Article published in:
Register Studies
Vol. 1:1 (2019) ► pp. 42–75

Text-linguistic approaches to register variation

| Northern Arizona University
Douglas Biber, Regents’ Professor of Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University, authors this article exploring the connections between register and a text-linguistic approach to language variation. He has spent the last 30 years pursuing a research program that explores the inherent link between register and language use, including at the phraseological, grammatical, and lexico-grammatical levels. His seminal book Variation across Speech and Writing (1988, Cambridge University Press) launched multi-dimensional (MD) analysis, a comprehensive framework and methodology for the large-scale study of register variation. This approach was innovative in taking a text-linguistic approach to characterize language use across situations of use through the quantitative and functional analysis of linguistic co-occurrence patterns and underlying dimensions of language use. MD analysis is now used widely to study register variation over time, in general and specialized registers, in learner language, and across a range of languages. In 1999, the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (Biber et al.) became the first comprehensive descriptive reference book to systematically consider register variation in describing the grammatical and lexico-grammatical patterns of use in English. Douglas Biber’s quantitative linguistic research has consistently demonstrated the importance of register as a predictor of language variation. In his own words, “register always matters” (Gray 2013: 360, Interview with Douglas Biber, English Language & Linguistics).
Keywords: textual variation, functional variation, lexico-grammar, multi-dimensional analysis, quantitative analysis


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 26 April 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/rs.18007.bib

Full-text

Text-linguistic approaches to register variation
References

References

Baker, P., & Egbert, J.
(Eds.) (2016) Triangulating methodological approaches in corpus linguistic research. New York: Routledge. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Barbieri, F., & Wizner, S.
in press). Appendix A: Annotations of major register and genre studies. In D. Biber & S. Conrad. Register, genre, and style, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bernstein, B.
(1970) Class, codes, and control, Vol. I: Theoretical studies towards a sociology of language. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Biber, D.
(1986) Spoken and written textual dimensions in English: Resolving the contradictory findings. Language, 62, 384–414. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1988) Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1995) Dimensions of register variation: A cross-linguistic comparison. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2006) University language: A corpus-based study of spoken and written registers. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2012) Register as a predictor of linguistic variation. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 8, 9–37. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2014) Using multi-dimensional analysis to explore cross-linguistic universals of register variation. Languages in Contrast, 14(1), 7–34. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., & Conrad, S.
(2009) Register, genre, and style. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Reppen, R.
(1998) Corpus linguistics: Investigating language structure and use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., Conrad, S., Reppen, R., Byrd, P., & Helt, M.
(2002) Speaking and writing in the university: A multi-dimensional comparison. TESOL Quarterly 36, 9–48. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., & Egbert, J.
(2018) Register variation online. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Biber, D., Egbert, J., & Davies, M.
(2015) Exploring the composition of the searchable web: A corpus-based taxonomy of web registers. Corpora, 10(1), 11–45. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., Egbert, J., Gray, B., Oppliger, R., & Szmrecsanyi, B.
(2016) Variationist versus text-linguistic approaches to grammatical change in English: Nominal modifiers of head nouns. In M. Kytö & P. Pahta (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of English historical linguistics, pp. 351–375. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., Egbert, J., & Keller, D.
under review). Reconceptualizing register in a continuous situational space. Ms.
Biber, D., & Gray, B.
(2011) Grammar emerging in the noun phrase: The influence of written language use. English Language and Linguistics, 15, 223–250. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2013) Being specific about historical change: The influence of sub-register. Journal of English Linguistics, 41, 104–134. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2016) Grammatical complexity in academic English: Linguistic change in writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., & Gray, B. & K. Poonpon
(2011) Should we use characteristics of conversation to measure grammatical complexity in L2 writing development? TESOL Quarterly, 45, 5–35. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E.
(1999) The Longman grammar of spoken and written English. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Biber, D., & Jones, J. K.
(2009) Quantitative methods in corpus linguistics. In A. Lüdeling & M. Kytö (Eds.), Corpus linguistics: An international handbook (pp. 1286–1304). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Biber, D., & Reppen, R.
(2002) What does frequency have to do with grammar teaching? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24, 199–208. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Brown, P., & Fraser, C.
(1979) Speech as a marker of situation. In K. R. Scherer & H. Giles (Eds.), Social Markers in Speech (pp. 33–62). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, G., & Yule, G.
(1983) Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, J. B.
(1960) Vectors of prose style. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Style in language (pp. 283–292). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Chafe, W. L.
(1982) Integration and involvement in speaking, writing, and oral literature. In D. Tannen (Ed.) Spoken and written language: Exploring orality and literacy (pp. 35–54). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Chafe, W. L., & Danielewicz, J.
(1986) Properties of spoken and written language. In R. Horowitz & S. J. Samuels (Eds.), Comprehending oral and written language (pp. 82–113). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Conrad, S., & D. Biber
(Eds.) (2001) Variation in English: Multi-dimensional studies. London: Longman.Google Scholar
De Beaugrande, R. A., & Dressler, W. U.
(1981) Introduction to text linguistics. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Eckert, P., & Rickford, J. R.
(Eds.) (2001) Style and sociolinguistic variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Egbert, J., & Biber, D.
(2016) Do all roads lead to Rome?: Modeling register variation with factor analysis and discriminant analysis. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory. 14(2), 233–273.Google Scholar
Ervin-Tripp, S.
(1972) On sociolinguistic rules: Alternation and co-occurrence. In J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (Eds.), Directions in sociolinguistics: The ethnography of communication (pp. 213–250). New York: Holt.Google Scholar
Ferguson, C.
(1959) Diglossia. Word, 15, 325–340. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, C. A.
(1994) Dialect, registers, and genre: Working assumptions about conventionalization. In Biber, D. & E. Finegan (Eds.), Sociolinguistic perspectives on register (pp. 15–30). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Finegan, E., & Biber, D.
(1994) Register and social dialect variation: An integrated approach. In D. Biber & E. Finegan (Eds.), Sociolinguistic perspectives on register (pp. 315–347). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2001) Register variation and social dialect variation: The register axiom. In P. Eckert & J. R. Rickford (Eds.), Style and sociolinguistic variation (pp. 235–267). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gray, B.
(2013) Interview with Douglas Biber. Journal of English Linguistics, 41(4), 359–379. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2015) Linguistic variation in research articles: When discipline tells only part of the story. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K.
(1988) On the language of physical science. In M. Ghadessy, (Ed.). Registers of written English: Situational factors and linguistic feature (pp. 162–178). London: Pinter.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R.
(1976) Cohesion in English. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Hudson, R. A.
(1980) Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hymes, D.
(1972) Editorial introduction to “Language in Society”. Language in Society, 1, 1–14. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1974) Foundations in sociolinguistics: An ethnographic approach. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Irvine, J.
(1979) Formality and informality in communicative events. In J. Baugh & J. Sherzer (Eds.) Language in use: Readings in sociolinguistics (pp. 211–228). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Longacre, R.
(1976) An anatomy of speech notions. Lisse: Peter de Ridder Press.Google Scholar
Ochs, E.
(1979) Planned and unplanned discourse. In T. Givón (Ed.) Discourse and syntax (pp. 51–80). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Sharoff, S.
(2018) Functional text dimensions for annotation of web corpora. Corpora, 31(2), 65–95. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Van Dijk, T. A.
(1972) Some aspects of text grammars: A study in theoretical linguistics and poetics. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

Biber, Douglas, Jesse Egbert & Daniel Keller
2020. Reconceptualizing register in a continuous situational space . Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 16:3 ► pp. 581 ff. Crossref logo
Biber, Douglas, Jesse Egbert, Daniel Keller & Stacey Wizner
2021. Towards a taxonomy of conversational discourse types: An empirical corpus-based analysis. Journal of Pragmatics 171 ► pp. 20 ff. Crossref logo
Goulart, Larissa, Bethany Gray, Shelley Staples, Amanda Black, Aisha Shelton, Douglas Biber, Jesse Egbert & Stacey Wizner
2020. Linguistic Perspectives on Register. Annual Review of Linguistics 6:1 ► pp. 435 ff. Crossref logo
Seoane, Elena & Cristina Suárez-Gómez
2020. Elaboration, compression and explicitness across sub-registers of popular and academic writing in Hong Kong English. Register Studies 2:2 ► pp. 275 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 april 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.