Texts written in English by non-native speakers can be considered instances of
mediated language, where the mediation takes place between a writer’s native
language and English, seen, respectively, as the “source” and “target” poles. In investigating
such texts, the methods of analysis can thus draw on some assumptions
and approaches used in translation studies, starting from the idea that in
mediated communication the target product always shows traces of interference
from features and traits associated with the source material. This chapter reports
on an investigation of written academic language in English. The investigation is
corpus-based and the texts included in the corpus include research papers in two
different academic disciplines written by either native speakers or non-native
speakers of English. Initial findings of the investigation are discussed in relation
to two specific aspects: part-of-speech distribution and preference for pre- or
post-modification in noun groups.
