Textual Functions of Nominalizations in English Scientific Discourse
Textual Functions of Nominalizations in English Scientific Discourse

Summary/Abstract: Text is functionally integrated sentences. The sentences used in the text are integrated logico-semantically, structurally, and informationally-pragmatically. The logico-semantic and informational-pragmatic integration constitutes the coherence of the text and the realization of the coherence by linguistic means is the cohesion of the text. The aim of the paper is to analyze the contribution of verb-based nominalizations to the logico-semantic cohesion in written scientific texts about American history. The collected examples were analyzed by employing qualitative and quantitative methods. Nominalizations are only one of the relatively large group of the cohesives. Nominalizations participate in two types of cohesion: general and specific. Nominalizations occurring with explicit or implicit underlying propositions functioned in the text as lexico-grammatical means of cohesion. The use of nominalization is a manifestation of a more general reference process where the underlying proposition is the antecedent and the nominalized proposition is the anaphora. However, cases of a reversal of the antecedent-anaphora pattern, i.e. cataphora, or anticipatory anaphora, were also found. The conclusion could be drawn that nominalizations significantly increase the general volume of information in an economical way and contribute to the logico-semantic cohesion of the text.

• Details
• Contents