Estructura ilocucionaria y cortesía: La construcción de conocimiento y opinión en las cartas de lectores de ciencia

this paper seeks to contribute to the research on opinion genres in scientific communication. more specifically, it intends to broaden the knowledge of actional and interactional structures and resources that scholars and readers use to create and build scientific opinion. based on letters sent to the argentinean magazine ciencia hoy, illocutionary patterns typical of controversial letters are identified and described. moreover, the politeness forms that readers use to deflect the undesirable effects of the threatening acts entailed in their images are addressed in depth. the analysis reveals empirical results based on this particular genre, which succinctly presents the triad dialogue/reply/controversy typical of scientific endeavor. these results could be applied as inputs for providing guidelines and as inputs for upgrading skills in specialized genres.