Decoding Metadiscourse Markers in Estonian Academic Texts: A Language-Specific Perspective

• Published in: Written communication 2025-01, Vol.42 (1), p.152-192
• Main Authors: Hint, Helen, Lemendik, Helena, Johansson, Christer, Leijen, Djuddah A. J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Language; Discourse analysis; Discourse markers; Estonian language; Finno Ugric Languages; Indo European Languages; Language Research; Language usage; Text structure; Writing
• ISSN: 0741-0883; 1552-8472
• DOI: 10.1177/07410883241286901

This article presents the development of a specialized data set for analyzing Estonian metadiscourse markers in academic usage, extending Hyland's interpersonal metadiscourse model to a non–Indo-European language. Our goal is to show how metadiscourse, as a feature of a writing tradition, can reveal aspects of writing in languages other than English, complementing the traditionally Anglo-centric perspective in metadiscourse research. By analyzing 21 Estonian linguistics research articles, we offer a transparent procedure to address methodological issues in metadiscourse studies and demonstrate the need for language-specific adjustments in the framework. We introduce statistical methods for analyzing multidimensional associations among marker categories, linguistic level, and rhetorical text structure. The findings suggest that Hyland’s metadiscourse model can be adjusted for specific languages, highlighting the influence of language structure on metadiscourse category variation and linguistic expression levels. The study reinforces that the distribution and manifestation of metadiscourse are shaped, among other factors, by unique writing traditions.