Register, Genre, and Style

by Douglas Biber , Susan Conrad

• ISBN13: 9780521677899
• ISBN10: 0521677890
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-12-14
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book describes the most important kinds of texts in English and introduces the methodological techniques used to analyse them. Three analytical approaches are introduced and compared, describing a wide range of texts from the perspectives of register, genre and style. The primary focus of the book is on the analysis of registers. Part 1 introduces an analytical framework for studying registers, genre conventions, and styles. Part 2 provides detailed descriptions of particular text varieties in English, including spoken interpersonal varieties (conversation, university office hours, service encounters), written varieties (newspapers, academic prose, fiction), and emerging electronic varieties (e-mail, internet forums, text messages). Finally, Part 3 introduces advanced analytical approaches using corpora, and discusses theoretical concerns, such as the place of register studies in linguistics, and practical applications of register analysis. Each chapter ends with three types of activities: reflection and review activities, analysis activities, and larger project ideas.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. ix
Registers, genres, and styles: fundamental varieties of language	p. 1
Text varieties in your daily life	p. 1
Texts, varieties, registers, and dialects	p. 4
Registers and register analysis: an overview	p. 6
Different perspectives on text varieties: register, genre, style	p. 15
Register/genre variation as a linguistic universal	p. 23
Overview of the book	p. 25
Analytical framework
Describing the situational characteristics of registers and genres	p. 31
Introduction	p. 31
Issues in the identification of registers and genres	p. 31
A framework for situational analysis	p. 36
Applying the situational analytical framework in a register study	p. 47
Analyzing linguistic features and their functions	p. 50
Introduction	p. 50
Fundamental issues for the linguistic analysis of registers	p. 51
Conducting quantitative analyses	p. 58
Deciding on the linguistic features to investigate	p. 63
Functional interpretations	p. 64
Textual conventions: the genre perspective	p. 69
Pervasive linguistic features that are not directly functional: the style perspective	p. 71
Embedded registers and genres	p. 72
A short introduction to corpus linguistics	p. 73
Small-scale versus large-scale register analyses	p. 74
Detailed descriptions of registers, genres, and styles
Interpersonal spoken registers	p. 85
Introduction	p. 85
Conversation	p. 86
University office hours	p. 96
Service encounters	p. 102
Conclusion	p. 105
Written registers, genres, and styles	p. 109
Introduction	p. 109
Situational characteristics of newspaper writing and academic prose	p. 110
Linguistic features in newspaper writing and academic prose	p. 114
Variation within the general registers	p. 124
More specific subregisters: research article sections	p. 129
Research articles from a genre perspective	p. 131
Variation in fiction due to style	p. 132
Conclusion	p. 139
Historical evolution of registers, genres, and styles	p. 143
Introduction	p. 143
Historical change I: the fictional novel	p. 144
Historical change II: the scientific research article	p. 157
Historical change in the patterns of register variation	p. 166
Registers and genres in electronic communication	p. 177
Introduction: new technology and new registers	p. 177
Individual e-mail messages	p. 178
E-forurn postings	p. 190
Text messages	p. 199
Chapter summary	p. 208
Larger theoretical issues
Multidimensional patterns of register variation	p. 215
Comparing multiple registers	p. 215
Introduction to multidimensional analysis	p. 223
MD analysis of university spoken and written registers	p. 226
Summary and conclusion	p. 245
Register studies in context	p. 253
Register studies in the broader context of linguistics	p. 253
Register variation in languages other than English	p. 256
Speech and writing	p. 260
Register variation and sociolinguistics	p. 264
Register studies in the broader context of the world	p. 267
Annotation of major register/genre studies (by Federica Barbieri)	p. 271
Activity texts	p. 296
References	p. 315
Index	p. 339
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