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Science Popularizing Mechanism of a Science Magazine in terms of the Linguistic Features of Earth Science Articles in 'Science Donga' ('과학동아' 지구과학 기사의 언어적 특성으로 본 과학 잡지의 과학 대중화 기제)

Ham, Seok-Jin;Maeng, Seung-Ho;Kim, Chan-Jong
- Journal of the Korean earth science society
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- v.31 no.1
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- pp.51-62
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- 2010
The purpose of this study was to investigate how a science magazine played a role in filling the gap between scientists and the general public, and how it contributed to science popularization. We analyzed the linguistic features of the texts used in a science magazine. We used 12 articles (six written by journalists, and six written by scientists) from the Science Donga. Register analysis was conducted in order to define the linguistic features of the texts in terms of ideational meaning, interpersonal meaning and, textual meaning. Results of this study are as follows: (1) the articles written by journalists used a higher mental and verbal processes in which the conversations and thoughts of scientists were expressed. (2) Human agents were relatively explicit in the journalists' articles. However, they were implicit or omitted in the articles of scientists. (3) Interrogative sentences and inclusive imperative sentences, and even omissions were frequently found in the journalists' articles whereas scientists' articles mainly used declarative statements. (4) The clause density of journalist' articles and scientists' were similarly lower than that of science textbooks. (5) The information structure revealed by the patterns of Theme and Rheme that the journalists' articles used in science magazines was simpler than that of science textbooks, while the structure of scientists' articles was more complex than that of journalists'. Based on the linguistic features of the texts used in science magazines, we found that a science magazine contributes to science popularization in two faces: One is in that the articles of journalists present science contents in a way that the readers can follow with ease and feel well-acquainted. The other is that the modified articles of scientists help the general public get familiar with the culuture of science in terms of use of science language.
https://doi.org/10.5467/JKESS.2010.31.1.051 인용 PDF KSCI