Big science, internationalisation, professionnalisation et fonction sociale de la science à travers l’analyse diachronique des recensions d’ouvrage.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the evolution of some ecdotical variables in an academic genre that has so far received little attention, viz, book reviews (BR). Toward that end, we analyzed 100 BR written in French and published in 2 different time periods: between 1890 and 1900 (Block A) and between 1990 and 2000 (Block B). The variable we studied were: 1) the book reviewed (its length, genre and original language), 2) the book author (a single author, an editor or a co-editor and the way his credentials are presented), 3) the BR itself (its length, the frequency of courtesy markers and of bibliographical references) and 4) the BR author (anonymat vs. identification). Quantitative results were analyzed by means of the Chi square. Our most salient results show that in both Blocks the most frequent book type is the monographie, followed by the traité and the manuel in Bloc A, and by congress proceedings in Bloc B (a genre non-extant in Bloc A). In Block A, BR are 4 times longer than those of Block B (p = .0001). The great majority of the books reviewed in this Bloc are single-authored books (p = .0001 when comparing their frequency to that of multi-authored books) written in French (p = .0001 when comparing their frequency to that of books written in other languages). The BR author very frequently remains “almost-anonymous” (his initials only are mentioned), and courtesy markers are a rhetorical hallmark of these end-of-19th century BR. Conversely, in Block B most books reviewed are multi-authored/edited books (p = .0001 and p = .0047 when comparing their frequency to that registered in Bloc A) written in English (p= .0001 when comparing their frequency with that recorded in Block A). Contrary to what was observed in Block A, most books reviewed in Block B are then collaborative works. Finally, the name of the publishing company is a routine feature of BR in Bloc B, whereas it not so in Bloc A. These quantitative results are explained from a socioconstructivist standpoint. We conclude that they underline the hyper specialization, professionalization and internationalization of today’s science and reflect the increasing social … and commercial concern of today’s scientific enterprise

Información Investigador: Zambrano Uzcátegui, Nahirana Teresa

Resumen Curricular: Nahirana Zambrano es Profesora Agregada en la Escuela de Idiomas Modernos de la Facultad de Humanidades y Educación en las áreas de Lengua Inglesa y Cultura Angloamericana. Egresada de la Escuela de Letras (Mención Lengua y Literatura Inglesas) (ULA) obtuvo su maestría en el Postgrado de Lingüística (ULA), y completó su doctorado en Estudios Estadounidenses en la Universidad de Buffalo (Universidad Estatal de Nueva York) donde realizó estudios con el patrocinio del Programa Fulbright.Doctorado8852Candidato - 200614 - 2005; 19 - 2003Sociolingüística, lenguaje científico y cultura, cultura anglosajona, medios de comunicación de los Estados Unidos, cultura popular de los Estados Unidos.Abril de 2007Licenciada en Letras+58 274 2401970Facultad de Humanidades y Educació[email protected]

The scimitar, the dagger and the glove: intercultural differences in the rhetoric of criticism in Spanish, French and English medical discourse (1930-1995)

The socio-pragmatic phenomenon of academic conflict (AC) is here addressed from a cross-cultural and diachronic perspective, and is examined by combining a quantitative approach and a qualitative discoursal analysis of its salient rhetorical features in a corpus of Spanish, French and English medical articles published between 1930 and 1995. The speech acts that conveyed AC were recorded in each paper and classified into 2 categories according to their level of commitment (direct author’s involvement) or detachment (hedginess and AC responsibility shifting). The quantitative results were analyzed by means of the Chi-square test. Our overall findings indicate that French and Spanish scientists tend to be not only more critical, but also more authoritarian and passionate in the formulation of their AC than their Anglo-Saxon counterparts. However, when analyzed diachronically, our results indicate that from the 1990s on, the rhetorical behavior of Spanish AC (though still somewhat blunt and personal) quite abruptly distinguishes itself from that of French and starts adopting the more veiled and “politically correct” tone of English AC. By contrast, the discursive pattern of French AC did not substantially change over time, although its indirectness slowly and continuously increased over the period studied. By placing the above results within their broader educational, political, historical and socio-economic context, it can be claimed that the behavioral changes observed in the framing of AC reflect the evolution of an increasingly promotional, competitive, professionalized, collegial and pragmatic end-of-20th-century scientific research which tends to compel scientists to progressively change their vision of science, although certain cultures seem to be more vulnerable to external penetration than [email protected]@[email protected]

Big science, internationalisation, professionnalisation et fonction sociale de la science à travers l’ analyse diachronique des recensions d’ ouvrage

The aim of this paper is to analyze the evolution of some ecdotical variables in an academic genre that has so far received little attention, viz, book reviews (BR). Toward that end, we analyzed 100 BR written in French and published in 2 different time periods: between 1890 and 1900 (Block A) and between 1990 and 2000 (Block B). The variable we studied were: 1) the book reviewed (its length, genre and original language), 2) the book author (a single author, an editor or a co-editor and the way his credentials are presented), 3) the BR itself (its length, the frequency of courtesy markers and of bibliographical references) and 4) the BR author (anonymat vs. identification). Quantitative results were analyzed by means of the Chi square. Our most salient results show that in both Blocks the most frequent book type is the monographie, followed by the traité and the manuel in Bloc A, and by congress proceedings in Bloc B (a genre non-extant in Bloc A). In Block A, BR are 4 times longer than those of Block B (p = .0001). The great majority of the books reviewed in this Bloc are single-authored books (p = .0001 when comparing their frequency to that of multi-authored books) written in French (p = .0001 when comparing their frequency to that of books written in other languages). The BR author very frequently remains “almost-anonymous” (his initials only are mentioned), and courtesy markers are a rhetorical hallmark of these end-of-19th century BR. Conversely, in Block B most books reviewed are multi-authored/edited books (p = .0001 and p = .0047 when comparing their frequency to that registered in Bloc A) written in English (p= .0001 when comparing their frequency with that recorded in Block A). Contrary to what was observed in Block A, most books reviewed in Block B are then collaborative works. Finally, the name of the publishing company is a routine feature of BR in Bloc B, whereas it not so in Bloc A. These quantitative results are explained from a socioconstructivist standpoint. We conclude that they underline the hyper specialization, professionalization and internationalization of today’s science and reflect the increasing social … and commercial concern of today’s scientific [email protected]@[email protected]