account in Geology.

key words: textual silence, recontextualization, geology, genre analysis Long neglected as a primary impetus of study, textual silences abound in such field disciplines as geology, where most field results seem to ‘disappear ’ from the published research article. This paper first discusses the nature of textual silence and then proposes a typology of textual silences associated with written scientific discourse. Next, by examining the different disciplinary genres involved in the “recontextualization ” of a fieldwork study in geology, this study seeks to (1) identify textual silence in the various recontextualizations and (2) offer explanations for it. 1. The ‘said ’ and the ‘unsaid ’ in scientific discourse The fundamental role played by “silences ” in communication has been strongly underscored by a number of authors over the years. Hall (1985), for example, has observed that positively marked terms have meaning because of their relation to what is absent and unmarked. Ducrot (1973) argues that the relational link between the explicit and the implicit is made visible by the presuppositions underlying communicative acts. These implicit presuppositions allow for a set of conventions and laws to be seen within a language, and regulate individuals ’ interactions. Becker (1995) also emphasizes the essential role played by silence, by noting that “speech consists above all in silences. A being who could not renounce saying many things would be incapable of speaking... Each people leaves some things unsaid in order to be able to say others ” (Becker 1995, p. 6). The act of communication therefore involves a process of selection, of setting aside certain items “unsayable ” in particular situations, either for structural reasons (“interlingual system constraints”, Swales 1999), or because of the communally-constructed and culturally-determined context of silence (Swales ’ “intralingual ritual constraints”). Therefore, the process of selection is also highly dependent on the situated context of the communicative event. ha l-