Cover not available
Part of
Constructing Collectivity: 'We' across languages and contexts
Edited by Theodossia-Soula Pavlidou
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 239] 2014
► pp. 265–286

Author positioning and audience addressivity by means of ‘we’ in Greek academic discourse

 | Hellenic American University, Manchester, U.S.A. cand Hellenic American College, Athens, Greece
The present chapter reports on a study of first person plural reference in a corpus of 15 Linguistics journal articles by Greek-speaking authors. This data-driven investigation aims to explore the ways in which linguists construct their position and their relationship with the audience/academic community within the Greek context. Three main categories of semantic reference were identified: referential, generic and ambiguous. Ambiguous referential uses are examined closely, including examples that cut across the inclusive-exclusive divide. The results suggest that the rhetorical practices of Greek-speaking authors seem to relate to the size and type of the academic community they are addressing.
Published online: 27 February 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.239.18vla
References (67)
References
Bargiela-Chiappini, Francesca and Harris, Sandra J.1997. Managing Language: The Discourse of Corporate Meetings . Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Becher, Tony and Trowler, Paul.2001. Academic Tribes and Territories: Intellectual Inquiry and the Culture of Disciplines . Buckingham/Philadelphia: The Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press.Google Scholar
Benveniste, Emile. 1971. Problems in General Linguistics . (M.E. Meek, transl.). Coral Gables, Florida: University of Miami Press.Google Scholar
Biber, Douglas and Finegan, Edward.1989. “Styles of stance in English: Lexical and grammatical marking of evidentiality and affect.” Text 9: 93–124. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, Douglas, Johansson, Stig, Leech, Geoffrey, Conrad, Susan and Finegan, Edward.1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English . Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
Brown, Gillian and Yule, George.1983. Discourse Analysis . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1991. Language and Symbolic Power , John B. Thompson(ed.), translated byGino Raymond and Matthew Adamson. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Bull, Peter and Fetzer, Anita.2006. “Who are we and who are you? The strategic use of forms of address in political interviews.” Text & Talk 26(1): 3–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coffin, Caroline and Mayor, Barbara.2004. “Texturing writer and reader reference in novice academic writing text and texture.” In Systemic Functional Viewpoints on the Nature and Structure of Text , David Banks(ed.), 239–264. Paris/Budapest/Torino: L’ Harmattan.Google Scholar
Curry, Mary Jane and Lillis, Theresa M.2010. “Academic research networks: Accessing resources for English-medium publishing.” English for Specific Purposes 29(4): 281–295. [Special issue on EAP in Europe]. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duszak, Anna(ed.). 1997. Culture and Styles of Academic Discourse . [Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 104]. Berlin/New York: Mounton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fløttum, Kjersti, Kinn, Torodd and Dahl, Trine. (2006). Academic Voices: Across Languages and Disciplines . Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fortanet, Inmaculada. 2004. “The use of we in university lectures: Reference and function.” English for Specific Purposes 23(1): 45–66. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Galtung, Johan. 1981. “Structure, culture and intellectual style: An essay comparing Saxonic, Teutonic, Gallic and Nipponic approaches.” Social Science Information 20(6): 817–856. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goffman, Erving1981. “Footing”. In Forms of Talk , 124–159. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Halliday, M.A.K. and Hasan, Ruquaiya.1985. Language, Context and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social Semiotic Perspective . Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Harwood, Nigel. 2005. “«We do not seem to have a theory … the theory I present here attempts to fill this gap»: Inclusive and exclusive pronouns in academic writing.” Applied Linguistics 26(3): 343–375. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005b. “«Nowhere has anyone attempted … In this article I aim to do just that»: A corpus-based study of self-promotional I and we in academic writing across four disciplines.” Journal of Pragmatics 37(8): 1207–1231. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005c. “«I hoped to counteract the memory problem, but I made no impact whatsoever»: Discussing methods in computing science using I.” English for Specific Purposes 24(3): 243–267. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2006. “(In)appropriate personal pronoun use in political science: A qualitative study and a proposed heuristic for future research.” Written Communication 23: 424–450. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hewings, Ann and Coffin, Caroline.2007. “Writing in multi-party computer conferences and single authored assignments: Exploring the role of writer as thinker.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes 6(2): 126–142. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hofstede, Geert. 1980. Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values . London: Sage.Google Scholar
Holliday, Adrian R.1999. “Small cultures.” Applied Linguistics 20(2): 237–264. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holton, David, Mackridge, Peter and Philippaki-Warburton, Irene.2002. Γραμματικ? της Ελληνικ?ς Γλ?σσας [transl. of Greek Grammar: A Comprehensive Grammar of the Modern Language byV. Spyropoulos]. Athens: Patakis.Google Scholar
Hyland, Ken. 2000. Disciplinary Discourses: Social Interactions in Academic Writing . Harlow, England London/New York: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
. 2001. “Humble servants of the discipline? Self-mention in research articles.” English for Specific Purposes 20: 207–226. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2002. “Authority and invisibility: Authorial identity in academic writing.” Journal of Pragmatics 34(8): 1091–1112. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005. Metadiscourse: Exploring Interaction in Writing . London/New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Hyland, Ken and Sancho Guinda, Carmen. 2012. Stance and Voice in Written Academic Genres . New York: Palgrave Mcmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Iñigo-Mora, Isabel.2004. “On the use of the personal pronoun we in communities.” Journal of Language and Politics 3(1): 27–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnstone, Barbara. 2009. “Stance, style, and the linguistic individual.” In Stance: Sociolinguistic Perspectives , Alexandra Jaffe(ed.), 29–52. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kitagawa, Keith and Lehrer, Adrienne.1990. “Impersonal uses of personal pronouns.” Journal of Pragmatics 14: 739–759. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koutsantoni, Dimitra. 2004. “Relations of power and solidarity in scientific communities: A cross-cultural comparison of politeness strategies in the writing of native English-speaking and Greek- engineers.” Multilingua 23: 111–143. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005a. “Greek cultural characteristics and academic writing.” Journal of Modern Greek Studies 23: 97–138. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005b. “Certainty across cultures: A comparison of the degree of certainty expressed by Greek and English speaking scientific authors.” Intrecultural Pragmatics 2(2): 121–149.Google Scholar
Koutsoulelou-Michou, Stamatia. 2009. ?ψεις του Ακαδημα?κο? Λ?γου . [ Aspects of Academic Discourse ] Gutenberg: Athens.Google Scholar
Kuo, Chih-Hua. 1999. “The use of personal pronouns: Role relationships in scientific journal articles.” English for Specific Purposes 18(2): 121–138. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lekka, Violetta. 2005. Η Γλ?σσα των Επιστημονικ?ν Κειμ?νων . [ The Language of Scientific Texts ] Αθ?να: Ελληνικ? Γρ?μματα.Google Scholar
Lillis, Theresa, Hewings, Ann, Vladimirou, Dimitra and Curry, Mary Jane.2010. “The geolinguistics of English as an academic lingua franca: Citation practices across English-medium national and English medium international journals.” International Journal of Applied Linguistics 20(1): 111–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martín, Pedro and Burgess, Sally.2004. “The rhetorical management of academic criticism in research article abstracts.” Text 24(2): 171–195.Google Scholar
Mauranen, Anna. 2006. “Descriptions or explanations? Some methodologcial issues in contrastive rhetoric.” In Academic Writing in Context: Implications and Applications. Papers in Honour of Tony Dudley-Evans , Martin, Hewings(ed.), 43–54. Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press.Google Scholar
Molino, Alessandra. 2010. “Personal and impersonal authorial references: A contrastive study of English and Italian linguistics research articles.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes 9: 86–101. Accessed November 2011. doi:101016/j.jeap.2010.02.007 DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mühlhäusler, Peter and Harré, Rom.1990. Pronouns and People: The Linguistic Construction of Social and Personal Identity . Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Mur Dueñas, Pilar.2006. “‘I/ we focus on...’: A cross-cultural analysis of self-mentions in business management research articles.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes 6: 143–162. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Myers, Greg. 1989. “The pragmatics of politeness in scientific articles.” Applied Linguistics 10(1): 1–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1990. Writing Biology: Texts in the Social Construction of Scientific Knowledge . Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
. 1999. “Interaction in writing: principles and problems.” In Writing: Texts, Processes and Practices , Christopher N. Candlin(ed), 40–61. London and New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Pavlidou, Theodossia-Soula. 2008. “ Εμε?ς και η συνομιλιακ? συγκρ?τηση (?μφυλων) συλλογικοτ?των.” [‘We’ and the discursive construction of (gendered) collectivities]. In Light and Warmth: In Memory of A.-Ph. Christidis , Maria Theodoropoulou(ed.), 437–453. Thessaloniki: Center for the Greek Language.Google Scholar
. 2012. “Collective aspects of subjectivity: The subject pronoun εμε?ς (‘we’) in Modern Greek.” In Subjectivity in Language and in Discourse , Nicole Baumgarten, Inke Du Bois and Juliane House(eds), 33–65. Leiden: Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pennycook, Alastair. 1994. “The politics of pronouns.” ELT Journal 48 : 173–178. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Petersoo, Pille. 2007. “What does ‘we’ mean ? National deixis in the media.” Journal of Language and Politics 6(3): 419–436. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Proctor, Katarzyna and Su, Lily I-Wen.2011. “The 1st person plural in political discourse – American politicians in interviews and in a debate”, Journal of Pragmatics , doi :10.1016/j.pragma.2011.06.010. DOI logo
Quirk, Randolph, Greenbaum, Sidney, Leech, Geoffrey and Svartvik, Jan.1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language . London and New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Rounds, Patricia L.1987. “Multifunctional personal pronoun use in an educational setting.” English for Specific Purposes 6: 13–29. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Siewierska, Anna. 2004. Person . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sifianou, Maria. 1992. Politeness Phenomena in England and Greece: A Cross-cultural Perspective . Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Swales, John M.2004. Research Genres: Explorations and Applications . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tang, Ramona and John, Suganthi.1999. “The ‘I’ identity: Exploring writer identity in student academic writing through the first person pronoun.” English for Specific Purposes 18: 23–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Geoff. 2001. “Interaction in academic writing: Learning to argue with the reader.” Applied Linguistics 22(1): 58–78. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Geoff and Thatela, Puleng.1995. “The sound of one hand clapping: The management of interaction in written discourse.” Text 15(1): 103–127. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tse, Polly and Hyland, Ken. (2010). “Claiming a territory: Relative clauses in journal descriptions.” Journal of Pragmatics 42: 1880–1889. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vassileva, Irena. 2000. Who Is the Author? A Contrastive Analysis of Authorial Presence in English, German, French, Russian and Bulgarian Academic Discourse . Sankt Augustin: Asgard.Google Scholar
Ventola, Eija. 1997. “Modalisation: Probability – an exploration into its roles in academic writing.” In Culture and Styles of Academic Discourse , Anna Duszak(ed.), 157–179. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vladimirou, Dimitra. 2007. “‘I suggest that we need more research’: Personal reference in linguistics journal articles.” In Papers from the Lancaster University Postgraduate Conference in Linguistics and Language Teaching . Vol.1, Costas Gabrielatos, Richard Slessor, and Johnny W. Unger, (eds), 139–157. Lancaster: Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University.Google Scholar
. 2008. Personal Reference in Linguistics Journal Articles: Exploring the English-speaking vs. the Greek-speaking academic communities . Unpublished PhD Thesis, Lancaster University.Google Scholar
Wales, Katie. 1996. Personal Pronouns in Present-Day English . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Yakhontova, Tatyana. 2006. “Cultural and disciplinary variation in academic discourse: The issue of influencing factors.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes 5: 153–167. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Bazzanella, Carla
2014. Grammar, interaction, and context. In Constructing Collectivity [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 239], ► pp. 83 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 december 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.