Morphological and Syntactic Features of Subject-Specific Academic Texts

The aim of the study was to establish similarities and differences in the use of non-standard language means in written and spoken academic discourse. The study employed continuous sampling method to collect data, linguistic and contextual analyses to process instances of use of non-standard language means in subject-specific setting. The identified non-standard language means are grouped by two parameters: form (morphological and syntactic means) and comprehensibility (language means that impede or do not impede understanding). The results show that the identified morphological and syntactic deviations are distributed unevenly in transcribed oral and written academic texts. Understanding may be impeded if a few non-standard means are clustered within the same context or if deviations occur in clauses, whereas the use of non-standard morphological and phrasal means will not interfere with communicating a message. The findings are valuable for developers of English language curricula, since deviations that impede understanding should be addressed.