Using Corpora to Explore Linguistic Variation

Using Corpora to Explore Linguistic Variation illustrates the ways in which linguistic variation can be explored through corpus-based investigation. Two major kinds of research questions are considered: variation in the use of a particular linguistic feature, and variation across dialects or registers. Part 1: “Exploring variation in the use of linguistic features” focuses on the study of specific words, expressions, or grammatical constructions, to study variation in the use of a particular linguistic feature. Part 2: “Exploring dialect and register variation” describes salient characteristics of dialects or registers and the patterns of variation across varieties. Part 3: “Exploring Historical Variation” applies these same two major perspectives to historical variation. One recurring theme is the extent to which linguistic variation depends on register differences, reflecting the importance of register as a key methodological and thematic concern in current corpus linguistic research.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction; 2. Part I: Exploring variation in the use of linguistic features; 3. 1. Cross-disciplinary comparisons of hedging: Some findings from the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (by Poos, Deanna); 4. 2. Would as a hedging device in an Irish context: An intra-varietal comparison of institutionalised spoken interaction (by Farr, Fiona); 5. 3. Good listenership made plain: British and American non-minimal response tokens in everyday conversation (by McCarthy, Michael); 6. 4. Variation in the distribution of modal verbs in the British National Corpus (by Kennedy, Graeme); 7. 5. Strong modality and negation in Russian (by Haan, Ferdinand de); 8. 6. Formulaic language in English academic writing: A corpus-based study of the formal and functional variation of a lexical phrase in different academic disciplines (by Oakey, David); 9. 7. Lexical bundles in Freshman composition (by Cortes, Viviana); 10. 8. Pseudo-Titles in the press genre of various components of the International Corpus of English (by Meyer, Charles); 11. 9. Pattern grammar, language teaching, and linguistic variation: Applications of a corpus-driven grammar (by Hunston, Susan); 12. Part II: Exploring dialect or register variation; 13. 10. Syntactic features of Indian English: An examination of written Indian English (by Rogers, Chandrika K.); 14. 11. Variation in academic lectures: Interactivity and level of instruction (by Csomay, Eniko); 15. Part III: Exploring historical variation; 16. 12. The textual resolution of structural ambiguity in eighteenth-century English: A corpus linguistic study of patterns of negation (by Fitzmaurice, Susan); 17. 13. Investigating register variation in nineteenth-century English: A multi-dimensional comparison (by Geisler, Christer); 18. Index