A Lexical Analysis of Modal Expressions of Certainty in Scientific Discourse

Abstract

[Abstract] Scientific discourse has been traditionally described as a register deprived of subjectivity, where the presence of the author is rarely felt. However, recent studies (Swales, 1990; Hyland, 1998) have shown that authors take a stance on what is being argued by using modality (among other devices), which is conveyed not only by means of modal verbs, but also by way of other lexical items (namely nouns, adjectives, adverbs and lexical verbs). In the light of this, the aim of this paper is to explore the use of these lexical expressions in a corpus of scientific research articles amounting to 170, 339 tokens. For the purpose, the devices used to convey certainty will be grouped into word classes, paying attention to any outstanding differences between the abstracts and the articles themselves.