Evaluative Meanings and Disciplinary Values - eTheses Repository ...

a reason why people worry about something, and such anxious emotions cause people to
adopt countermeasures. Likewise, the second and third examples also structure the same
semantic flow with the subsequent because clause and the linking adverb therefore
respectively (viz. therefore is linked to the part companies face reputational penalties for
reducing dividends, giving a reason for companies cautiousness). This observation is in line
with Conrad (2000, p. 550), who found that semantic categories in academic prose
correspond to the registers emphasis on developing, supporting, or countering arguments and
leading readers through logical steps to a Here, the NERVOUSNESS group in the
pattern A DJ about N functions as a resource for creating a logical argument by structuring a
cause-effect relationship. Such representations of cause-effect relations make the writers
argument more acceptable and credible to disciplinary community members by supporting it
with suitable reasoning.
The examples above present a function of the pattern that occurs in both disciplines.
However, there is also a disciplinary difference in some LSPs the type of
evaluator typically associated with this pattern. Let us consider the examples of the LSP
apprehensive about N as follows:
In other words, the more one reads, the less one feels apprehensive about writing, and the less
one suffers from dysfunctional composing, thanks to having more competence in the conventions
of writing. (ALC: LL2005_4)
He contends that foreign banks are apprehensive about offering the new services allowed under
the FSMA. (BC: Finance2005_24)
In the examples above, the evaluator in ALC is animatea person, whereas that in BC is
inanimateforeign banks. Animate evaluators consistently occur in all examples in ALC,
whereas inanimate institutional ones are much more likely to occur in BC (e.g. company and
bank). Furthermore, animate evaluators in applied linguistics are likely to be singular
individuals, whilst inanimate evaluators in business studies tend to be plural entities. This
point will be further discussed in Chapters 8, 9 and 10.
6.2.3. The CERTAINTY group
The CERTAINTY group in the current study is quite akin to the CERTAIN group in Francis et al.
(1998, p. 417). This group indicates whether or not people feel certain about a particular thing,
an idea, an action, an interpretation, a procedure or a decision. Table 6.10 below lists
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