The beginnings of vernacular scientific discourse: genres and linguistic features in some early issues of the Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions

The Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions were both founded in 1665. The Journal des Sçavans was founded by Denis de Sallo and was mainly intended as a journal of book reviews, conceived of as a way of disseminating new knowledge. It covered the whole range of human knowledge. The P...

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Main Author: David BANKS
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA) 2010-09-01
Series:E-REA
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/erea/1334
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author David BANKS
author_facet David BANKS
author_sort David BANKS
collection DOAJ
description The Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions were both founded in 1665. The Journal des Sçavans was founded by Denis de Sallo and was mainly intended as a journal of book reviews, conceived of as a way of disseminating new knowledge. It covered the whole range of human knowledge. The Philosophical Transactions was founded by Henry Oldenberg, with a mandate, but without funding, from the Royal Society. It was based on the numerous letters that he received, and restricted itself to matters of “natural philosophy”. This article looks in detail at some of the linguistic features of one issue of the Journal des Sçavans (9 March 1665), and one issue of the Philosophical Transactions (3 July 1665). An analysis of transitivity patterns shows that relational process and verbal process constitute the most common types in the Journal des Sçavans, whereas in the Philosophical Transactions, although the rate of relational process is similar, the rate for material process is four times higher. An analysis of thematic structure shows that the Philosophical Transactions has rather less textual themes than the Journal des Sçavans. In terms of thematic progression, the Philosophical Transactions has slightly less linear links and rather more constant links than the Journal des Sçavans. A semantic categorization of themes shows that the most common categories in the Journal des Sçavans relate to the author of the book being reviewed, or to the book itself, whereas in the Philosophical Transactions the commonest category by far is the object of study.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1638-1718
language English
publishDate 2010-09-01
publisher Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA)
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spelling doaj-art-d2132b5ffd8646ce8bea107e825e79f12025-01-09T12:53:26ZengLaboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA)E-REA1638-17182010-09-018110.4000/erea.1334The beginnings of vernacular scientific discourse: genres and linguistic features in some early issues of the Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical TransactionsDavid BANKSThe Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions were both founded in 1665. The Journal des Sçavans was founded by Denis de Sallo and was mainly intended as a journal of book reviews, conceived of as a way of disseminating new knowledge. It covered the whole range of human knowledge. The Philosophical Transactions was founded by Henry Oldenberg, with a mandate, but without funding, from the Royal Society. It was based on the numerous letters that he received, and restricted itself to matters of “natural philosophy”. This article looks in detail at some of the linguistic features of one issue of the Journal des Sçavans (9 March 1665), and one issue of the Philosophical Transactions (3 July 1665). An analysis of transitivity patterns shows that relational process and verbal process constitute the most common types in the Journal des Sçavans, whereas in the Philosophical Transactions, although the rate of relational process is similar, the rate for material process is four times higher. An analysis of thematic structure shows that the Philosophical Transactions has rather less textual themes than the Journal des Sçavans. In terms of thematic progression, the Philosophical Transactions has slightly less linear links and rather more constant links than the Journal des Sçavans. A semantic categorization of themes shows that the most common categories in the Journal des Sçavans relate to the author of the book being reviewed, or to the book itself, whereas in the Philosophical Transactions the commonest category by far is the object of study.https://journals.openedition.org/erea/1334Journal des SçavansPhilosophical Transactionsseventeenth centurythematic structuretransitivitySystemic Functional Linguistics
spellingShingle David BANKS
The beginnings of vernacular scientific discourse: genres and linguistic features in some early issues of the Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions
E-REA
Journal des Sçavans
Philosophical Transactions
seventeenth century
thematic structure
transitivity
Systemic Functional Linguistics
title The beginnings of vernacular scientific discourse: genres and linguistic features in some early issues of the Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions
title_full The beginnings of vernacular scientific discourse: genres and linguistic features in some early issues of the Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions
title_fullStr The beginnings of vernacular scientific discourse: genres and linguistic features in some early issues of the Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions
title_full_unstemmed The beginnings of vernacular scientific discourse: genres and linguistic features in some early issues of the Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions
title_short The beginnings of vernacular scientific discourse: genres and linguistic features in some early issues of the Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions
title_sort beginnings of vernacular scientific discourse genres and linguistic features in some early issues of the journal des scavans and the philosophical transactions
topic Journal des Sçavans
Philosophical Transactions
seventeenth century
thematic structure
transitivity
Systemic Functional Linguistics
url https://journals.openedition.org/erea/1334
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AT davidbanks beginningsofvernacularscientificdiscoursegenresandlinguisticfeaturesinsomeearlyissuesofthejournaldesscavansandthephilosophicaltransactions