{"title":"Surprise as a knowledge emotion in research articles: Variation across disciplines, genders, geo-academic locations and time","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.langcom.2024.10.007","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Linguistic expressions of surprise (i.e., surprise markers) are epistemically motivated and inherently connected to knowledge construction. Taking a frame semantic approach, this study examined how surprise markers were used by academic writers to disseminate knowledge in research articles. Based on a self-built corpus of 640 journal articles totaling four million words, the study explored how the use of surprise markers was mediated by various factors, including disciplinary background (i.e., applied linguistics, history, biology, mechanical engineering), gender (male vs. female), geo-academic locations (Core vs. Periphery), and time of publication (1985–1989 vs. 2015–2019). Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with 16 disciplinary informants. Corpus-based quantitative analyses of surprise markers and a thematic analysis of the interviews uncovered distinct patterns in the use of surprise markers across the variables examined. These findings deepen our understanding of how surprise markers in academic writing function within specific linguistic and situational contexts, highlighting the intricate nature of knowledge construction in scholarly discourse.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47575,"journal":{"name":"Language & Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Language & Communication","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0271530924000697","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Linguistic expressions of surprise (i.e., surprise markers) are epistemically motivated and inherently connected to knowledge construction. Taking a frame semantic approach, this study examined how surprise markers were used by academic writers to disseminate knowledge in research articles. Based on a self-built corpus of 640 journal articles totaling four million words, the study explored how the use of surprise markers was mediated by various factors, including disciplinary background (i.e., applied linguistics, history, biology, mechanical engineering), gender (male vs. female), geo-academic locations (Core vs. Periphery), and time of publication (1985–1989 vs. 2015–2019). Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with 16 disciplinary informants. Corpus-based quantitative analyses of surprise markers and a thematic analysis of the interviews uncovered distinct patterns in the use of surprise markers across the variables examined. These findings deepen our understanding of how surprise markers in academic writing function within specific linguistic and situational contexts, highlighting the intricate nature of knowledge construction in scholarly discourse.
惊讶的语言表达(即惊讶标记)具有认识论动机,与知识建构有着内在联系。本研究采用框架语义方法,考察了学术作者如何在研究文章中使用惊喜标记来传播知识。该研究基于自建的总计四百万字的640篇期刊论文语料库,探讨了惊奇标记的使用如何受到各种因素的影响,包括学科背景(即应用语言学、历史学、生物学、机械工程)、性别(男性 vs. 女性)、地理学术位置(核心区 vs. 外围区)和发表时间(1985-1989年 vs. 2015-2019年)。此外,还对 16 名学科信息提供者进行了半结构化访谈。基于语料库的惊喜标记定量分析和对访谈的主题分析发现了在所研究的变量中使用惊喜标记的独特模式。这些发现加深了我们对学术写作中的惊奇标记如何在特定语言和情景语境中发挥作用的理解,突出了学术话语中知识建构的复杂性。
期刊介绍:
This journal is unique in that it provides a forum devoted to the interdisciplinary study of language and communication. The investigation of language and its communicational functions is treated as a concern shared in common by those working in applied linguistics, child development, cultural studies, discourse analysis, intellectual history, legal studies, language evolution, linguistic anthropology, linguistics, philosophy, the politics of language, pragmatics, psychology, rhetoric, semiotics, and sociolinguistics. The journal invites contributions which explore the implications of current research for establishing common theoretical frameworks within which findings from different areas of study may be accommodated and interrelated. By focusing attention on the many ways in which language is integrated with other forms of communicational activity and interactional behaviour, it is intended to encourage approaches to the study of language and communication which are not restricted by existing disciplinary boundaries.