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In:Corpus Pragmatic Studies on the History of Medical Discourse
Edited by Turo Hiltunen and Irma Taavitsainen
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 330] 2022
► pp. 127–152

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Chapter 6
Towards a local grammar of stance expression in Late Modern English medical writing

 | University of Helsinki
Published online: 1 July 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.330.06hil
Abstract
This chapter investigates the expression of stance in eighteenth-century medical English, based on data from the LMEMT corpus. The focus is on three types of stance that-clauses, and the aim of the analysis is to document the frequency trends and patterns of variation in the data, compare them with those identified for medical texts from previous centuries, and provide a functional description of their use within the framework of local grammar. With respect to the frequencies of stance that-clauses across different sub-registers, the eighteenth century represents a period of stylistic continuation. The degree of phraseological variation is considerable, and the analysis demonstrates the usefulness of a local grammar approach to account for this variation.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Stance
    • 2.2Local grammar
  • 3.Material and methods
    • 3.1Corpus
    • 3.2Method of analysis
      • 3.2.1Retrieval and frequency analysis
      • 3.2.2Local grammar analysis
  • 4.Frequency analysis
  • 5.Local grammar analysis
    • 5.1Obtaining a sample
    • 5.2From meaning elements to discourse functions
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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