THE ABC OF SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

CATEGORISING& DEFINING (INCLUDING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES)

THE ABC OF SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

• Accurate and Audience-adapted

• Brief
• Clear

Adapted from: B.Malmfors,2004, Writing and Presenting Scientific Papers

HOW FAST IS FAST ?

https://engineeringsport.co.uk/2012/06/21/how-fast-is-usain-bolt /
CULTURE
To what extend can the author be visible in a text?
How to be responsible for the words that we use?
CULTURAL DIFFERENCE IN ACADEMIC ENGLISH

HANDOUT1
From: Copora and Discourse: The Challelenges of Different Settings
COMMUNICATION

Scientific discourse involves an endless series of judgement calls,

as one scans language data and tries to extract what’s important.

Adaperd from Lexicography and cognitive linguitics Zoltán Kövecses and Szilvia Csábi in: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada 27:1 (2014), 118–139. doi 10.1075/resla.27.1.05kov
issn 0213–2028 / e-issn 2254–6774 © John Benjamins Publishing Company
ARISTOTELIAN CATEGORIES

✓discrete (separate) entities

✓defined by both necessary and sufficient features
✓if you know one of them you know them all

❑ A square is a plane figure with four equal straight sides and four right angles
❑ A prime number is a whole number greater than one whose only factors are one and
itself.
DOES THE ARISTOTELIAN MODEL ALWAYS WORK?

❑Not all members of a category share the same features (lark,

eagle)
❑Membership is not symmetric; better and worse examples
(robin, penguin)
❑Categories have fuzzy boundaries (game, furniture)
DOES THE ARISTOTELIAN MODEL ALWAYS WORK?

❑Not all members of a category share the same features (lark,

eagle)
❑Membership is not symmetric; better and worse examples
(robin, penguin)
DOES THE ARISTOTELIAN MODEL ALWAYS WORK?

❑Categories have fuzzy boundaries (game, furniture)

THE VERITICAL DIMENSION OF THE CATEGORY SYSTEM
THREE LEVELS OF CATEGORIZATION

Superordinate level
(high level of generality, abstract information) vehicle cutlery

Basic Level
(easiest to understand, generally recognizable) car spoon

Subordinate level sedan, hatchback, coupe…. soup spoon, teaspoon,…

( low level of generality, specific, detailed)
THREE LEVELS OF CATEGORIZATION

Superordinate level
(high level of generality, abstract information) (solid mineral) material
Basic Level
(easiest to understand, generally recognizable) rock

Subordinate level
( low level of genrality, specific, detailed) asteroid, meteroid
THE PURPOSE OF A DEFINITION

Nigella damascena
FRAMES OF REFERENCE

• schematisation of experience ( object, events, etc.)

• coherent structure of related concepts
• „without knowledge of all of them, one does not have complete knowledge of any one”
Charles. Fillmore

 Categories and the words expressing them do not occur in isolation but are always part
of, and evoke, larger conceptual structures.

 It is important to realise is that a word may evoke different culture specific prototypes and
larger structures

 The concept of calendar cycle provides the frame for lexical items such as week, month,
year, season, Sunday, ..., Saturday, January, ..., December, day, night, morning, and afternoon.
TYPES OF DEFINITIONS

 Extensional definitions – naming every or a sufficient number of objects that

belong to the concept) (celestial bodies: stars, planets, moons, asteroids, comets,metors,
meteorites, galaxies)
 Stipulative definition – used when you make up the term or give an existing term
a new meaning for the purpose of arugment (my mom’s apple pie, )
 Partitive definition – explain how the concept is a part of a greater whole ( yeast
– a key ingredient for most baked goods)
 Encyclopedic definitions – context + characteristics + additional information
THE STRUCTURE OF THE DEFINITION

Linguistically Congruent & Grammatically Correct

Not: But rather:

method = doing something systematically method = a systematic way of doing something
Acceleration means to increase velocity An acceleration is an increase in velocity.
Preference means that something is better A preference is a standpoint that something is
better than than something else. better than something else.
 THE STRUCTURE OF A DEFINITION

Concept Class Relative pronoun or equivalent

dog animal that barks.
Border collie dog popular with farmers in Scotland.

Extend your definition by making it more specific :

• describing the features/components/ operating principles
• outlining the usage of the concept
• giving a concrete example
• comparing and contrasting the concept with similar concepts

• explaining the origin of the word.

Adapted from A.Wallowork, English for Academic Reaearch: Writing Exercises, Spronger
THE TARGET READER

▪ Who am I writing for?

▪ How do I meet the needs to my target audience?
▪ How do I predict what my readers expect and how much they understand?
▪ What level language should I use?
▪ How many details should I include?
 WHAT MAKES GOOD WRITING –SOME TIPS
1. BE EXPLICIT ABOUT THE STRUCTURE AND PURPOSE OF YOUR
WRITING
2. USE FAIRLY SHORT SENTENCES WITH LESS COMPLICATED GRAMMAR
3. USE MORE SENTENCE CONNECTORS
4. BE BRAVE AND ‘KILL YOUR DARLINGS’
5. PLACE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR CLARITY AND UNDERSTANDING
ON YOURSELF RATHER THAN THE READER
6. MAKE SURE THAT YOUR ESSAY SUPPORTS YOUR THESIS
7. MAKE SURE THAT YOUR THESIS PASSES ‘SO WHAT ?’ TEST
8. MAKE SURE THAT YOUR THESIS PASSES ‘HOW AND WHY ?’ TEST
HOW DO I KNOW WHAT STYLE AND STRUCTURE TO USE?
Each journal has its own requirements and style guide.

The guidelines include:

❑ Information on acceptable titles
❑ Structure of paper
❑ Layout
❑ Structure of sections
❑ Use of passive or personal style
❑ How to arrange the bibliography
❑ Use of key word
❑ American or British spelling
 BRITISH OR AMERICAN ENGLISH
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted,
but not a mixture of these).
(Elsevier Guide for Authors)
https://www.elsevier.com/journals/learning-and-instruction/0959-4752/guide-for-authors

Hyphenation Rules
For hyphenation and spelling guidelines, IEEE style follows: 1) the list of preferred spellings and
hyphenated words can be found in the Appendix; 2) the guidelines discussed in the Grammar and Usage in
Transactions section of this guide; and 3) the first version of the spelling given in the most recent edition of
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Do not hyphenate most compound modifiers if they occur after the
noun being modified, even if hyphenating them before the noun.
Example:
His boat was 42 feet long.
He has a 42-foot-long boat.
SEE YOU
NEXT WEEK!