Passive voice, first person pronouns and mental process verbs in the biological sciences research article

Autori

  • David Banks Université de Bretagne Occidentale

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.1.12.2.3160

Parole chiave:

biological sciences, first person pronoun, passive voice, process type, research article

Abstract

Questo lavoro si propone di analizzare come le forme passive, i pronomi di prima persona e i tipi di processo sono utilizzati negli articoli scientifici nell’ambito della biologia. Studi recenti, condotti su un piccolo campione di articoli nell’ambito delle scienze fisiche, suggeriscono che i testi di tali pubblicazioni tendono a seguire due modelli: uno che impiega frequentemente la forma passiva ed evita i soggetti con pronomi di prima persona, e un altro che, al contrario, privilegia l’uso dei pronomi di prima persona ma che ricorre a un numero relativamente ridotto di forme passive. Lo scopo del presente studio è esaminare un insieme comparabile di testi pubblicati nell’ambito delle scienze biologiche e confrontarne i modelli linguistici con quelli identificati in precedenza nelle scienze fisiche. L’analisi dei sei articoli appartenenti all’ambito della ricerca biologica rivela un uso moderato della voce passiva, mentre la maggior parte presenta un impiego limitato dei pronomi di prima persona come soggetto. I processi relazionali sono la tipologia più comune, sebbene in alcuni articoli individuali prevalgano i processi materiali. Tra i processi mentali, quelli cognitivi sono i più frequenti, seguiti da quelli di natura matematica. La maggior parte dei pronomi di prima persona compare in combinazione con verbi di cognizione.

Biografia

David Banks, Université de Bretagne Occidentale

David Banks is Emeritus Professor at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale in France. He has an MA in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge (UK), a Doctorate in English Linguistics from the Université de Nantes (France), and an HDR from the Université de Bordeaux 2 (France). He is former Head of the English Department, Director of ERLA (Equipe de Recherche en Linguistique Appliquée) and Chairman of
AFLSF (Association Française de la Linguistique Systémique Fonctionnelle). He is author or editor of over 30 books, and has published over 140 academic articles and book chapters. His book The Development of Scientific English, Linguistic features and historical context (Equinox), won the ESSE Language and  Linguistics book award 2010. His research interests include the diachronic study of scientific text and the application of Systemic Functional Linguistics to English and French. His extra-mural interests include poetry, choral singing, and coastal rowing.

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Pubblicato

10.11.2025

Come citare

Banks, D. (2025). Passive voice, first person pronouns and mental process verbs in the biological sciences research article. EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages, 12(2), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.1.12.2.3160

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