Oral Discourse In Scientific Research

Abstract

This chapter discusses the role and characteristics of oral discourse in scientific research, with “scientific” understood in a broad sense, covering any discipline of research. After introducing corpora of oral academic discourse, genre-specific characteristics of PhD defences, research group meetings, colloquia, and conference presentations are discussed from a discoursal point of view. In scientific research, oral discourse plays a fundamental role in the social construction of knowledge. Its analysis offers valuable insights into the sociology of scientific communities.