Interactive metadiscourse resources

The interactive dimension of metadiscourse was described in the previous chapter (2.2.3) as organising discourse in relation to what the writer understands to be the reader’s needs, thus allowing the writer to establish authority and credibility within the community and the text. The rhetorical features expressing this dimension in the revised model used in the analysis are transition markers, frame markers, endophoric markers and code glosses.

Transition markers “help readers interpret pragmatic connections between steps in an

argument” (Hyland 2005: 50). In 2.2.3, it was explained that only transitions which link ideas can count as metadiscourse. Other transitions linking real world features such as activities, things and events are not metadiscoursal. Table 3.16 below, based on Martin and Rose (2003: 127), indicates and illustrates the ways in which ideas can be linked by means of conjunctions and adverbial phrases:

Table 3.16 Internal transitions in text

Relation Function Examples

Addition introducing additional arguments

Recognition of cerebral artery fenestrations in the context of cerebral ischaemia or stroke is important for at least three reasons: 1….. 2. …. 3. A precise diagnosis as early as possible will also save unnecessary costly investigations (in this patient three MRI scans) and guide appropriate therapy (BAFE).

Comparison comparing and contrasting claims, arguments and evidence

Intracranial air is easily demonstrated on CT scan. However intracranial air is not a diagnosis in itself. It is merely a manifestation of an associated abnormality (IAEA).

Consequence drawing conclusions, providing warrants for claims and countering arguments

No evidence of exposure to asbestos could be obtained. Contact with the mineral would, in any case, be most unlikely to cause this x-ray appearance in so young a patient (LDCA)

It is not important whether these markers join clauses that are equal or unequal in status; rather, the crucial issue identifying a transition marker is its function to assist the reader in making connections between ideas (Hyland 2005).

Frame markers “signal text boundaries or elements of schematic text structure” (Hyland

2005: 51). In the same way as transition markers are defined as those which connect ideas rather than having a role external to the discourse, frame markers such as first and then are identified as ordering arguments in the discourse rather than events in real time. Similarly, listing must be of discourse items rather than referring to categories that arise externally to the discourse, such as the staging of cancers.

In general the function of frame markers is to frame information about text elements or to order or list discourse items. Hyland does not specify the use of bulleted points as one sort of list which can function as a frame marker. Where they occur in the corpora examined here (e.g. (17) below), I have included them as frame markers (each such list is counted as one device) since they seem to function exactly in the same way as numbers or letters in order to list points that relate to a superordinate item such as reasons in (16) below:

(16) Recognition of cerebral artery fenestrations in the context of cerebral ischaemia or stroke is important for at least three reasons:

1. It may represent the mechanism for the ischaemia or stroke.

2. Various treatment options are available which include medical, interventional radiological (Guglielmi coils)11 _{and surgical options such as aneurysm clipping. The realisation that}

aneurysms may be part of this developmental abnormality should demand a comprehensive appraisal of the cerebral circulation by angiography.

3. A precise diagnosis as early as possible will also save unnecessary costly investigations (in this patient three MRI scans) and guide appropriate therapy (BAFE).

(17) Radiological findings noting the blood supply to the aneurysm of the case under discussion included:

- A predominant supply appeared to be via the left posterior cerebral artery - Good filling was noted….

- Drainage was into a very dilated straight sinus…. (AVGA).

Frame markers also announce stages in the text, for example:

(18) First the patient's clinical history is discussed…. The study then covers various subjects brought up in the clinical history, starting by looking at acute renal failure itself and its aetiology, the treatment of the patient's renal failure and the prognosis (ARF)

The announcing of discourse goals or labels is also a frame marker, for example:

(19) In conclusion although our results were satisfactory, we hope that this rare case of primary hydatidosis of the thyroid will prove useful to justify routine use of ultrasound in the evaluation of thyroid nodules, especially where a cystic lesion is suspected (HTGL).

(20) The aim of this report is to discuss the importance of the combination of scintigraphy and ultrasonography prior to fine needle aspiration (FNA) in the diagnosis and management of swellings of the thyroid gland (HTGL).

(21) Recognition of cerebral artery fenestrations in the context of cerebral ischaemia or stroke is important for at least three reasons (BAFE).

Endophoric markers are used by writers to refer to material in other parts of the text. “By

guiding readers through the discussion they help steer them to a preferred interpretation or reading of the discourse” (Hyland 2005: 51). This sort of expression is exemplified in the following:

(22) Artefacts may however occasionally cause a diffuse abnormality as the following case illustrates (DCAR).

(23) A skull X-ray (Figure 1 a) and a subsequent CT brain (Figures 1 b and c) were performed (PCTU).

In (22) the writer links the case that will follow with a statement of the point that is being made by the report, thus assisting the reader to process the discourse. In (23) the referents are radiographic images on the same page. This sort of configuration of visual and verbal material is characteristic of scientific discourse and its importance is reflected in the way text and visual material is metadiscoursally linked (Hyland 2005). A single marker may refer to more than one visual element as in (23) above.

Code glosses are the final category of interactive metadiscourse features. By predicting

what additional explanatory material readers may need and providing it, the writer aims to ensure that the meaning of the text can be understood. The gloss may be a reformulation, for example:

(24) The unique radiological findings in LDD, namely the thickened cerebellar cortex with

enlarged, dysplastic folia, and the thinning of the central white matter is well

demonstrated in this case (DGCE)

(25) He was also stabbed in the dorsal spine and rendered paraplegic (clinically T4 level) (IAEA).

Reformulations can function as expansions (explanations, definitions and implications) or as reductions (paraphrases or specifications) of the original meaning (Hyland 2007). The example in (24) above is an expansion while (25) is a reduction. Hyland does not refer to abbreviations, for example Lhermitte-Duclos disease (LDD), but in my analysis I treat them as explanations since the function of this type of code gloss is to explain that this is the abbreviation which will be used subsequently in the text.

The second major type of code gloss is exemplification, for example:

(26) Operative interhemispheric (e.g. transcallosal) procedures near the superior sagittal sinus may produce local trauma and stasis (CVTH).

The example given here provides a specific instance of the type of operative procedure mentioned by the writer.