Formulation and Reformulation Procedures in Verbal Interactions between Experts and (Semi-)laypersons

Abstract

This article has a dual purpose: on the one hand, it aims to add to the study of text production from a formulation-centered perspective (Antos, 1982; Gülich and Kotschi, 1995); on the other, since the analysis and discussion of linguistic problems presented here focus on a specific discourse type within scientific communication, this article is intended as a contribution to scientific communication studies. As I am particularly interested in text production as a process, the corpus I examine consists of oral interviews. In particular, I explore the oral interaction between scientists and specialized journalists that precedes the writing of science popularization texts targeted for the lay reader. I analyze and assess, from a structural and functional point of view, two types of recurrent formulation procedures usually deployed by experts: `illustration' and `reformulation', and claim they constitute resources for the construction of the interlocutors' discursive identities.