ESP texts

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ESP texts
Less. 13 nov 2007
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ESP

• The way in which English varies according to its
  use in particular situations gt
• English for Special/Specific Purposes
• (vs General English)
• examples...

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• ESP is classified in terms of
• Field of discourse gtshared vocabulary
• Purpose (functional tenor)
• Description, report, exposition, instruction,
  argumentation
• MEDIUM
• ESP is more strongly oriented towards written
  forms

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• The complete grammar of General English belongs
  to ESP
• Same processes of morphology and word formation
• The selection of vocabulary is influenced by the
  field
• Terminology is at least partially standardised to
  avoid ambiguity
• Special visual elements may be employed.
• English is selected, restricted, special

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ESP texts English for Science and Technology
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EST (English for Science and Technology)

• Greater frequency of the passive
• Greater frequency of non-defining relative
  clauses compared to defining ones
• Specific, frequently employed, rhetorical devices
  such as anaphora, parallelism, parenthetical
  elements, emphatic inversion, rhetorical
  questions, ellipsis
• Nominal style
• Occurrence of new plurals (fats, oils) and Latin
  and Greek plurals

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SCIENTIFIC ENGLISH

• Neutral, unemotional, objective tone
• Abbreviations, numerals, symbols
• Lexical density
• Impersonal style
• Passive forms
• Selection of pronouns employed (we/this/these
  less so I, he, even less so she, you)
• Noun phrases with complex structures
• (e.g. transparent removable alignment grid)
• Compactness of structure (use of parentheses)
• Low use of cohesive devices

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verbs

• High frequency with which the passive voice
  occurs
• The passive allows the author to step back so
  that the work reported on stands at the centre of
  attention.
• E.g. Several interviews were conducted to
  substantiate this hypothesis (We conducted
  several interviews)
• In English the topic of a sentence is usually
  named at the beginning and what is said about it
  at the end. The passive allows a direct or
  indirect object which is the topic to occupy the
  initial thematic position.
• The passive is used to express the writer
  distance
• Tenses
• The present tense is used to describe the
  scientific apparatus. But if it is historical or
  no longer in use, the past is used.

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Verbs

• Verbs of exposition
• Ascertain, assume, compare, construct, describe,
  determine, estimate, examine, explain, label,
  plot, record, test, verify
• Verbs of warning and advising
• Avoid, check, ensure, notice, present, remember,
  take care
• Verbs of manipulation
• Adjust, align, assemble, begin, boil, clamp,
  connect, cover, decrease, dilute, rotate, weigh
• Adjectival modifiers
• Ful(ly), clockwise, continuous(ly), gradual(ly),
  periodical(ly), subsequent(ly)

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Lexicon and word formation in ESTThe lexicon of
special languages is their most obvious
distinguishing characteristic

• The vocabulary of ESP will often contain words
  which cannot be found outside the given field
• International vocab., often based on reek and
  Latin elements
• It is standardised and as unambiguous as possible
• It is non-emotive in tone
• It favours certain processes of word formation
• It incorporates symbols

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Nominalisation

• Replacement of clauses which contain finite verbs
  with complex structures consisting of nouns and
  noun adjuncts
• (because the surface of the retina is spherical
  gt because of the sphericity of the retinal
  surface
• Prepositional phrases tend to disappear
• (experiments of transfer of momentum gt momentum
  transfer experiments

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Pre/postmodification

• Adjective (central bank),
• nouns (sodium chloride),
• possessive forms (Alzheimers desease)

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terminology

• Exact (they designate a particular meaning)
• Unambiguous (the cannot be confused with the
  meaning of any other term)
• Unique (one and only term is available)
• Systematic (they are part of a larger, ordered
  system of terms)
• Neutral (oriented towards cognition and objective
  processes, do not include emotive elements)
• Self-explanatory or transparent (they include
  elements which reflect the important features of
  the concept designated)

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Borrowings and word formation

• Terms borrowed from General English
• (metaphorical memory for computer storage
  capacity)
• From Greek and Latin (apparatus, matrix,
  phenomenon)
• Morphological elements
• Prefixes (anti- in- mis- non- semi- un-)
• Suffixes (-ar -al -er -less -ment -ness)
• Back formations (to lase lt laser)
• Clippings (lab ltlaboratory)
• Abbreviations (FBR Fast breeder reactor)
• Acronyms (Laser light amplification by
  stimulated emission of radiation)
• Blends (pulsar pulsating radio star)
• Composite forms (aeroplane)

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Types of message

• Memo characterised as demanding a response of
  some sort
• Administrative (minutes, business letters,
  invoices, contracts)
• Journalistic (ads)
• Reports records of acts or processes produced
  at someones request
• Schedules to order and classify material
• Essays in the form of dissertation, journal
  articles and university theses

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Text forms

• Announcement
• Article
• Bibliography
• Book review
• Review
• Blurb
• Brochure
• Bulletin
• Report
• Newspaper article

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Text models

• EST texts are relatively strongly formalised.
  Journal articles normally have the following five
  divisions
• An introduction
• A review section
• A methods part
• A results section
• A discussion part