Abstract

This article presents a contrastive analysis of the ways in which the first person markers as a discoursive organizer are manifested in academic texts. The corpus consists of academic texts published between 1989-2001 in reviews with a high level of specialization in three fields (Linguistics, Law and Physics) and in three languages (Spanish, Catalan and English). On one hand, this discoursive function is characterized by taking the parameters of Cognitive Linguistics as a basis, specially concerning the theory of mental spaces, and subjectivity. On the other hand, quantitative analysis shows, with graphics, the differences between these languages, in which Catalan may occupy an intermediate place between reader-oriented languages (English) and writer-oriented languages (Spanish); besides it also displays differences between the aforemention scientific fields which represent the three branches of the knowledge, in which social sciences (i. e. Law) may be an intermediate stage. Regardless of the discipline and the language, the extension of the text has to be taken in consideration because it may determine the role of the speaker as organizer and the results.