Rhetorical functions of citations in linguistics research articles: A contrastive (English-Czech) study

Abstract

This study explores the rhetorical functions of citations in a specialized corpus of linguistics English-medium research articles by Czech and Anglophone scholars. Drawing on the typologies suggested by Thompson and Tribble (2001), Petrić (2007) and Lin, Chen and Chang (2013), the purpose of the investigation is to suggest a revised taxonomy and identify the rhetorical functions of citations in the corpus. The findings of the contrastive analysis of variation in the functions of citations and their distribution across the generic moves of research articles by Anglophone and Czech linguists indicates that there are divergences in the strategies they use to create intertextual connections when attributing knowledge or methods to others, relating their research to the work of others and evaluating previous research. The reasons for these divergences are related to the intended readership and the linguacultural context in which Anglophone and Czech linguists strive to construct their identities as members of the global and/or local academic community.