Temporal-spatial interplay in metadiscourse: mapping organizational patterns in research article rhetoric

This study investigates interactive metadiscourse in quantitative Economics research articles across L1 Chinese, Chinese ESL, and L1 English scholars through a tripartite corpus analysis grounded in Hyland’s (2005) framework. By synthesizing the cognitive discourse analysis with the contrastive rhetoric theory, the investigation uncovers how L1-based conceptual transfer mediates spatiotemporal organization in academic texts. Results demonstrate systematic rhetorical preferences and marked frequency divergences across sub-corpora, particularly in Chinese ESL writers’ blending of pro-spatial discourse patterns with English pro-temporal sequencing norms. The conceptual duality of Chinese ESL writers’ emerges as figure-ground alignment shifts that restructure argumentative logic in L2 texts. The research advances metadiscourse scholarship by modeling L1 cognitive imprinting on disciplinary writing and refining methodologies for the multilingual rhetoric analysis. These insights clarify cognitive constraints in the cross-linguistic knowledge production and equip researchers with diagnostic tools to trace L1 interference in the international academic communication.