Noun Phrasal Complexity in Computer Science Conference Abstracts: A Corpus-Based Study

Noun phrase (NP) complexity research has shown the effects of both discipline and writing competence on NP complexity in academic writing and has focused more on applied linguistics. Yet few studies examined NPs in the academic writing of computer science (CS), especially in the CS conference abstract writing, in depth. This study fills this gap by investigating the disciplinary preference of NPs through the corpus analysis of 267 published abstracts from a leading CS conference. The authors found that multiple pre-modifiers were the most frequently used device by CS researchers, and attributive adjectives, nouns, and prepositional phrases were fundamental in abstract composition in both CS and applied linguistics. The difference largely lies in the use of devices in later-acquired stages. CS researchers favor more multiple pre-modifiers while their peers in applied linguistics tend to prefer multiple prepositional phrases as post-modifiers. The findings shed light on classroom instruction and future research on NP complexity.