Los campos modales en el discurso de divulgación científica

Abstract

Following the logical concept of ‘propositional attitude’; the linguistic treatment of modality has assumed that such an attitude is independent of the proposition it goes with; sometimes modality has been considered as something that is added to the proposition; on other occasions it has been presented as a value governing the organization of the proposition itself. But; from a discourse perspective; the need to reconsider the characterization of the grammatical category of modality becomes apparent. The purpose of this essay is to search for correlations between the modal value of some verbal periphrases and the ‘moves’ generating a discourse intended to divulge scientific knowledge. According to Halliday’s systemic-functional approach (1994) and Swales’ (1990) ‘CARS’ (Creating a Research Space) model; and its amplification by Dudley-Evans (1994); it is argued that the use of modality markers is motivated by the characteristics of the different stages constructing the discourse.