Pilar Mur-Dueñas explores hedging in RAs written Spanish and English for the journal Lingua

Our InterGedi colleague Pilar Mur-Dueñas contributes to one of the next issues the journal Lingua with the publication of a research article on the strategic use of hedging in a contrastive analysis between research articles written in Spanish and in English.

Her analysis offers a complementary perspective to some of her previous publications, and further evidences her extensive expertise in the study of the discursive characteristics of research articles in diverse languages. . The article, which is currently in press, can be read in open access HERE.

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For a quick overview, here you have the abstract:

There may be differences: Analysing the use of hedges in English and Spanish research articles

Abstract: Scholars currently need to publish their research results in English-medium high-impact publications. However, in some disciplinesscholars undertake to publish in other languages as well as in the medium of English. In this context, it is interesting to analyze researcharticles (RAs) in two languages (English and Spanish) within a single discipline (Business Management). The study will present a corpus-based intercultural analysis of a particular interpersonal rhetorical strategy, hedging. Hedges are strategically employed in RAs to express meaning tentatively and tone down knowledge claims, and they have been found to be subject to generic, disciplinary andcultural and linguistic variation. The results from the corpus show differences in their extent of use overall, in the distribution of hedgesacross the sections of the RAs as well as in their lexico-grammatical realization and preferred rhetorical choices. The differences may beaccounted for not only linguistically but also culturally, considering the different languages in which they are written and the contexts inwhich they are published. The findings can have significant implications for Languages for Academic Purposes and applications in thetraining of (novice) academic writers who may be aspiring to publish their research internationally in English, but also nationally in Spanish.

Keywords: Hedges; Academic discourse; Languages for academic purposes; Intercultural rhetoric; Research genres