Cover not available

Article published In: Journal of Historical Pragmatics
Vol. 22:1 (2021) ► pp.96–120

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Turbulent periods and the development of the scientific research article, 1735–1835

ORCiD logo with link | Université de Bretagne Occidentale
Published online: 27 August 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.18010.ban
Abstract
The results of a previous study (. 2008. The Development of Scientific Writing: Linguistic Features and Historical Context. London: Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) suggest that the development of scientific writing is more conservative in times of great turbulence. In an attempt to verify this, samples were taken from the Mémoires de l’Académie des Sciences and the Philosophical Transactions for the years 1735, 1785 and 1835. The development over the years 1735 to 1785 was compared to that between 1785 and 1835. Analysis of the grammatical functions and semantic categories of themes and of process types indicates that there is some evidence in favour of the conjecture that scientific writers are more conservative in times of turbulence. Whilst this is not conclusive, it suggests that further research would be fruitful.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Some historical background
  • 3.Corpus for the present study
  • 4.Theme: Grammatical function
  • 5.Theme: Semantic fields
  • 6.Process types
  • 7.Conclusion: Evidence for the conjecture
  • Notes
  • References
References (24)
References
Banks, David. 1996. “Joseph Banks and the Development of Scientific Writing”. In Gerhard Budin (ed.), Multilingualism in Specialist Communication, Proceedings of the 10th European LSP Symposium, Vienna, 1995, 697–705. (Volume 21.) Vienna: IITF/Infoterm.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. Introduction à la linguistique systémique fonctionnelle de l’anglais [‘Introduction to the Systemic Functional Linguistics of English’]. Paris: L’Harmattan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. The Development of Scientific Writing: Linguistic Features and Historical Context. London: Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. “On the (Non)Necessity of the Hybrid Category Behavioural Process”. In Donna Rose Miller and Paul Bayley (eds), Hybridity in Systemic Functional Linguistics: Grammar, Text and Discursive Context, 21–40. Sheffield: Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017a. The Birth of the Academic Article: Le Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions 1665–1700. Sheffield: Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017b. A Systemic Functional Grammar of French: A Simple Introduction. Abingdon: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017c. “The Dawn of the Eighteenth Century: A Challenging Boundary for the Academic Article”. In Stella Neumann, Rebekah Wegener, Jennifer Fest, Paula Niemietz and Nicole Hützen (eds), Challenging Boundaries in Linguistics: Systemic Functional Perspectives, 89–109. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. “The Effects of Revolution and War on Academic Discourse, 1785–1835”. Textes & Contextes 13 (2). Available online at: [URL]
Beaglehole, John Cawte (ed.). 1962. The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, 1768–1771. (Two1 Volumes.) Sydney: Angus & Robertson.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bell, Madison Smartt. 2005. Lavoisier in the Year One: The Birth of a New Science in an Age of Revolution. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, Hector Charles. 1952. Sir Joseph Banks: The Autocrat of the Philosophers 1744–1820. London: Batchworth Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crosland, Maurice. 2005. “Relationships between the Royal Society and the Académie des Sciences in the Late Eighteenth Century”. Notes & Records of the Royal Society 59 (1): 25–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fayet, Joseph. 1960. La Révolution Française et la Science, 1789–1795 [‘The French Revolution and Science, 1789–1795’]. Paris: Marcel Rivière & Cie.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fyfe, Aileen. 2015. “Journals, Learned Societies and Money: Philosophical Transactions, ca. 1750–1900”. Notes and Records 69 (3): 277–300. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fyfe, Aileen and Noah Moxham. 2016. “Making Public Ahead of Print: Meetings and Publications at the Royal Society, 1752–1892”. Notes and Records 70 (4): 361–79. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fyfe, Aileen, Julie McDougall-Waters and Noah Moxham. 2015. “350 Years of scientific Periodicals”. Notes and Records 69 (3): 227–40. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gascoigne, John. 1998. Science in the Service of Empire: Joseph Banks, the British State and the Uses of Science in the Age of Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hahn, Roger. 1971. The Anatomy of a Scientific Institution: The Paris Academy of Sciences, 1666–1803. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. 2014. Halliday’s Introduction to Functional Grammar. (Fourth edition, revised by Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen.) Abingdon: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Licoppe, Christian. 1994. “The Crystallization of a New Narrative Form in Experimental Reports (1660–1690): The Experimental Evidence as a Transaction between Philosophical Knowledge and Aristocratic Power”. Science in Context 7 (2): 205–44. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lyons, Henry. 1944. The Royal Society 1660–1940: A History of its Administration under its Charters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McClellan, James E. III. 2001. “The Mémoires of the Académie Royale des Sciences, 1699–1790: A Statistical Overview”. In Robert Halleux, James McClellan, Daniela Barariu and Geneviève Xhayet (eds), Les publications de l’Académie Royale des Sciences de Paris (1666–1793) [‘The Publications of the French Académie Royale des Sciences’], 7–36. (Volume 21.) Turnhout: Brepols.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Brian, Patrick. 1987. Joseph Banks: A life. London: Collins Harvill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Donnell, Michael, Michele Zappavigna and Casey Whitelaw. 2008. “A Survey of Process Type Classification over Difficult Cases”. In Carys Jones and Eija Ventola (eds), New Developments in the Study of Ideational Meaning: From Language to Multimodality, 47–64. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Banks, David
2022. Some linguistic features of the physical sciences research article before, during and after the First World War. Language, Context and Text. The Social Semiotics Forum 4:1 ► pp. 61 ff. DOI logo
Banks, David
2024. Preamble. In Early Academic Periodical Translation, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue