THE POPULARIZATION
OF SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE
AND KNOWLEDGE
ACROSS COMMUNITIES AND CULTURES

Descrizione

This volume brings together a selection of papers originally presented at the PRIN Conference on “The Popularization of Scientific discourse in a Changing world: Lexical and Stylistic Choices Past and Present” in Lecce on 26-27 January 2012 which aimed at investigating the implications of popularization within a broad spectrum of disciplines and from diverse methodological approaches.
It includes in-depth studies covering a wide range of genres and fields and addresses both the reader approaching the topic for the first time as indeed the scholar wishing to gain insight into the various sociolinguistic issues at stake.

Susan Kermas/Thomas Christiansen, Introduction
AN OVERVIEW OF POPULARIZATION

Maurizio Gotti, The analysis of popularization discourse: conceptual changes and methodological evolution

Christopher Williams, The ‘popularization of law’ and ‘law and Plain language’: are they two separate issues?

THE POPULARIZING NATURE OF BOTANY AND THE MANIPULATION OF THE POPULARIZER

Eleonora Chiavetta, “Gardening for the ignorant”: Mrs C.W. Earle and the popularization of gardening matters

Daniela Cesiri, Botany texts and the popular terminology of plants during the Late Modern English period in Ireland

Susan Kermas, A botanical search for the exotic and the dissemination of information from China

THE INTRODUCTION OF NEW THEORIES AND PERSPECTIVES TO SCIENCE AND MEDICINE

Elisabetta Lonati, Health and medicine in 18th-century England: a sociolinguistic approach

Thomas Christiansen, Cohesive conjunctions and their function in the discourse of the popularization of science: Charles Darwin’s correspondence on evolution and related matters

SCIENCE AND PHYSICS IN FICTION AND ENTERTAINMENT

Kim Grego, ‘The physics you buy in supermarkets’. Writing science for the general public: the case of Stephen Hawking

Barbara Berti, Comedy as an empirical science. The case of The Big Bang Theory

Pietro Luigi Iaia, Humour strategies of scientific popularization: a case study on the American sitcom the Big Bang Theory

THE DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION IN EDUCATION AND ACROSS CULTURES

Rita Bennett, The use of scientific texts from EFL, through ESOL to CLIL

Silvia Sperti, A phonopragmatic approach to the popularization of medical discourse on FGM

THE POPULARIZATION OF SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE AND KNOWLEDGE ACROSS COMMUNITIES AND CULTURES

Richard E. Burket, Reconstructing expertise: the popularization of science and the definition of expert testimony in the US legal system

Mariarosaria Provenzano, Hybridization processes in the popularization of technical discourse for the marketing of the ‘sneakers’ product

THE POPULARIZING EFFECT OF THE INTERNET

Elisa Mattiello, Initialisms & Co.: lexical and stylistic choices in scientific terminology

Alessandra Vicentini, The Fukushima nuclear crisis e-coverage: a linguistic analysis of Sciencemag.org and ScientificAmerican.com

Silvia Masi,  Metadiscourse in English and Italian: an analysis of popular scientific discourse online

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS