Abstract Empirical research writing is one of the primary means of disseminating knowledge in academia. It is through this particular form of knowledge dissemination that a rich body of scientific knowledge about a given phenomenon is accumulated. This paper explores patterns of variation in the language of this specific sub-register of academic writing, as reflected in the use of words in different sections of empirical research articles from across ten disciplinary fields. An inductive approach was adopted through which patterns of specificity in vocabulary use were systematically identified, triangulated and verified using different methods of data analysis. The results presented in this study show that the lexical choices academics make in the process of composing their research papers are differentially affected by the standards and conventions of scholarly activities in their field. It was found that such conventions have the potential to govern the delineation of authors’ linguistic decisions at the most basic levels, such as the lexis.

中文翻译：

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实证研究写作中词语使用变化的参数

摘要 实证研究写作是学术界传播知识的主要手段之一。正是通过这种特殊的知识传播形式，积累了关于特定现象的丰富科学知识。本文探讨了学术写作这一特定子记录的语言变化模式，这反映在来自十个学科领域的实证研究文章的不同部分中的词语使用上。采用归纳方法，通过使用不同的数据分析方法系统地识别、三角测量和验证词汇使用的特异性模式。本研究的结果表明，学者在撰写研究论文的过程中做出的词汇选择受到其领域学术活动标准和惯例的不同影响。人们发现，这样的约定有可能在最基本的层面上控制作者的语言决定的描述，比如词汇。