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A multidimensional contrastive analysis of linguistic features between international and local biology journal English research articles

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Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a multidimentional contrastive analysis of linguistic features between international and Chinese local biology journal English research articles based on a large-scale comparallel corpus. While both international and Chinese local journal English research articles as academic discourse are characterized as objective, formal, abstract and informational in rhetoric, international journal English research articles (IJERAs) are found more interactive and context-independent while Chinese local journal English research articles (CLJERAs) are more certain in tone and context-dependent. The authors/translators of CLJERAs seem to purposefully add a large number of first-person pronouns absent in Chinese local journal Chinese research articles (CLJCRAs) and overuse passive voices to meet the English writing conventions. Such linguistic features as premodifiers and emphatics have been remained or transferred into English from Chinese in their translating or writing process. The implications for professional English writing are discussed in the paper.

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Acknowledgements

It is grateful for Dr Nicholas Groom to invite me as a visiting scholar at the University of Birmingham where I have conducted this research. I also appreciate the editor and reviewers’ comments and suggestions which have consolidated the quality of the paper.

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  1. Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, China

    Congjun Mu

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Mu, C. A multidimensional contrastive analysis of linguistic features between international and local biology journal English research articles. Scientometrics 126, 7901–7916 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-021-04102-x

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