Contributions of the philosophy of science to juridical semantics

Pragmatic forces in scientific discourse: the choice of tense and reporting verbs

Little attempt has been made to analyse published scientific research articles written by non-English speakers in comparison with those written by English speakers. There seems to be an assumption that very few differences would remain between them, once they have been published after peer-review. Obviously grammatical and lexical errors would not be apparent in published professional texts. However, non-English speakers may not be able to employ linguistic forms in staking a claim, as effectively as English speakers. We need to examine non-English writers' difficulties from a pragmatic perspective. They may face difficulties that escape editors' attention, in their efforts to have an impact on readers. This study intends to analyse the use of tense and reporting verbs, in English speaking and non-English speaking researchers' scientific research articles. In order to examine insiders' perspective, I combined text analysis with interviews with the writers of the texts (13 British and 13 Japanese researchers). The findings showed that the major differences were in the use of present perfect tense and type of reporting verbs employed with "gwe". The interviews revealed both shared and non-shared perspectives on language choice between British and Japanese researchers. I shall present findings together with extracts from the interviews.

Olejnikov, Michael
The use of the special language of politics in the United Nations and the erosion of the traditional concept of "state sovereignty".
After the end of the cold war a new interpretation of Chapters VII and VIII of the UN Charter is introduced in order to maintain or restore international peace and security in the world ( „Agenda for Peace“- UN). The role of the political discourse in the media in arriving at a political consensus and the manner in which politicians (governments) influence the public opinion. The evolution of the concept of collective responsibility of the Security Council in international law. The Charter of Paris and the interaction between the UN and the regional organizations (OSCE, European Union, NATO) in developing a system of collective security. The established discourses of security and the Critical Security Studies. The language debate over the concept of „the common heritage of mankind“ and „the collective economic security“ in the context of the new international economic order. The difference in the approach to the concept of sovereignty in the leading industrial nations and the developing countries. The influence of the transboundary environmental agreements on state sovereignty.


Opitz, Kurt
A case of LSP pathology?
Language behavior in the era of cultural globalization
The definition of LSP may have been contentious ever since the term was coined more than a quarter century ago. Its chief purpose – communication – has, however, never seemed in doubt. That certainty seems to crumble as language generally is caught up in an unprecedented and fundamental social and psychological upheaval worldwide owing to the mushrooming of scientific and economic power beyond national control. For the recent inroads of English upon indigenous languages as a universal vehicle of expression, LSP has provided a decisive yet questionable motivation. The effect of that development has on the one hand been the mistaken identification of the use of English with the notion of LSP as a reliable universal medium, and on the other hand, the subversion and trivilization of LSP itself through its many new uses to enhance or obfuscate issues of public interest and to control human relations.


Palacios Gonzáles, Federico

Statistical correspondence analysis: Selection of modal verbs in four groups of texts

see: Cándida Fernándes Morales

Palmer-Silveira, Juan-Carlos
Teaching writing techniques to business English students: the influence of paragraph recognition
During the last few years the term "paragraph" has received great attention among scholars (Cook, 1991; Peck, 1991; Timbal-Duclaux, 1993), though there is a real lack of research regarding the way paragraphs are really written (Guzmán & Alcón, 1997). This paper examines the role of the paragraph as a way to convey a message, and how ESL students are aware of its importance. Our study will follow two different phases: first, a group of 115 Business English students will divide a written text in paragraphs, without receiving any kind of instructions. In turn, these same students will write down their understanding of the concept "paragraph", getting some feedback. Finally, some weeks later, these students will face a similar task in their own language (Spanish). We will observe how paragraph-based awareness affects their performance, drawing some pedagogical conclusions on how this skill can improve a number of Business English specific tasks, such as reporting or letter writing.


Parianou, Dr. Anastasia
Neologisms in LSP of Greek/Latin origin and their translation from English/German into Greek.
together with: Panayotis I. Kelandrias
The study of neologisms is well documented regarding purely linguistic features. Yet, when examining the communicative aspect of neologisms the question that arises is why languages such as Greek and Latin still have the power to inspire and motivate other languages to create new words or to adopt and give new meanings to older Greek and Latin words. The wealth of the Greek and Latin language in combination with other languages is very productive, not only in established scientific fields but even in recently developed ones. The translation problems start when translating neologisms from English/German into Greek. The Greek translator faces the following difficulties: He will be tempted not to pay much attention to the translation of a lexeme coined in Ancient Greek since he will consider these words to stay the same in Modern Greek. Another category of neologisms consists in the creation of new words where Greek and Latin constituents are used. We may say that the translation of new terms of Greek/Latin origin does not always follow strictly delimited rules but it is flexible. The reason for this is that these terms are so new that their translator cannot have well established perceptions. So, the study of neologisms needs a close look as in the beginning the translation variations can be numerous until the moment when a particular option breaks through.
Parvizi, Nasrin