The Evolution of the English Scientific Register

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics grade: 1.3 University of Duisburg-Essen course: The Evolution of English Registers language: English abstract: Between the early stages of scientific writing in the late Middle English period and today there have been significant changes in the grammatical properties and the rhetorical strategies of scientific discourse. These developments had an influence on the style of scientific writing resulting in the change from a narrative towards a more argumentative style. According to this the purpose of the present essay is to consider from a historical stance the evolution of linguistic features in the English scientific register. Thus the essay takes into account several examples of linguistic features which are characteristic of late Middle English and Early Modern English scientific writing. Based on these examples it is further the aim of my essay to provide an overview of the evolution of the English scientific register concerning its grammatical properties and rhetorical strategies up to the present day.