Culture and conventions:
writing and reading Dutch
scientific English
Written by an experienced authors’ editor, this doctoral thesis in
applied linguistics investigates the English written by Dutch
scientists. Does such English contain distinctive Dutch (rather than
learner) traits? And how and why do readers from the discourse
community react to it?
Tracing the outward spiralling of a text from a Dutch scientist’s
computer screen to the journal page reveals the persons involved
along the way. Theories on writing, reading and translation that help
explain their textual interventions are discussed, as are the
culture and conventions that influence Dutch scientists’ writing.
Empirical evidence is presented for discernable Dutch traits in
scientific writing.
Two studies in which language professionals react to aspects of
cohesion in Dutch-authored English texts pave the way for an
account of a large-scale reception study in which the Discussions of
three Dutch-authored manuscript biology articles were read and
annotated by biologists from eight countries. These readers’ reactions,
in particular to aspects of cohesion, hedging and verb tense, are
related to whether or not they are English native speakers and
whether or not they have reviewed papers for English-language
scientific journals.
This book is intended to foster communication between applied
linguists and language professionals. The theoretical insights and
practical implications presented will therefore interest researchers of
nonnative writing, ESP and EAP teachers, authors’ editors, and
editors and reviewers of scientific journals.
