A number of recent linguistic contributions focus on the study of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), a discipline that studies the use of English for communicating specific and specialized knowledge in the global context. However, as specialised terms often enter the general lexicon as well, diachronic linguistic inquiry is essential to study the development of ESP as also the evolution of general English. Specific terms become, then, part of the general public’s linguistic repertoire, contributing to the spread of ‘scientific’ lexis and to the popularisation of specialized knowledge. One example of a discipline that awaits further linguistic investigation is archaeology, a field that is becoming increasingly popular among the general public both due to the desire to rediscover our ancient past and also thanks to the spread of popularised publications, journals, television programmes and movies (Clack & Brittain 2007). The investigation of a historical corpus of archaeology texts and essays is therefore important for studying the evolution of the discipline’s specific discourse in English and how the language of archaeology in English has evolved to become a distinct branch of ESP. A previous contribution (Cesiri forthcoming) considers the linguistic features of present-day cultural heritage research articles (of which archaeology constitutes an important part). In continuation of this study, my article will seek to investigate the linguistic features characterising publications in English on archaeology. I will consider in particular the beginning of the discipline, that is to say the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which are the core centuries in the development of scientific techniques in archaeology and it gaining a proper academic status. The study will use a corpus of archaeology texts and the corpus analysis software Wordsmith Tools 5.0 (Scott 2008). Finally, the results from this study will be compared with those from Cesiri (forthcoming): this will be essential in the investigation of disciplinary and linguistic evolution in the field of archaeology as a distinct type of ESP.
Investigating the development of ESP through historical corpora: the case of Archaeology articles written in English during the Late Modern period (and beyond?)
CESIRI, Daniela
2012-01-01
Abstract
A number of recent linguistic contributions focus on the study of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), a discipline that studies the use of English for communicating specific and specialized knowledge in the global context. However, as specialised terms often enter the general lexicon as well, diachronic linguistic inquiry is essential to study the development of ESP as also the evolution of general English. Specific terms become, then, part of the general public’s linguistic repertoire, contributing to the spread of ‘scientific’ lexis and to the popularisation of specialized knowledge. One example of a discipline that awaits further linguistic investigation is archaeology, a field that is becoming increasingly popular among the general public both due to the desire to rediscover our ancient past and also thanks to the spread of popularised publications, journals, television programmes and movies (Clack & Brittain 2007). The investigation of a historical corpus of archaeology texts and essays is therefore important for studying the evolution of the discipline’s specific discourse in English and how the language of archaeology in English has evolved to become a distinct branch of ESP. A previous contribution (Cesiri forthcoming) considers the linguistic features of present-day cultural heritage research articles (of which archaeology constitutes an important part). In continuation of this study, my article will seek to investigate the linguistic features characterising publications in English on archaeology. I will consider in particular the beginning of the discipline, that is to say the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which are the core centuries in the development of scientific techniques in archaeology and it gaining a proper academic status. The study will use a corpus of archaeology texts and the corpus analysis software Wordsmith Tools 5.0 (Scott 2008). Finally, the results from this study will be compared with those from Cesiri (forthcoming): this will be essential in the investigation of disciplinary and linguistic evolution in the field of archaeology as a distinct type of ESP.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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