Register variation remains stable across 60 languages

Type of content
Journal Article
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
en
Date
2022
Authors
Li H
Nini A
Dunn, Jonathan
Abstract

This paper measures the stability of cross-linguistic register variation. A register is a variety of a language that is associated with extra-linguistic context. The relationship between a register and its context is functional: the linguistic features that make up a register are motivated by the needs and constraints of the communicative situation. This view hypothesizes that register should be universal, so that we expect a stable relationship between the extra-linguistic context that defines a register and the sets of linguistic features which the register contains. In this paper, the universality and robustness of register variation is tested by comparing variation within versus between register-specific corpora in 60 languages using corpora produced in comparable communicative situations: tweets and Wikipedia articles. Our findings confirm the prediction that register variation is, in fact, universal.

Description
Citation
Li H, Dunn J, Nini A Register variation remains stable across 60 languages. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory. 0(0). Published Online: 2022-09-20
Keywords
register variation, cross-linguistic variation, communicative situation, homogeneity, register similarity
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
0801 Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
1702 Cognitive Sciences
2004 Linguistics
Fields of Research::47 - Language, communication and culture::4704 - Linguistics::470404 - Corpus linguistics
Fields of Research::47 - Language, communication and culture::4704 - Linguistics::470406 - Historical, comparative and typological linguistics
Fields of Research::47 - Language, communication and culture::4704 - Linguistics::470411 - Sociolinguistics
Rights
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