| There is a gap in the study of language for specific purposes text types from the point of view of text linguistics and the more practical angle of composition for subject specialists, abstractors and authors of research articles. Previous studies in this field have confined themselves to the study of this text type in the English Language. Consequently, the present study intends to compare the standards for abstracts in the English and Spanish languages in order to reveal similarities and differences in this text type, which could help professional abstractors, authors of research articles and translators in their work. The methodology used in our study is based in the semantic analysis of the abstracts from the micro- and macrolinguistic angle. We describe the terms included in the abstracts, the distribution and relation they show among the moves which build the text, and the cohesive networks originated and developed in and through the text. Finally, we define the conjunctive relationships between the moves so that we will be able to determine the value abstracts show in regard to the text organization. Our methodology is applied in a linguistic corpus, which is integrated by two English and Spanish comparable corpora and another two translation corpora. Each of the corpora contains fifty research article abstracts in the subfield of cardiology. Uniform patterns of behaviour are shown in the composition of abstracts intralinguistically; on the other hand, differences in the composition of the abstracts are shown intralinguistically. Those differences can affect the acceptability of this text type in the English scientific community, considering the English language as the core language for scientific communication. So we conclude our study offering certain hints of composition that could help Spanish abstractors or translators to make their abstracts accepted in that community. |
