Scientific Discourse in Sociohistorical Context: The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1675-1975.

Mahwah, N.J. and London:: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1999., 1999. First printing. Series: Rhetoric, Knowledge, and Society. 8vo. xxxi, 208 pp. Figs., indexes. Pictorial boards [hardcover]. Burndy bookplate. SCARCE IN HARDCOVER FORMAT. Fine. ISBN: 080582085X "Dwight Atkinson, in his book Scientific Discourse in Sociohistorical Context, undertakes an extremely ambitious project: an attempt to integrate quantitative/linguistic, rhetorical, and historical analyses of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1675-1975 into a single, coherent account. By all criteria, Atkinson has been fully successful in this endeavor. This book provides detailed descriptions of the history of the Royal Society itself; changes in the rhetorical structure and contexts of PTRS texts; and changes in the salient linguistic characteristics of texts across historical periods. Then, in the concluding chapters, Atkinson integrates these three perspectives, providing us with the most complete account of a scientific journal to date. At the same time, Atkinson provides us with a convincing illustration of how complementary research methodologies can be synthesized to investigate the complex ways in which linguistic, rhetorical, and historical factors are intertwined in the historical evolution of scientific discourse." - Douglas Edward Biber, University of Northern Arizona. Atkinson teaches courses in applied linguistics and second language acquisition at the University of Arizona. CONTENTS: Editor's Introduction. Introduction. Conceptual Framework. The Royal Society and Its Philosophical Transactions: A Brief Institutional History. Methods of Analysis and Description of Text Corpus. Rhetorical Analysis. Multidimensional Analysis. Synthesis and Discussion: Scientific Discourse and Scientific Forms of Life. Implications and Conclusions. Appendices: Contents of "Corpus B." Ranges of Variation for Overall MD Analysis. Standard Deviations for Overall MD Analysis.