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Título
Non-native scientists, research dissemination and English neologisms: What happens in the early stages of reception and re-production?
Autor(es)
Palabras clave
English for specific purposes
Neologism
Neuroscience
Nesearch article
Spanish
Inglés (Lengua)
Neologismos
Español (Lengua)
Terminología
Clasificación UNESCO
5701 Lingüística aplicada
Fecha de publicación
2016
Editor
Iberica
Citación
Ibérica 32 (2016): 35-58
Resumen
That the English language is the prevailing language in international scientific
discourse is an undeniable fact for research professionals who are non-native
speakers of English (NNSE). An exploratory, survey-based study of scientists in
the experimental disciplines of neuroscience and medicine seeks to reveal, on
the one hand, the habits of scientists who in their research practice come across
neologisms in English and need to use them in oral and written scientific
discourse in their own languages, and, on the other hand, their attitudes towards
these neologisms and towards English as the language of international science.
We found that all scientists write and publish their research articles (RAs) in
English and most submit them unrevised by native speakers of English. When
first encountering a neologism in English, scientists tend to pay close attention
to these new concepts, ideas or terms and very early in the reception process
attempt to coin acceptable, natural-sounding Spanish equivalents for use in the
laboratory and in their Spanish texts. In conjunction with the naturalized Spanish
term, they often use the English neologism verbatim in a coexistent bilingual
form, but they avoid using only the English term and very literal translations.
These behaviors show an ambivalent attitude towards English (the language of
both new knowledge reception and dissemination of their RAs) and Spanish
(used for local professional purposes and for popularization): while accepting to
write in their acquired non-native language, they simultaneously recognize that
their native language needs to preserve its specificity as a language of science.
URI
ISSN
1139-7241
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