Intercultural analysis of English modal contructions in engineering academic papers

Abstract

Academic English can be said to be non-emotional. However, when texts written by speakers with different mother tongues are analysed, language variation can be observed in the way some constructions are used. In this paper, a corpus of academic papers is studied to extract frequencies and examples of modal probability construction and to analyse variation in the use of this construction when employed by non-native writers of English. The main objective of this analysis is to apply the principles of Construction Grammar to language variation. Further objectives are to detect variation in the use of modal constructions and to study their functions in the specific field of engineering. For this purpose, a corpus of one hundred academic papers written in English by Spanish writers and by native English-speaking writers was compiled. The constructions made up of modal verb + infinitive that indicate probability were then identified. Examples of this English construction used in different ways to express the same meaning by researchers with different mother tongues were discussed. Finally, results were commented on and conclusions were drawn.