Syntactic properties of the language of scientific communication in the Persian scientific works

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Prof., Information Science Research Department, Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology (IranDoc)

2 Assistant Prof., Society and Information Research Department, Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology (IranDoc)

10.52547/publij.28.4.448
Abstract
Purpose: The language of science is one of the social types of Persian language, which is used by the educated
classes in scientific works and contexts. The purpose of this research is to present an overall picture of the syntactic
properties of the Persian scientific language. Thus the types of sentences, types of tenses, verb tenses, and syntactic
constructions have been identified in the scientific texts, their statistics have been presented, and their content has
been analyzed.
Method: The research questions were addressed through documentary research method, which is one of the
methods categorized into the qualitative approach. To identify the syntactic properties of the language of science,
90 articles in scientific-research publications in two research domains (humanities and basic sciences) and three
academic fields (linguistics, geology, and chemistry) were purposefully sampled. These articles are entered into the
“QDA Miner Lite” in the form of text, read, and coded.
Findings: Around 1390 codes were extracted and analyzed from these works. The findings of the research
showed that one of the common syntactic properties of the Persian scientific language was the use of the indicative
mood and the simple present, simple past tense, and present perfect. In addition, Persian-speaking researchers (authors) prefer to use simple sentences, and write their works in a passive voice. The indicative mood with 377 codes
and the simple present tense with 325 codes were the most frequent themes in the coding process. Therefore, it
seems Persian-speaking authors of scientific works have tried to use writing structure which is polite. For example,
they prefer to write their works in a passive voice in order to say their thoughts and opinions politely. In addition,
probably, Persian-speaking authors are following the writing traditions from past centuries, which is not compatible
with recent science communication’s basics.
Originality/value: This study is the first attempt to identify the characteristics of the language of science in the
Persian language through the empirical data. The findings of this research can be useful for teachers and educational
institutions in teaching the language of science. In addition, institutions such as the Academy of Persian Language
and Literature can take advantage of these findings in their policies. The findings of this research are also useful in
computational linguistics.

Keywords


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