti autoriaus siūlomo veiksmo (9) pavyzdyje, o (10) apeliuojama į visų be išimties toje srityje dirbančių medikų pareigą atgaivinti Lietuvos visuomenei autoriaus manymu svarbias kūdikių žindymo tradicijas. Apie tokią deontinių modalinių veiksmažodžių pragmatinę vartoseną kalba ir Giltrow (2005): raginimas siekti tų pačių profesinių vertybių tuo pačiu suponuoja ir socialinį bei profesinį autoriaus ir skaitytojo artumą bei tapatumą, o tai yra galinga priemonė kurti įtaigų tekstą.…”

“…taisytinus ar keistinus dalykus, pabrėžti perspektyvas ir nurodyti kur link turėtų būti kreipiama mokslinė mintis ir potencialas, kartu parodydami ir savo profesines žinias bei patirtį (žr. Giltrow 2005). Analizuodamas direktyvus, kuriems priskiria ir modalinius veiksmažodžius, Hylandas (2002, 223) pastebi, kad mokslo tiriamuosiuose darbuose jie leidžia autoriui pademonstruoti savo profesinę kompetenciją ir gebėjimą kurti argumentuotą bei įtaigų tekstą.…”