The Use of Finite Verbs in the Physical Sciences Research Article in the Late Twentieth Century

This study fits into a project whose object is to chart the development of the physical sciences research article in the course of the twentieth century. It is based on a sample of six articles for the year 1960 and eight for each of the years 1970, 1980 1990 and 2000. Using Systemic Functional Linguistics as a theoretical base, it is found that the commonest process type throughout the period is relational; this is followed by material and mental processes and verbal and existential processes are rare. The use of passives is relatively stable with a fall in 2000. The percentage of passives which are material processes rises while that of mental processes falls. An increasing number of authors use less passives. The use of first person pronoun subjects, after an initial increase, remains stable at 9%. Two-thirds of the verbs with this type of subject are mental processes. There seems to be a movement towards a two-model situation: either extensive use of passive and avoidance of first person pronoun subjects (traditional model) or reduced passive use, and increased use of first person pronoun subjects (progressive model). These findings help in the understanding of how the linguistic features of the scientific research article have come to be as they are, and are thus important in the training of ESP teachers.