Linguistic Analysis: Science Communication Across Different Text Types

This essay explores the linguistic features of science communication by analyzing three different texts: a magazine article, a news report, and a scientific research paper. The analysis focuses on genre, technical language, lexical density, nominal group analysis, information organization, and the relationship between writer and reader. It identifies how the language varies across these texts to cater to different audiences, with the research paper employing highly technical language and a formal structure, while the magazine article uses a more accessible and engaging style. The essay relates these observations to readings on the linguistics of science, emphasizing that the choice of language depends on the intended audience and the purpose of the communication. The study shows how texts are adapted based on the audience's scientific knowledge maturity. Desklib offers more resources for students seeking to expand their understanding of linguistics and science communication.

Running head: LINGUISTIC OF SCIENCE
LINGUISTIC OF SCIENCE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note:

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The speed in which the realm of scientific knowledge is expanding throughout the
globe is commendable in itself. The different branches of science dealing with different
specialised knowledge like medicine, chemistry, astronomy, cosmology or technology are
doing every day advancements. Researchers all over the world are taking necessary
involvements to contribute in the process. The scientific researchers have their own mediums
to publish their works in various journals and magazines.
English has been seen to be used as the most common language in science and
research (Rosebery, 2008). However this has not always been the case, as just 100 years ago
German was predominantly used in research purposes, and before that Latin. Presently
though English is the most common language in publishing all kinds of scientific researches,
however there is a difference in which the language is used depending on the audience of the
published material. Various factors determine the usage of language in research purpose,
these are, genre of the research, technicality of the research and the ability of the audience to
grasp such technicality, density of information and its complexity, what is the wavelength
between the author and the readers and others.
Scientific literatures published in various sources can detail the levels of variation of
these different mediums in terms of language and usage of technicality. The grammatical
methods of language usage change with the change of medium in scientific communication
(Halliday & Martin, 1993).
Key features of each text with regard to each of the 7 nominated areas are as
follows. The text 1 published in the New Scientist magazine states a remarkable news that
recently found remains of a hunter gatherer in Spanish cave has similarity in terms of genes
and bodily features, with the modern humans, and many of the features of were previously
thought to be evolved in much later stages (News.com.au., 2014). The text suggests that the

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new found remains and their gene analysis will help in understanding the process of ushering
in of the Neolithic era, the age of agriculture and new food habit.
In terms of genre, linguistic genres are mainly categorised as” Linguistic functions,
Formal traits, Textual organisation, and Relation of communication to organisational traits of
the text”. In this text a textual organisation typical to that of a magazine is detected, where
there are all kinds of readers and too much complexity would make it difficult to decipher.
In terms of technical language, the language of the article has been kept moderately
technical as the readers of the article vary from science enthusiasts to scientists and normal
readers who are from non-technical field as well. Therefore the articles must be having a
language that is acceptable and comprehendible to all the genres of the readers.
Analysis through software prove that the Lexical density in the first text is 66.7%. In
more technical texts which are dedicatedly meant for scientific community the lexical density
is higher with lesser use of articles and grammatical terms and more usage of technical terms.
There is wide usage of nominal group analysis with statements like ancient “blue
eyed hunter gatherer” and other terms which define various situations and individuals as
should be the case with articles in a magazine.
Information Organisation, is how and in what structure information is organised
throughout the text. In this text, firstly a brief opening note about the whole report is given.
Then there is scientific discussion of genetic analysis of the remains and description of
Neolithic era.
Relationship between writer and reader, in this case is semi-formal. It is a
magazine which is scientific hence a formal tone is required, however the reader must feel a
sense of comfort while reading.

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The text 2 can be analysed in the following way. The genre is of a news report,
which varies from text which is an informative feature, and text 3 which is a scientific
research work.
In terms of Technical language, the technicality of the language is moderate with a
very formal tone that is seen typically in news reports.
Lexical Density is another aspect to consider. The analysis of lexical density of the
text 2 is 71.1% which proves it is more technical and more formal in structure than the report
of the news magazine. There are lesser number of words that can be described as nominal
group.
Information organisation, the information is highly organised starting with the
revelation of the recovery of the skeletons, information about the Mesolithic men, what was
the belief before the discovery and the belief after that.
To discuss the relationship between writer and the reader, the information is very
formal, with lesser use of ornamental words and strictly following thumb rules of a news
report.
The text 3 can be analysed subsequently. In terms of genre, the text is highly
technical with scientific data and strict scientific terms which is often not understandable by a
layman (Olalde et al., 2014).
The whole research paper is written in highly technical language is comprehensive
scientific terminologies, such as “genome sequence, pigmentations, alleles, mtDNA,
Polymorphic sites” and so on.
Lexical Density of the Abstract part of the research paper is 86% which is the
highest of all the other texts which reflects the difference.

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Nominal Group Analysis, the description of the individual terms is expressed not by
adjective but by scientific and technical terminology.
The information is professionally organised by specific divisions like abstract,
introduction, methodologies and analysis. The purpose of the text is to just deliver scientific
research and give empirical results rather than establishing relationship.
To identify and discuss changes in the texts from text 1 – text 3 the following
discussion can be done. The three texts vary typically according to their nature and
methodology in which they deliver the same information. This is necessarily because the
difference in the nature of the audience that these three mediums cater to (Unsworth, 1999).
The first text which delivers the information of recovery of the cremains of the prehistoric
man from the Neolithic era presents the information in a way that it has cert5ain aspects of
entertainment in it. It is meant for a varied strata of audience who primarily purchase the
magazine to get various scientific information but they would not preferred to be confused in
terms of language, hence the use of language has to be easy. Apart from that the magazine
cannot deliver information in a news format rather it requires to deliver information in a
feature format which is interesting to the audience. These are some of the characteristics of
the feature published in the “new scientist magazine”. The headline “Ancient European
hunter-gatherer was a blue-eyed boy” has been kept catchy to grab eyeballs which will
increase the sales of the magazine. “The other surprise lay in the hunter-gatherer's immune
system. His immune system genes, and genes that affect the risk of bacterial infection, were
similar to those of modern humans.” The language is very lucid, easy and understandable. It
is informal as well. This text is meant for the general mass and science enthusiasts, including
children.

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In the second text, there are some differences from the first text in terms of presentation.
The second text is a news report from the news website News.com. The headline is less
flowery than the previous text, this is because this is not a feature writing but purely a news
article. The headline is very formal giving the necessary information required by the news
readers. There are terms and statements like “according to researchers”, which means that the
news website is reporting from a very neutral point of view and they are not subscribing
blindly to the claims of the researchers. The news article has a more serious tone than the
previous work and it is dedicated more towards dissemination of information rather than
surprising people and brining readership. “THE DNA of a hunter-gatherer who lived in Spain
some 7,000 years ago suggests that Europeans were dark-skinned until much more recently
than previously thought, according to researchers. Genetic material recovered from a tooth of
La Brana 1, an ancient man whose skeleton was dug up in a deep cave system in Spain in
2006, revealed a strange combination of dark skin and blue eyes, according to a study in the
journal Nature.” The report suggests categorically in a formal language about all the
information including what, when, who, where and how. It has less number of exclamatory
sentences and more general informative statements. This text is for news readers which
comprises of all strata of the social order.
The Third text is a research paper published in the journal called Nature and this is the
source of the information of the other two articles. This is the research paper from which
information is taken to be embedded in the other articles. This is a formal, structured research
paper, with scientific theories, terminologies and technicalities and is not meant for the
general mass (Myers, 1991). This is meant dedicatedly for the scientists and the scientific
community.
Relation of the analysis to the readings is as follows. Firstly, It is stated in the reading
explicitly that there is a difference of language in the “research science in the laboratory”, and

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“applied science in industry”. In the case of experimental reports it is stated by Bazerman that
“Experimental reports… the story creates picture of the immediate laboratory world in which
the experiment takes place, of the happenings of the experiment, and of the larger, structured
world of which the experimental events are exemplary.”
Secondly, Research in English, history, geography, mathematics and science revealed,
not surprisingly, that each of these disciplines organises and deploys language in quite
different ways”. Therefore this is also understood in the above analysis. The incident which is
taken into consideration is a historically important recovery that has to be found by science.
Therefore the research necessarily gives scientific descriptions where’s the reports describe
historical facts along with it.
Thirdly, “The descriptions of generic structure and language features given here must
necessarily be general, whereas the examples are necessarily specific.” The explanations in
the above examples are seen to be very general statements along with scientific
terminologies, the examples of the recoveries are however very specific and these are
mentioned categorically throughout the analysis.
Fourthly, “Sequential explanations explain not through invoking the logic of cause and
effect but by describing a chain or sequence of events which lead to a phenomenon.” Both the
reports and the scientific research work, explicitly describes the event through a chain of
events and describing the events one after another. It is mentioned in the analysis that the
recovery is mentioned first followed by the historical background of the recovery and then
revealing the impact of the recovery.
Fifthly, “The language of school science construes a developmental path which is
remarkably similar to the way child language develops”. The three texts hierarchically
increases the level of standard of the language (Veel, 1997). The first text is the easiest to

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understand and relate to. It even provides some recreation while reading. However the second
text is more based on facts and information and less use of flowery language. The last text
does not spend any words in discussing anything other than the research topic about the
skeletal recovery. Therefore there is a hierarchical increase of the level of language and the
scientific terms
To conclude, it can be understood from analysing the three texts and the readings that the
language of science depends on who the reader is. The same statement can be presented in a
very technical way or a lesser technical way depending on the readers maturity of scientific
knowledge.
Text 1- “Ancient European hunter-gatherer was a blue-eyed boy”, Text 2- “Ancient
Europeans had dark skin and blue eyes, researchers say”, Text 3- “Derived immune and
ancestral pigmentation alleles in a 7,000-year-old Mesolithic European”. The same statement
is presented in various ways in different mediums, the headline in the scientific journal being
the most technical. Therefore it is understood that the language of science is dependent on the
readers and not vice versa.

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Reference:
Halliday, M. A. K., & Martin, J. R. (1993). Writing Science: Literacy and Discursive Power
London: Falmer. HallidayWriting Science: Literacy and Discursive Power1993.
Myers, G. (1991). Lexical cohesion and specialized knowledge in science and popular
science texts. Discourse processes, 14(1), 1-26.
News.com.au., (2014). Europeans once had dark skin, blue eyes. NewsComAu. Retrieved 20
April 2018, from http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/ancient-europeans-
had-dark-skin-and-blue-eyes-researchers-say/news-story/
63d56043f962bf993eab743ea0e5ca4b
Olalde, I., Allentoft, M. E., Sánchez-Quinto, F., Santpere, G., Chiang, C. W., DeGiorgio,
M., ... & Ramírez, O. (2014). Derived immune and ancestral pigmentation alleles in a
7,000-year-old Mesolithic European. Nature, 507(7491), 225.
Rosebery, A. S. (2008). Teaching science to English language learners: Building on
students' strengths. NSTA Press.
Unsworth, L. (1999). Developing critical understanding of the specialised language of school
science and history texts: A functional grammatical perspective. Journal of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 42(7), 508-521.
Veel, R. (1997). Learning how to mean—scientifically speaking: Apprenticeship into
scientific discourse in the secondary school. Genre and institutions: Social processes
in the workplace and school, 161-195.