Cover not available
Article published In:
Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 37:2 (2024) ► pp.628–655

Implicit agent se-constructions

Modeling the language style in scientific abstracts

ORCID logo | University of North Carolina at Charlotte
ORCID logo | University of North Carolina at Charlotte
This study provides evidence to support the need for student-translators to be systematically exposed to analyzing and translating texts that give them the opportunity to observe how implicit agent se-constructions need to be used when translating from English into Spanish. A corpus of scientific abstracts was analyzed to compare the frequency of implicit agent se-constructions in abstracts written originally in Spanish and abstracts translated from English into Spanish. Both corpora tools and t-tests were used for comparing data. The results indicate that the abstracts written originally in Spanish feature a more frequent use of implicit agent se-constructions than the abstracts translated into Spanish. The researchers propose the use of scientific abstracts, both originally written in Spanish and translated into Spanish, as pedagogical instruments to model how implicit agent se-constructions operate, thereby promoting student-translators’ accurate use of such constructions, which are frequently used not only in scientific abstracts but also in a wide range of language domains in the Spanish language.
Keywords: agentless constructions, impersonal se , implicit agent, learnability, passive se , passive voice, scientific abstract
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1 Se-constructions
    • 2.2Obligatory use of implicit agent se-constructions
    • 2.3Learnability and teachability of implicit agent se-constructions
    • 2.4Corpus-based methodology
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Materials
    • 3.2Procedures: Text selection and annotation
    • 3.3Data analyses
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Pedagogical application
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • 7.Limitations of the study and future research
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 4 April 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.22022.rod
References (52)
References
Ávila López-Pedraza, J. (2009). Análisis de los usos de se desde la gramática descriptiva. Hispania, 92 (4), 791–799.Google Scholar
Baker, M. (1996). Corpus-based translation studies: The challenges that lie ahead. In H. Somers (Ed.), Terminology, LSP and translation. Studies in language engineering in honour of Juan C. Sager (pp. 175–186). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baker, P. (2016). Using corpora in discourse analysis. Continuum.Google Scholar
Baker, P., Gabrielatos, C., Krzyżanowski, M., McEnery, T., & Wodak, R. (2008). A useful methodological synergy? Combining critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to examine discourses of refugee seekers in the UK press. Discourse and Society, 19 (3), 273–306. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barlow, M. (2002). ParaConc: Concordance software for multilingual parallel corpora [Computer Software]. Athelstan. Retrieved from: [URL]
Baten, K., & Keßler, J. U. (2019). Research timeline. The role of instruction. In R. Arntzen, G. Håkansson, A. Hjelde, & J. Keßler (Eds.), Teachability and learnability across languages (pp. 9–26). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bayona, P. (2009). The acquisition of Spanish middle and impersonal passive constructions from SLA and TLA perspectives. In Y. I. Leung (Ed.), Third language acquisition and universal grammar (pp. 1–29). Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Reppen, R. (1998). Corpus linguistics: Investigating language structure and use. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cardona, M. D. (2015). La enseñanza de las construcciones pasivas e impersonales con “se” en español como L2. ¿Cuántas distinciones son necesarias? Didáctica. Lengua y Literatura, 27 1, 73–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dzung, P. (2008). Research article abstracts in applied linguistics and educational technology: A study of linguistic realizations of rhetorical structure and authorial stance. Discourse Studies, 10 (2), 231–250. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fantinuoli, C., & Zanettin, F. (2015). Creating and using multilingual corpora in translation studies. In C. Fantinuoli & F. Zanettin (Eds.), New directions in corpus-based translation studies (pp. 1–10). Language Science Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fernández, S. S. (2003). Un acercamiento a la voz pasiva en español desde una perspectiva cognitiva y del análisis del discurso. In N. Delbecque (Ed.), Aproximaciones cognoscitivo-funcionales al español (pp. 35–49). Rodopi. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gómez-Castejón, M. A. (2012). Contrastive analysis and translation study from a corpus linguistics perspective. International Journal of English Studies, 12 (2), 111–132. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ji, M. (2012). Hypothesis testing in corpus-based literary translation studies. In M. P. Oakes & M. Ji (Eds.), Quantitative methods in corpus-based translation studies: A practical guide to descriptive translation research (pp. 53–75). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kenny, D. (2001). Lexis and creativity in translation: A corpus-based study. Routledge.Google Scholar
Laviosa, S. (2002). Corpus-based translation studies: Theory, findings, applications. Rodopi. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leow, R. P. (2019). Noticing hypothesis. In The TESOL encyclopedia of English language teaching (pp. 1–6). John Wiley & Sons. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
López-Tello, J. M. (1999). Psicología del lenguaje: «animismo» y «logicismo» del español. Cuadernos CANELA: Revista Anual de Literatura, Pensamiento e Historia, Metodología de la Enseñanza del Español como Lengua Extranjera y Lingüística de la Confederación Académica Nipona, Española y Latinoamericana, 11 1, 159–171.Google Scholar
Maia, B. (2003). Training translators in terminology and information retrieval using comparable and parallel corpora. In F. Zanettin, S. Bernardini, & D. Stewart (Eds.), Corpora in translator education (pp. 43–53). Routledge.Google Scholar
Malmkjær, K. (2003). On a pseudo-subversive use of corpora in translator training. In F. Zanettin, S. Bernardini, & D. Stewart (Eds.), Corpora in translator education (pp. 43–53). Routledge.Google Scholar
Martín Martín, P. (2003). El discurso académico: hacia una descripción textual de los resúmenes de los artículos científicos. Revista de Filología, 21 1, 203–2018.Google Scholar
McCarthy, M., & O’Keefe, A. (2010). Historical perspective: What are corpora and how have they evolved? In A. O’Keefe & M. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics (pp. 3–13). Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McManus, K. (2015). L1/L2 differences in the acquisition of form-meaning pairings: A comparison of English and German learners of French. The Canadian Modern Language Review / La Revue Canadienne des Langues Vivantes, 71 (2), 51–77. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mendikoetxea, A. (2012). Passives and se constructions. In J. I. Hualde, A. Olarrea & E. O’Rourke (Eds.), The handbook of Hispanic linguistics (pp. 477–502). Blackwell Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Monzó Nebot, E. M. (2008). Corpus-based activities in legal translator training. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 2 (2), 221–252. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Munday, J. (1997). Systems in translation: A computer-assisted systemic approach to the analysis of the translations of García Márquez. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Department of Modern Languages, University of Bradford.
Navarro, F. A., Hernández, F., & Rodríguez-Villanueva, L. (1994). Uso y abuso de la voz pasiva en el lenguaje médico escrito. Medicina Clínica, 103 (12), 461–464.Google Scholar
Oakes, M. P. (1998). Statistics for corpus linguistics. Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Oliver, S. (2015). Spanish authors dealing with hedging or the challenges of scholarly publications in English L2. In A. R. Plo & C. Pérez-Llantada (Eds.), English as a scientific and research language: Debates and discourses (pp. 141–157). De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Olohan, M. (2004). Introducing corpora in translation studies. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Otañi, I. (2005). El resumen o abstract del artículo de investigación en español: Características retórico-lingüísticas. In G. Vázquez (Ed.), Español con fines académicos: De la comprensión a la producción de textos (pp. 45–72). Edinumen.Google Scholar
Pienemann, M. (2011). The psycholinguistic basis of PT. In M. Pienemann & J. U. Keßler (Eds.), Studying processability theory (pp. 27–49). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2015). An outline of Processability Theory and its relationship to other approaches to SLA. Language Learning, 65 (1), 123–151. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rabadán, R., Labrador, B., & Ramón, N. (2009). Corpus-based contrastive analysis and translation universals. Babel, 55 (4), 303–328. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ramón, N., & Gutiérrez-Lanza, C. (2018). Translation description for assessment and post-editing: The case of personal pronouns in translated Spanish. Target: International Journal of Translation Studies, 30 (1), 112–136. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Real Academia Española (RAE) (2009). Oraciones activas, pasivas, impersonales y medias. In Real Academia Española (RAE), Nueva gramática de la lengua española (pp. 3037–3112). Vol. II1. Espasa Libros.Google Scholar
Saldanha, G., & O’Brien, S. (2013). Research methodologies in translation studies. Routledge.Google Scholar
Scott, M. (2020). WordSmith Tools version 8 1, Stroud: Lexical Analysis Software.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R. (2012). Attention, awareness, and individual differences in language learning. In W. Chan, K. Chin, S. Bhatt & I. Walker (Eds.), Perspectives on individual characteristics and foreign language education (pp. 27–50). De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sorace, A. & Serratice, L. (2009). Internal and external interfaces in bilingual language development: Beyond structural overlap. International Journal of Bilingualism, 13 (2), 195–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spada, N. & Lightbown, P. M. (2012). Instructed second language acquisition. In P. Robinson (Ed.), The Routledge encyclopedia of second language acquisition (pp. 319–326). Taylor & Francis Group.Google Scholar
Tremblay, A. (2006). On the second language acquisition of Spanish reflexive passives and reflexive impersonals by French- and English-speaking adults. Second Language Research, 22 (1), 30–63. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Aertselaer, J. N. (2008). Contrasting English-Spanish interpersonal discourse phrases. In F. Meunier & S. Granger (Eds.), Phraseology in foreign language learning and teaching (pp. 85–100). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vanderplank, R. (2008). The significance of first language development in five to nine year old children for second and foreign language learning. Applied Linguistics, 29 (4), 717–722. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van der Slik, F. W. P. (2010). Acquisition of Dutch as a second language: The explanative power of cognate and genetic linguistic distance measures for 11 west European first languages. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32 (3), 401–432. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
VanPatten, B. (2002). Processing instruction: An update. Language Learning, 52 (4), 755–803. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zanettin, F. (2009). Corpus-based translation activities for language learners. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 3 (2), 209–224. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012). Translation-driven corpora corpus resources for descriptive and applied translation studies. Routledge.Google Scholar
Zottola, A. (2018). Transgender identity labels in the British press. A corpus-based discourse analysis. Journal of Language and Sexuality, 7 (2), 237–262. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zubillaga, N., Sanz, Z., & Uribarri, I. (2015). Building a trilingual parallel corpus to analyse literary translations from German into Basque. In C. Fantinuoli & F. Zanettin (Eds.), New directions in corpus-based translation studies (pp. 71–92). Language Science Press.Google Scholar