Attitudinal Resources in Academic Talks: A Corpus-Based Analysis Across Languages

Attitude in language serves as a pronounced indicator, reflecting the individual stance of the speaker. This study analyses how scholars from diverse language backgrounds, including L1 English, English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), and L1 Chinese, articulate and convey their viewpoints through the use of attitudinal markers in academic talks. Findings reveal that L1 English speakers use the highest proportion of positive value assessment resources. In contrast, the L1 Chinese group demonstrates a comparable use of both positive and negative attitude cues, while ELF speakers exhibit a relatively higher frequency of language force markers. The implementation of contrastive (corpus) analysis, as exemplified in this study, contributes to an enhanced comprehension of identifying specific attitude cues and elucidates the role of language as a vehicle in conveying individual perspectives, particularly within the academic discourse domain.