Register, Genre, and Style (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics)

Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Contents......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 11
1.1 Text varieties in your daily life......Page 13
1.1.1 Why is it important to analyze text varieties?......Page 14
1.2 Texts, varieties, registers, and dialects......Page 16
1.3.1 Register analysis: situation, linguistic features, functions......Page 18
1.3.2 More details about registers and register analysis......Page 20
1.3.2.3 Register analysis requires both situational and linguistic analysis, often applied cyclically......Page 21
1.3.2.6 Register analyses must be based on a representative sample of texts......Page 22
1.3.3 Registers versus dialects......Page 23
1.3.4 Comparing register variation and dialect variation......Page 24
1.4.1 Register, genre, and style perspectives in this book......Page 27
1.4.2 Genre and style in literary studies......Page 31
1.4.3 Register, genre and style in previous research......Page 33
1.5 Registergenre variation as a linguistic universal......Page 35
1.6 Overview of the book......Page 37
Part I Analytical framework......Page 41
2.2 Issues in the identification of registers and genres......Page 43
2.2.1 General and specialized registers and genres......Page 44
2.2.2 Culturally recognized registergenre distinctions......Page 45
2.3 A framework for situational analysis......Page 48
2.3.1.1 Your experience and observation......Page 49
2.3.1.3 Previous research......Page 50
2.3.2 The framework for analyzing situational characteristics......Page 51
2.3.2.1 Participants......Page 53
2.3.2.2 Relations among participants......Page 54
2.3.2.4 Production circumstances......Page 55
2.3.2.6 Communicative purpose......Page 56
2.3.2.7 Topic......Page 58
2.4 Applying the situational analytical framework in a register study......Page 59
3.1 Introduction......Page 62
3.2 Fundamental issues for the linguistic analysis of registers......Page 63
3.2.1 The need for a comparative approach......Page 64
3.2.2 Register features, register markers, genre markers, style features......Page 65
3.2.3 The need for quantitative analysis......Page 68
3.2.4 The need for a representative sample......Page 69
3.3 Conducting quantitative analyses......Page 70
3.3.1 Classifying linguistic features in a principled and consistent way......Page 71
3.3.2 Computing rates of occurrence (frequency counts)......Page 73
3.4 Deciding on the linguistic features to investigate......Page 75
3.5 Functional interpretations......Page 76
3.6 Textual conventions: the genre perspective......Page 81
3.7 Pervasive linguistic features that are not directly functional: the style perspective......Page 83
3.8 Embedded registers and genres......Page 84
3.9 A short introduction to corpus linguistics......Page 85
3.10 Small-scale versus large-scale register analyses......Page 86
Part II Detailed descriptions of registers, genres, and styles......Page 95
4.1 Introduction......Page 97
4.2.1 Situational characteristics of conversation......Page 98
4.2.2 Linguistic characteristics of conversation......Page 100
4.2.3 Quantitative linguistic differences between conversation and other registers......Page 104
4.3 University office hours......Page 108
4.4 Service encounters......Page 114
4.5 Conclusion......Page 117
5.1 Introduction......Page 121
5.2 Situational characteristics of newspaper writing and academic prose......Page 122
5.3.1 Writing vs. conversation......Page 126
5.3.2 Comparison of newspaper writing and academic prose......Page 130
5.4.1 News reports and newspaper editorials......Page 136
5.4.2 Research articles vs. textbooks......Page 138
5.5 More specific subregisters: research article sections......Page 141
5.6 Research articles from a genre perspective......Page 143
5.7 Variation in fiction due to style......Page 144
5.8 Conclusion......Page 151
6.1 Introduction......Page 155
6.2.1 A genre perspective on the historical novel......Page 156
6.2.2 Style characteristics of particular eighteenth- and twentieth-century novels......Page 159
6.2.3 General stylistic differences between eighteenth-century and modern novels......Page 163
6.2.4 Social contexts of eighteenth-century and modern novels......Page 167
6.3.1 Historical change in research articles: a genre perspective......Page 169
6.3.2 Historical change in research articles: a register perspective......Page 174
6.3.3 Genreregister change, or change to a new genreregister?......Page 177
6.4 Historical change in the patterns of register variation......Page 178
6.4.1 Historical register change in the complexity of noun phrases......Page 179
6.4.2 Historical register change in the linguistic expression of stance......Page 182
7.1 Introduction: new technology and new registers......Page 189
7.2.1 Situational characteristics of personal e-mail messages......Page 190
7.2.2 Linguistic characteristics of personal e-mail messages......Page 193
7.2.3 Variation in addressee and purpose in e-mail messages......Page 197
7.2.4 Genre markers in e-mail messages......Page 200
7.3 E-forum postings......Page 202
7.3.1 Situational characteristics of e-forum postings......Page 203
7.3.2 Linguistic features of e-forum postings......Page 205
7.3.3 A closer look at the use of personal pronouns by users of different status......Page 209
7.4 Text messages......Page 211
7.4.1 Situational characteristics of text messages......Page 212
7.4.1.1 Purpose 1: Social organizing......Page 214
7.4.1.4 Purpose 4: Relationship maintenance......Page 215
7.4.1.5 Purpose 5: Business reminders......Page 216
7.4.2 Linguistic features of text messages......Page 217
7.5 Chapter summary......Page 220
Part III Larger theoretical issues......Page 225
8.1 Comparing multiple registers......Page 227
8.1.1 Generalizable descriptions of registers......Page 228
8.1.2 Which linguistic features to consider?......Page 229
8.1.3 Comparing the distribution of individual linguistic features across multiple registers......Page 230
8.2 Introduction to multidimensional analysis......Page 235
8.2.1 Conceptual introduction to the multidimensional approach to register variation......Page 236
8.2.2 Overview of methodology in the multidimensional approach......Page 237
8.3 MD analysis of university spoken and written registers......Page 238
8.3.1 Dimension 1: Oral vs. literate discourse......Page 242
8.3.2 Dimension 2: Procedural vs. content-focused discourse......Page 246
8.3.3 Dimension 3: Reconstructed account of events......Page 249
8.3.4 Dimension 4: Teacher-centered stance......Page 251
8.3.5 Differences among academic disciplines......Page 253
8.4 Summary and conclusion......Page 257
9.1 Register studies in the broader context of linguistics......Page 265
9.2 Register variation in languages other than English......Page 268
9.3 Speech and writing......Page 272
9.4 Register variation and sociolinguistics......Page 276
9.5 Register studies in the broader context of the world......Page 279
Appendix A Annotation of major register/genre studies By Federica Barbieri......Page 283
Other spoken registers......Page 286
PhD dissertations......Page 293
Fiction and other written registers......Page 294
Other studies of historical registers......Page 300
Other studies of special registers......Page 305
Other MD studies......Page 307
Text 2. Novel 2, Lynne Reid Banks, The L-Shaped Room, 1960......Page 308
Text 3. Novel 3, Doris Lessing, The Good Terrorist, 1985......Page 309
Text 5. Newspaper Report 2......Page 310
Text 7. Conversation, A family in the car, on the way to school......Page 311
Text 9. Conversation, Colleagues at work......Page 312
Text 10. Classroom Teaching, American university first-year English composition class......Page 313
Text 11. Academic Writing, university student research paper in applied linguistics......Page 315
Text 12. Historical drama, Samuel Beazley, The Steward: or, Fashion and Feeling, 1819......Page 316
Text 13. Contemporary drama,  Simon Gray, Otherwise Engaged, 1975......Page 317
Text 14. Historical letter, 1716, Lady Montagu to Alexander Pope......Page 318
Excerpts from Pair 1, Kristy and Lisa......Page 319
Excerpts from Pair 2, Jade and Marge......Page 320
Excerpts from Pair 3, Joe and Rudy......Page 321
Text 18. Twentieth-century fiction, E. M. Forster, A Room with a View, 1908......Page 322
Text 21. Twentieth-century fiction, Bharati Mukherjee, The Middleman, 1988......Page 323
Text 23. Twentieth-century newspaper story (1990, Associated Press)......Page 324
Text 24. Eighteenth-century advertisements; April 11, 1772, The Censor (an early American newspaper in Boston)......Page 325
References......Page 327
Index......Page 351