Sociolinguistic and Translingual Practices in the Discourse of Astronomers in Argentina

Abstract

This paper examines the sociolinguistic practices of a particular scientific and discourse community. To that end, I analyze seminars delivered by PhD students of astronomy at the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Astronomy (located in Córdoba, Argentina, and associated with the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, and the National University of Córdoba). The main assumption guiding this research is that these seminars constitute relevant instances in the incorporation of a specific scientific and linguistic habitus during the process of academic socialization of doctorates. From a sociolinguistic perspective, I outline two main traits from within the discourse of these early career astronomers: the paper-like structure of their oral presentations (an indicator of the prevalence of writing as the dominant mode of scientific communication, as shown by the transfer of written stylistic conventions into spoken language), and the naturalization of the presence and use of the English language through creative translingual practices.