Problems in English abstracts of Chinese science and technology journals from the perspective of discourse communicative function

This article takes the multidimensional analysis approach to explore the textual variations between native and non-native English abstracts on the basis of a balanced corpus composed of English abstracts written respectively by native English and native Chinese writers from twelve academic disciplines. A total of 47 out of 163 linguistic features are retained after factor analysis,which underlies a four-dimension framework representing four communicative functions. The results show that the two types of abstracts demonstrate significant difference in four dimensions. To be more specific, native English writers display a more active involvement and commitment in presenting their ideas than Chinese writers. They also use intensifying devices more frequently. In contrast,Chinese writers show stronger preferences for conceptual elaboration,passives and abstract noun phrases no matter whether the two types of data are examined as a whole or variations across disciplines are taken into account.