Functions of text commenting in scientific essays using the example of modal verbs must and should. A contrastive study German-Spanish.

Abstract

Writing scientific essays in a foreign language is one of the skills of academic writing competence that enables successful participation in various university activities. It includes an understanding of the conventional use of linguistic elements and the text actions they perform. Commenting on one’s own writing or text is achieved amongst others linguistic resources with modal verbs in German, while writers use other conventionalized linguistic constructions in Spanish. The deviation of the usage in German with regard to the nuances of meaning of the modal verbs learned in DaF lessons can lead to an unusual application of formulaic constructions in the text production of Spanish native speakers. This article discusses the use of the German modal verbs sollen and müssen within the text commenting function. We compare examples from a corpus of scientific articles in German with linguistic equivalents from a corpus in Spanish. Based on these, we discuss the importance of an explicit treatment of these nuances of meaning within the context of German lessons for Spanish native speakers with regard of an active use in text productions. key words: Text actions, text commenting function, modal verbs, conventional use, deviations between German and Spanish.