Author positioning and audience addressivity by means of ‘we’ in Greek academic discourse
Dimitra Vladimirou | Hellenic American University, Manchester, U.S.A. cand Hellenic American College, Athens, Greece
The present chapter reports on a study of first person plural reference in a corpus of 15 Linguistics journal articles by Greek-speaking authors. This data-driven investigation aims to explore the ways in which linguists construct their position and their relationship with the audience/academic community within the Greek context. Three main categories of semantic reference were identified: referential, generic and ambiguous. Ambiguous referential uses are examined closely, including examples that cut across the inclusive-exclusive divide. The results suggest that the rhetorical practices of Greek-speaking authors seem to relate to the size and type of the academic community they are addressing.
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