The Lexico-Grammatical Features Of Shell Nouns In The Abstracts Of Textile Academic Articles

This study examines shell nouns and their lexico-grammatical features in academic writing, i.e. the linking function of text and evaluative function of the writer’s stance."Shell nouns" work like the shell accompanied by the shell content. The anaphoric shell nouns of packing retrievable information in context and cataphoric shell nouns of capturing the idea by creating the conceptual shells for complex pieces of information expressed by phrases or clauses allows high frequencies in discourse, especially in academic writings. Shell nouns are surprisingly versatile and powerful linguistic conceptual tools in helping creating cohesive context.Based on the Abstract Sub-corpus of the Donghua Textiles Academic Writing Corpus (DTAWC), this paper has investigated the lexico-grammatical features of shell nouns in the academic texts, including anaphoric functions, when the shell nouns are preceded by the sentence initial deictic this serving earlier propositions and cataphoric functions when the shell nouns are followed by the that-clause. The investigation points to the stance construction of shell nouns. Through such encapsulation, shell nouns organize the text, indicating to the reader how the hidden textual message is to be understood. In so doing they enable the writer to take a stance as a competent member of the discipline.These uses of shell nouns are important for academic writers in that it helps achieve a coherent discourse and constitutes a valuable resource for the construction of convincing arguments and the expression of the writer’s stance. This study, therefore, attempts to explore the fundamental factors for their frequent occurrence in those texts and enlighten novice academic writers to achieve effective academic writing.