Analysing cognitive verbs in Life Sciences texts: A comparative study using the Coruña Corpus
This study extends the analysis of cognitive verb use across academic disciplines by focusing on the Corpus of English Life Sciences Texts (CELiST), a subcorpus of the Coruña Corpus of English Scientific Writing (CC). Previous research has concentrated on the linguistic variation in English cognitive verbs over time, highlighting significant differences in the presence and distribution of these verbs across various fields, including Linguistics, Engineering, and Medicine (Carrió-Pastor 2017). This reveals distinct patterns of epistemic stance that reflect the research practices of each discipline. Based on this line of research, this study aims to determine whether similar patterns emerge in Life Sciences texts, where the communication of empirical knowledge holds significant importance. By analysing the frequency, distribution, and phraseological patterns of cognitive verbs within Life Sciences texts, this research will explore how eighteenth and nineteenth-century researchers in this field express certainty, attitude, and belief, and how these expressions match or differ from those observed in other disciplines. The findings will contribute to a deeper understanding of academic writing in the Life Sciences during that time. Further research may compare the results obtained with texts from the specific field of present-day life sciences.