The use of paragraphs in French and English academic writing: Towards a grammar of paragraphs

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Le, E.

• In this article, differences between French and English academics in the use of paragraphs in the domain of public international law are brought to light. First, the concept of paragraph ('macrostructuralbasis') in text linguistics is defined formally with relations of coordination, Subordination, and superordination. Second, a typology of paragraphs is established. Third, after the distribution of paragraphs in the corpora has been examined, it is shown how they combine and what their roles are. Thus the first Steps towards a grammar of paragraphs are defined. Furthermore, it appears that English authors tend to build their argumentation within their paragraphs, while French authors use paragraphs t o build their argumentation. The explanation for this difference might be cultural.

• Date created

  1999

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Macrostructural basis
  • Contrastive rhetoric
  • Text linguistics
  • Paragraphs
  • Academic writing

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3B00Z

• License

  © Walter de Gruyter