Comparing lexical bundles across three advanced mathematical text types: a corpus-based genre-focused investigation

Abstract

Although much research has been conducted on academic multi-word units across a range of academic disciplines, little attention has been given to the distribution of such units in mathematics. Drawing on three parallel corpora of doctoral dissertations, textbook chapters, and research journal articles, this study compares the use of recurrent bundles across three mathematical text types using a combination of corpus methodology and linguistic analysis. The corpus treatment of bundles is then supplemented with an analysis of their structural forms and discourse functions. A total of 291 four-word bundles that recur at least 25 times per million words, and appear in 15% or more of the texts were retrieved and their structural and functional attributes examined. Results indicate that student-produced texts tend to use fewer and less varied lexical bundles than research articles and educational texts. The three text types also show considerable variation in the use of structural forms of recurrent bundles, with the student writing incorporating more phrasal patterns, while expert texts employing clausal constructions. Functionally, the three text types exhibit striking similarities, making greater use of research- and text-oriented bundles but producing a much narrower range of participant-based bundles.