Social pragmatics in technical writing: A corpus-based analysis of thematic articles

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to analyse some sociocultural implications involved in the process of technical writing. In particular, the analysis will focus on those socially and ideologically-related rhetorical mechanisms of linguistic interaction that engineers use when writing thematic articles. As a selected corpus maps out, concepts such as ideology, power, politeness or a persuasive rhetoric prove to be key factors in determining the appropriate linguistic choices in those social interactions within this community. In the light of social pragmatics, the extent to which institutional and cultural factors affect research writing in the field of technology will therefore call for a redefinition of the ‘classical’ objectivity sought in these specialised discourse practices