The Cognitive and Communicative Functions of Term Variation in Research Articles: A Comparative Study in Psychology and Geology

Author:

Fernández-Silva Sabela1

Affiliation:

1. Institute of Literature and Language Sciences, Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso

Abstract

Abstract This article reports a study about the behavior and functions of term variation in research articles (RAs) in Geology and Psychology. The aim of the study was twofold: first, to investigate the role of intra-textual term variation as a device for the representation and transfer of specialized knowledge; second, to explore whether there are disciplinary differences and whether these differences can be chalked up to different perceptions of this phenomenon among subject field experts. Two methods of data collection were combined: corpus-based analysis of 38 RAs in Spanish; and semi-structured interviews with six experts. Results show that the incidence of term variation is higher in Psychology, although both groups manifested a positive attitude toward variation. Corpus analysis and interviews confirm that term variation is used as a cognitive device, to provide information about the concept’s characteristics and relationships with other concepts; and as a communicative device to avoid repetition, to accommodate to the audience and to generalize. In sum, term variation proves to be an important device for constructing and communicating specialized knowledge for both disciplines.

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Subject

Linguistics and Language,Language and Linguistics,Communication

Cited by 27 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

1. Denominative variation in the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset corpus;Terminology;2023-10-26

2. Term and concept variation in climate change communication;The Translator;2022-10-02

3. Theoretical perspectives on Terminology;Theoretical Perspectives on Terminology;2022-06-14

4. Chapter 22. Terminology and equivalence;Theoretical Perspectives on Terminology;2022-06-14

5. Chapter 21. Terminological growth;Theoretical Perspectives on Terminology;2022-06-14

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3