A cross-disciplinary corpus-based study on English and Chinese native speakers' use of linking adverbials in academic writing

This paper reports a comparative investigation into the differences and similarities in the use of linking adverbials (LAs) by English and Chinese native speakers (ENSs and CNSs) in their academic English writing. Using a corpus of research articles (RAs) from the fields of Physics, Computer Science, Linguistics and Management written by ENSs and CNSs, we present data to reveal that: (i) there is no significant difference in LA use between CNSs and ENSs in terms of density; (ii) the writing of CNSs is characterized by a pattern of relative underuse of additive and adversative LAs; (iii) soft non-science disciplines have higher use of LAs than hard science disciplines; and (iv) CNSs and ENSs share a repertoire of high-frequency LA items, but differ greatly in individual LA usage. These findings may have implications for the teaching of academic writing, as well as for cross-cultural understanding among academics.