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Article published In:
English World-Wide
Vol. 40:1 (2019) ► pp.1–24

A Multidimensional Analysis of Pakistani and U.S. English blogs and columns

| University of Münster
| University of Münster

The present study is a Multidimensional Analysis (MDA) of English blogs and newspaper columns originating from Pakistan and the U.S. using MDA dimensions reported in Grieve et al. (2010): (i) Informational versus Personal Focus; (ii) Addressee Focus; (iii) Thematic Variation; and (iv) Narrative Style. The aim is to examine regional and/or functional variation among Pakistani and U.S. English blogs and columns and its possible causes. The results show that Pakistani and U.S. columns differ significantly from each other, while blogs have less significant differences. Further investigation into sub-categories of blogs reveals significant differences among technology blogs, while news blogs and individual blogs differ less significantly. An examination of possible causes shows that geographical origin, the situational characteristics of the register, and the internet as a medium play a role in variation. It is further suggested that internet registers might be evolving rapidly with the fast-changing landscape of products and services on the internet.

Keywords: Multidimensional Analysis, computer-mediated communication, register variation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Pakistani English
    • 1.2Blogs and columns
    • 1.3Multidimensional Analysis
  • 2.Data
    • 2.1Corpus design
    • 2.2Corpus compilation
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Tagging
    • 3.2Dimension scores
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Blogs versus columns
    • 4.2Individual blogs
    • 4.3News blogs
    • 4.4Technology blogs
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 1 February 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.00020.sha
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