EL1102: Lecture No. 6

Academic and Scientific Writing

Organisation of the notes

I. Why should we study Writing?

II. Differences between common speech (CS) (including written language which is close to CS) and academic writing (AW)

III. The historical development of academic writing

IV. Some specific features of academic writing

I. Why should we study Writing?

A Crucial Tool of Modern Literate Societies: Speech goes back to human beginnings, perhaps a million years ago. Writing is relatively recent, however; it was first invented by the Sumerians, in Mesopotamia, around 3200 BC. Since then, the idea of writing has spread around the world and different writing systems have evolved in different parts of the world.

Retrievability: Until the invention of magnetic recording, speech could not be captured or preserved, except by fallible memories and by writing. But writing can be preserved for millennia. Its permanence has made possible such human institutions as libraries, histories, schedules, dictionaries, menus, and what we generally call ‘civilisation’.

Literary Use: Non-literate societies have traditions – songs, rituals, legends, myths – composed orally and preserved by memory. Such texts may be called oral literature. By contrast, writing permits what is more often called ‘literature’, i.e. bodies of text which are much larger and more codified than memory permits.

Prestige: Written language is associated with political and economic power, admired literature, and educational institutions, all of which lend it high prestige. In literate societies, people often come to think of their written language as basic; they may regard speech as inferior. That is why grammatical descriptions of language are often based on writing rather than speech.

Standardisation: Spoken languages have dialects–forms varying across geographical areas and social groups. But in complex societies that use writing, the needs of communication encourage moves toward a single written norm, codified by governmental, educational, and literary institutions. The prestige of the written standard is then likely to influence speech as well.

Formality. Communication may be formal or casual. In literate societies, writing may be associated with formal style and speech, with casual style. In formal circumstances (oratory, sermons), a person may ‘talk like a book’, adapting written style for use in speech. Formal and informal styles may be very distinct, e.g. in Arabic, and can virtually be different languages.

Change. Spoken language, everywhere and always, undergoes continual change of which speakers may be relatively unaware. Written language, because of its permanence and standardisation, shows slower and less sweeping changes; the spelling of English has changed much less than its pronunciation since Chaucer’s time. This in turn is linked to the factors of formality and prestige.

Differences between AW and CS

Let’s compare a piece of conversation between two women talking about kids crying (Text 1) with a piece of written prose on the same topic (Text 2).

Text 1 (Conversation / Common speech)

S: Did your kids used to cry a lot? When they were little?

C: Yea

S: Well * what did you do?*

C: . . . *still do*

S: Yea (laughs)

C: Oh pretty tedious at times yea. There were all sorts of techniques * Leonard Cohen*

S: *Like what*(laughs). Yea I used to use . . . What’s that American guy that did Georgia on your mind”?

C: Oh yea

S: *Jim – James Taylor.*

C: *James Taylor*

S: Yea yea. He was pretty good.

C: Yea. No Leonard Cohen’s good cause is just so monotonous.

S: (laughs)

C: And there’s only four chords. And ah we used to have holidays when we only had one kid on a houseboat.

S: Mmm

C: Mmm

S: Were there ever times. . . Like I remember times when I couldn’t work out what the hell it was. There just didn’t seem to be anything *you could do*

C: *No reason or . . .* Yea

S: Yea every night between six and ten

C: Yea yea. Luckily I didn’t have that with the second baby but the first one was that typical colicky sort of stuff from about five o’clock.

S: Hmm

C: I remember one day going for a um walk along the harbour – one of those you know harbour routes that had been opened up. And um he started kicking up from about five o’clock and we were getting panic stricken. I had him in one of those front strap things you know sling things ah cause that use to work wonders from time to time but it wasn’t working this time. And as we sat on the foreshore of this Vaucluse area these two women came down and they’d both been working as um governesses or something like that - very very classy ladies. And they said “Oh what’s wrong with the baby? He got colic?” You know they really wanted to take over.

S: Yea

C: And so I just handed the baby to them

S: (laughs)

C: And LUCKILY he kept on crying – they couldn’t stop him. So I was really delighted. They handed back this hideous little red wreck of a thing (laughter)

Brief Analysis (suggesting a contrast with AW)

A whole range of topics

Kids crying; all sorts of techniques; Leonard Cohen; James Taylor, Leonard Cohen again; holidays on a house boat; back to kids crying; a specific incident with the 2 women; and so on.

Short, simple clauses & sentences

still do; no reason; And there’s only four chords; every night between 6 & 10;

Parataxis

C: And they said “Oh what’s wrong with the baby? He got colic?” You know they really wanted to take over.

S: Yea

C: And so I just handed the baby to them

S: (laughs)

C: And LUCKILY he kept on crying – they couldn’t stop him. So I was really delighted. They handed back this hideous little red wreck of a thing (laughter)

Vague/general reference

All sorts of techniques; I had him in one of those um front strap things; they’d bothbeen working as governesses or something like that

Gap fillers

Mmm; um, ah

Core words

Kids, baby, class, ladies, two women, cry, house boat

Slang / colloquial words

The first one was that typical colicky sort of stuff fromabout five o’clock.

 I remember times when I couldn’t work out what the hell it was.

 Humour

 And LUCKILY he kept on crying - they couldn’t stop him. So I was really delighted. They handed back this little hideous wreck of a thing.

 Text 2 (Formal written genre)

 The compelling sound of an infant’s cry makes it an effective distress signal and appropriate to the human infant’s prolonged dependence on a caregiver. However, cries are discomforting and may be alarming to parents, many of whom find it very difficult to listen to their infant’s crying for even short periods of time. Many reasons for crying are obvious, like hunger and discomfort due to heat, cold, illness and lying position. These reasons, however, account for a relatively small percentage of infant crying and are usually recognised quickly and alleviated. In the absence of a discernible reason for the behaviour, crying often stops when the infant is held. In most infants, there are frequent episodes of crying with no apparent cause, and holding and other soothing techniques seem ineffective. Infants cry and fuss for a mean of 1 ¾ hr/day at age 2 wk, 2 ¾ hr/day at age 6 wk, and 1 hr/day at 12 wk.

In general, writing tends to be more clearly focused, less paratactic, less personalised, with information quite densely/tightly packed. A number of peripheral words in place of the core words one finds in the conversation. In addition, the suppression of slang, colloquial and humorous elements. A number of grammatical devices have been introduced which make the text heavier and more objective, as well. We shall discuss some of these specific devices a little later, but let’s examine some features that characterise academic writing by comparing it more systematically with the features of common speech.

II. Systematic differences between AW and CS

i. . CS and WRITING have different contexts.

 Each associated primarily with very different CONTEXTS of communication .

ii. Different Purposes / Goals / Functions :

iii. CS and AW express meanings in different ways :

Different strands of meaning: sense, feeling, tone, intention

iv. Contexts

v. CS and AW have different conventions of form and use

vi. Different modes of acquisition resulting in different EXTENTS OF CONTROL and ‘OWNERSHIP’

III. The development of AW and its resources in English

Some basic historical facts

English initially had no writing system

• oral culture of agriculture-based Germanic tribes borrowed Runic writing from the Celts – highly restricted.

• 6th/ 7th Cs - emergence of Bretwalda. Writing - a necessity.

• 597 A.D. Christianity. Latin – Roman writing system.

• But no English AW. Largely functional/utilitarian (charters, laws, deeds, etc.)

• 9th C. – Alfred and the first English ‘nation’

• encouragement of learning. But after his death, no development of AW. Eng. prose kept alive on pulpit

A sample of Old English prose writing

 1137. Đis gaere for Þe King Stephane ofer sæ to Normandie and per wes underfangen, forÞi that he wenden sculde ben alsuic alse the eom wes, and for he hadde get his tresor; ac he toldeld it and cattered sotlice. Micel hadde Henri King gadered gold and sylver, and na god ne dide me for his saule tharof.

A modern rewritten version

In the year 1137 King Stephen set sail across the sea to Normandy. He was warmly welcomed by the people of Normandy, who expected him to be just as prudent and circumspect as his uncle, King Henry, from whom he had inherited an enormous fortune. However, contrary to their expectations, and to their great disillusionment, the King’s wasteful nephew very foolishly squandered it all away. Over the years, King Henry had amassed a considerable amount of wealth. But as luck would have it, it seemed to have done his soul no good in the end.

OLD ENGLISH

• a largely spoken, oral culture
• a limited system , just a handful of devices
• paratactic
• simple clause structures
• lacked development of complex thought
• lacked devices for signalling finer nuances of meaning, for highlighting ideas, for linking them logically in proper sequence, etc.
• ideas were simply stated, with no attempts made to interpret them, and so on.

MODERN THINKING & WRITING

The rewritten version is very different in all these respects.

- Notice how everything is signalled, how ideas are highlighted, how connections are established, how the writer interprets for the reader by using sophisticated devices that were totally absent in Old English.

- Modern thinking requires the writer to interpret events, not just state them or describe them.

- Hence, the emergence of hypotaxis, subordination and complex clauses to express more complex ideas

 This situation continues little changed until the 14th C.

1066 - the Norman Conquest

- three-fold division of labour among the languages

- French the dominant language of society

- Latin the language of learning

- English relegated to the backwoods, the language of the menials

 1204 – the fall of Normandy, leading particularly in the late

14th C to the revival of English.

This revival coincides with the beginnings of the EMERGENCE OF THE MODERN ORDER OF SOCIETY.

Massive changes all across society

Economic Changes (basic): the gradual replacement of the static self-sufficient feudal economy with a progressive, competitive economy geared towards entrepreneurship, profit making, surplus creation, through development of commerce, industry, etc.

Religious Changes: The notion of Christendom. Antipathy of the Catholic Church towards emerging capitalist spirit. The Protestant Reformation challenges the authority of the Pope, and opens the way for the emergence of national economies. Bible translations into the vernaculars plays an imp. role here.

Political Changes: the emergence of the nation states and the rise of the Middle class spearheading economic and other changes.

Social changes: The emergence of the middle class and the demise of the hierarchical social structure based on birth. Greater social mobility – no longer the obligation to labour in the class one was born to.

Educational changes: new schooling system as education became a social necessity. The development of English prose as an efficient tool for learning.

The existing written language lacked the resources of vocabulary, grammar, etc. to handle its demands.

- AW arose as a response to these demands.

- Lacking resources of its own, English went to Latin and

Greek, the Western classical languages, for words, grammatical and rhetorical devices, as well as for concepts, modes of argumentation, etc.

Personal psychological changes: the replacement of the older communal spirit by the spirit of individualism, personal space, encouraged by the competitive economic spirit.

Changes in thought, knowledge, philosophy, understandings of reality: the inevitable consequences of the massive economic, religious, political and social transformations.

- medieval scholastic modes of thought (based on faith) inadequate to the new realities.

- the rise of PHILOSOPHICAL EMPIRICISM, the RATIONALIST model of thought, positivist, logical, MODERN SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT - required precise, objective, empirically-based, logical understanding of the material universe.

- the creation of the MODERN KNOWLEDGE PARADIGM

The Renaissance (14th –16th Cs)

- the arrival in Rome of the Western classical manuscripts of learning after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453

- the PRINTING PRESS (1476) helps in the unprecedented dissemination of both the ancient and the emerging new knowledge.

- Classicists overdo borrowing, but are resisted by Purists, disagreement resolved by a compromise between the Classical and native language genius.

Examples:  parataxis, hypotaxis, metazoan, centripetal, centrifugal, triploblastic, ambilingual, multilingual, pentadactyle

The impact of the changes on the written language

This new kind of thought, knowledge, understanding made unprecedented demands on the written language.

- in the realm of vocabulary new concepts, objects, procedures, activities, etc.

- in the realm of grammar and conventions of writing

- absolute explicitness, precision, no ambiguity

- logical connectedness, clear signalling of relationships of all words and parts of sentences

- objectivity, distance / non-involvement, anonymity

- exclusion of all complex strands of meaning but sense, reference, denotation – i.e. no feeling, tone, intention.

Changes in the language

Massive enrichment of vocabulary

Learned borrowings from Latin and Greek – far removed from the everyday lives of the people. E.g.

Latin: abdomen, acrimony, complex, corpulent, diminutive, exigency, effervescent, fragmentary, nomenclature, impetus, pejorative, propensity, stratum, vociferation

Greek: aristocracy, aesthetic, dilemma, ecstasy, enthusiasm, fantasy, homonym, holocaust, metaphor, orthography, ostracise, praxis, phenomenon, rhapsody, theory

Exact, unambiguous reference; help in the establishment of clear-cut taxonomies (classificatory schemes)

Deliberately ‘learned’ in texture, distant, peripheral, objective, neutral ;preferred over complex, suggestive core words.

Compare : Core Periphery

- sunny v. solar

- get v. obtain

- give v. contribute

- eye v. ocular organ

- man v. homo sapiens

- fatherly v. paternal

- false teeth v. denture

- back bone v. vertebra

- wind pipe v. trachea

 - i.e. the appearance of the distinction between learned and popular vocabulary

Massive developments in grammar

 a) Hypotaxis and complex clause structure, development of clear referential modes, means for handling mood, aspect, complex negation, distinction between definite and indefinite

Examples:

1. Although many endonucleases have been identified, their presence alone is inadequate to implicate them in apoptosis in intact cells, particularly when many cells express multiple endonucleases simultaneously.

2. Having shown the applicability of analysis of covariance in straightforward research situations, I shall go on to indicate how several other important methodological topics can be profitably conceptualised as isomorphic in logical structure to the general linear model.

b) The gradual development of devices to reduce the salience of individual actors involved in happenings – part of the process of objectification.

1.a) If you stretch a piece of copper wire beyond its elastic limit, you will deform it permanently.

1.b) If a piece of copper wire is stretched beyond its elastic limit, it will undergo permanent deformation.

2.a) If you leave iron in water for a length of time, you will cause it to corrode

2.b) If iron is left in water for a length of time, corrosion will occur.

 Note, the passive nature of verb in the second clause.

Passivisation - inverts the order of the Actor (agent) and the Affected (patient).

3.(a) The maid (S) + blamed (V) + her employer (O). =>

 The Actor/Agent + Activity/Process + the Affected/Patient

3.(b) The employer was blamed by the maid.

 The Affected/Patient + Activity/Process + The Actor/Agent

The Actor is no longer directly attached to the activity/ process, but is instead linked by a preposition ‘by’. The effect is that the link between the Actor and Process is weakened. That is, the causal connection is syntactically looser. Further, the Actor may be deleted altogether.

3.(c) The employer was blamed/ accused.

Newspaper reports make use of passive constructions frequently, especially in the headlines. The obvious reason for its use – economy of expression.

4. Employer accused of molest

5. NTUC Employees offered better deal

6. Ex-ENV man charged

7. Able leaders, active citizens needed

However, passivisation can serve another function. It can help the speaker or writer foreground something by placing it in the initial position, thereby giving it greater

emphasis.

8. Army brought in to quell rioters

Or it can background something by reducing its emphasis.

9.Several arrests made

10 . a) The police made several arrests this morning. =>

10. b) Several arrests were made by the police this morning. =>

10. c) Several arrests were made this morning. =>

10. d) Several arrests made

 In the case of the agent-less passive, the device allows the Agent or Actor to be obscured or hidden. The agentless passive is almost always resorted to when the agent involved is a powerful institution or organisation and there is an ideological need to obfuscate it. The agent-less passive does an efficient job of obscuring responsibility.