This volume brings together a selection of papers originally presented at the Language for Specific Purposes Symposium which took place in Bergamo, Italy from 29 August to 2 September, 2005. In selecting from papers on specialized discourse presented at this conference, the editors have tried to create a thematic unity by grouping the papers according to four disciplinary areas: academic and scientific discourse, business discourse, institutional discourse, and legal discourse. Within these fields, a diversity of approaches has been maintained in order to represent the eclectic nature of studies in specialized discourse as they are carried out today.

It is no coincidence that the papers fall into these four areas, as these are fields with a very international dimension and hence the use of English, as the increasingly global language, is naturally very important. Indeed, all the papers included in this publication are in English and mainly focus on English. On the other hand, the contributors to this volume come from a range of different countries and mother tongues. This diversity represents the international interest in English as a language of specialized discourse and communication.

Contents:

John Flowerdew/Maurizio Gotti: Introduction Inmaculada Álvarez de Mon y Rego: A Contrastive Study of Encapsulation and Prospection in Written Scientific Text Inmaculada Fortanet/Juan Carlos Palmer/Miguel Ruiz: Academically Speaking: The Use of -ly Adverbials by British and American Lecturers Irena Vassileva: Metamorphosis: Conference Abstract, Conference Presentation, Published Paper Giuliana Garzone: The Use of Discursive Features Expressing Causal Relations in Annual Company Reports Susan Kermas: Metaphor and Ideology in Business and Economic Discourse in British and American English Gina Poncini: Specialized Discourse about Mergers and Acquisitions: Exploring a Cross-border Deal Cinzia Bevitori: Speech Representation in Parliamentary Discourse. Rhetorical Strategies in a Heteroglossic Perspective: A Corpus-based Study Louann Haarman: The Construction of Stance in BBC Television Coverage of the Iraqi War Stefania Biscetti: Tag Questions in Courtroom Discourse Ross Charnock: Forms and Functions of Ambiguity in English Common Law Adjudication Charlotte Taylor: Witness Strategies in the Hutton Inquiry.