Variation in English: Multi-Dimensional Studies

by Biber; Douglas

• ISBN13: 9780582307414
• ISBN10: 0582307414
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2001-04-10
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Multi-Dimensional studies (MD) is a new statistical approach to language variation developed by Doug Biber. The methodology involved in this approach means that for the first time, using corpora of spoken and written language from different periods, we can demonstrate how language varies from one type of text to another, for example, how American style varies from British. Doug Biber beginsVariation in English: Multi-Dimensional Studieswith a discussion of the methodology required and emphasizes the new insights into language variation and use that can be gained from the MD approach.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors
Publisher's Acknowledgments
Introduction to Multi-Dimensional Analysis	p. 1
Introduction: Multi-dimensional analysis and the study of register variation	p. 3
Multi-dimensional methodology and the dimensions of register variation in English	p. 13
Multi-Dimensional Studies Based on the 1988 Model of Variation in Spoken and Written Registers	p. 43
Scientific discourse across history: a combined multi-dimensional/rhetorical analysis of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London	p. 45
Diachronic relations among speech-based and written registers in English	p. 66
Author's style and worldview: a comparison of texts about American nuclear arms policy	p. 84
Variation among disciplinary texts: a comparison of textbooks and journal articles in biology and history	p. 94
Intra-textual variation within medical research articles	p. 108
Register variation, oral proficiency sampling and the promise of multi-dimensional analysis	p. 124
Changing gender roles in popular culture: dialogue in Star Trek episodes from 1966 to 1933	p. 138
Historical shifts in the language of women and men: gender differences in dramatic dialogue	p. 157
A multi-dimensional comparison of British and American spoken English	p. 171
Other Studies Based on the Multi-Dimensional Approach	p. 185
Register variation in student and adult speech and writing	p. 187
Dimensions of variation among eighteenth-century speech-based and written registers	p. 200
On the complexity of discourse complexity: a multi-dimensional analysis	p. 215
References	p. 241
Index	p. 252
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