Self-mentions in evaluating academic discourse

Abstract

The article presents the analysis of Russian self-mentions – elements of authorization comprising “the voice of the author” – in evaluative academic discourse. These are phrases containing fi rst person personal pronouns and possessive pronouns (я; мы; меня; мне; нам; нас; мой; наш). Self-mentions include two-member constructions (мы считаем; мы полагаем; как мы хорошо знаем; я уверен), one-member constructions (допускаю; заметим; согласимся), phrases with pronouns in oblique cases (нам кажется; у меня замечание; нам думается) and possessive pronouns (на наш взгляд; с моей точки зрения; по нашему мнению). The research is based on 64 offi cial review reports given by offi cial opponents and external reviewers to dissertations on linguistics, literary criticism, history, chemistry, physics and medical science. Self-mentions are regarded as part of the so-called pragmatic framework of communication formed by discourse markers – elements of the supplementary level of communication providing the setup of the discourse in the context of its logical arrangement, cohesion, consecution, composition and regulating the interaction between the author and the addressee. The research aims at the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the use of self-mentions in the speech genre of the dissertation review report and attempts to determine the factors infl uencing this use. Self-mentions used in evaluative academic discourse help create the eff ect of ecological, positive communication: they are viewed as hedges which subdue the critical stance of the report’s contents or as boosters which highlight the achievements of the reviewed research, create the atmosphere of closeness and solidarity with the addressee and on the whole enhance the persuasive eff ect within academic communication. Among the factors determining the use of self-mentions the author of the article singles out the academic sphere (discipline), the genre of academic discourse and gender. The research proves that self-mentions are more typical of reviews written by humanitarians than by natural scientists. It is also shown that we-self-mentions prevail over I-self-mentions and men use self-mentions more frequently than women.

Keywords

• self-mentions
• self-mention markers
• discourse markers
• academic discourse
• speech genre
• dissertation review report
• gender