Two ways to reformulate: a contrastive analysis of reformulation markers

The aim of this paper is to present a contrastive analysis of reformulation markers in English, Spanish and Catalan. The study is based on a corpus of expository prose (mainly academic writing). The analysis shows coincidences in the sources of the markers and differences in the variety of forms expressing reformulation as well as in their frequency of use. Assuming that grammaticalization processes such as those leading to the creation of connectives have their roots in discourse, parallel differences are expected to be found in text construction. The present paper argues that the differences identified in the grammar of English vs. those of Spanish and Catalan can be associated with two distinct styles for building academic texts.