METADISCOURSE, DISCURSIVE AUTHORITY AND CULTURAL EPISTEMOLOGY

Abstract

This article examines the role of metadiscourse in constructing discursive authority and its relationship with cultural epistemology in academic writing. The study adopts a comparative linguopragmatic approach to analyze how metadiscursive strategies function in English and Uzbek research articles. It is argued that metadiscourse operates not merely as a textual organizational tool but as a central mechanism that regulates interaction, structures argumentation, and shapes epistemic positioning. The findings indicate that English academic discourse tends to employ interactional metadiscourse, emphasizing dialogic engagement, critical evaluation, and epistemic caution. In contrast, Uzbek academic discourse prioritizes textual metadiscourse, focusing on coherence, logical progression, and integrative synthesis. These differences reflect broader cultural and epistemological orientations in knowledge construction. The study contributes to cross-cultural discourse analysis by demonstrating that metadiscourse is deeply embedded in communicative norms and cannot be interpreted independently of cultural context. The results have practical implications for academic writing pedagogy, translation studies, and international scholarly communication.