Abstract
This study investigates the use of explicit manifestations of authorial identity (namely self-mention pronouns) and their collocation networks in academic and workplace written texts. Based on a purpose-built corpus of research articles and the Hong Kong Financial Services Corpus (HKFSC), this study used Antconc and Graphcoll to extract and analyze the pronouns and their collocation networks. The statistical analysis shows that the academic register contains significantly more self-mention pronouns than the workplace corpus, which can be attributed to a stronger tendency towards self-positioning. We also identified significant register-specific semantic features of the collocation networks of self-mention pronouns. These findings contribute to our understanding of how self-mention pronouns operate in tandem with their surrounding context in register-specific discourse. Pedagogically, the findings can be useful for workshop-based training for finance students and early-career professionals in this domain to support the development of the discipline-specific writing skills needed for careers in academia and industry.
Funding source: Taishan Young Scholar Foundation of Shandong Province http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100010029
Award Identifier / Grant number: TSQN201909048
Funding source: Social Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100017611
Award Identifier / Grant number: 2020K025
About the authors
Jihua Dong is Professor, Taishan Young Scholar and Qilu Young Scholar in the Foreign Language Department, Shandong University, China. She obtained her PhD degree from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her research interests are Corpus Linguistics, Cross-disciplinary Studies, and English for Academic/Specific Purposes (EAP/ESP). She has published in journals such as International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, English for Specific Purposes, System, and Australian Journal of Linguistics.
Louisa Buckingham lectures in Applied Language Studies at the University of Auckland. She has a broad range of research interests which include the use of corpus linguistic discourse analysis. She has published in various journals including TESOL Quarterly, System, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, English for Specific Purposes, and Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.
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Research funding: This study received financial support from the Taishan Young Scholar Foundation of Shandong Province (No. 201909048) and the Social Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (No. 2020K025).
List of the journals used for the finance academic corpus.
Journal of Finance
Journal of Corporate Finance
Journal of Financial Economics
Journal of Accounting and Economics
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis
Journal of Banking and Finance
Journal of Money Credit and Banking
Journal of International Money and Finance
Journal of Business Finance & Accounting
Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting
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