Chapter 5. Between context and community
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Melanie Röthlisberger
Abstract
This paper investigates the relationship between the stylistic context of utterance production and the language user’s regional background as influencing factors in one syntactic alternation, i.e., variation between the double object and the prepositional dative construction. To that end, this chapter zooms in on (1) the competition between stylistic context and regional community regarding dative choice, (2) cross-regional inter-register variation, and (3) register-specific coherence (aka intra-register variation). Comparing data from nine varieties of English using corpora that presumably share the same structure (and registers) reveals that community is more important than context, that the effect of register is regionally variable and that registers are largely but not fully coherent. These findings do not only stress the variable nature of probabilistic grammars but also point to the importance of regional effects when studying register variation (all scripts at https://osf.io/3djkr/).
Abstract
This paper investigates the relationship between the stylistic context of utterance production and the language user’s regional background as influencing factors in one syntactic alternation, i.e., variation between the double object and the prepositional dative construction. To that end, this chapter zooms in on (1) the competition between stylistic context and regional community regarding dative choice, (2) cross-regional inter-register variation, and (3) register-specific coherence (aka intra-register variation). Comparing data from nine varieties of English using corpora that presumably share the same structure (and registers) reveals that community is more important than context, that the effect of register is regionally variable and that registers are largely but not fully coherent. These findings do not only stress the variable nature of probabilistic grammars but also point to the importance of regional effects when studying register variation (all scripts at https://osf.io/3djkr/).
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Biographical notes ix
- Chapter 1. A corpus-based approach to register variation 1
- Chapter 2. Extending text-linguistic studies of register variation to a continuous situational space 19
- Chapter 3. How register-specific is probabilistic grammatical knowledge? 51
- Chapter 4. Theme as a proxy for register categorization 85
- Chapter 5. Between context and community 111
- Chapter 6. A register variation perspective on varieties of English 143
- Chapter 7. Register and modification in the noun phrase 179
- Chapter 8. A register approach toward pop lyrics in EFL education 209
- Chapter 9. On the importance of register in learner writing 235
- Chapter 10. Nominalizations in Early Modern English 259
- Chapter 11. Measuring informativity 291
- Chapter 12. Exploring sub-register variation in Victorian newspapers 313
- Index 339
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Biographical notes ix
- Chapter 1. A corpus-based approach to register variation 1
- Chapter 2. Extending text-linguistic studies of register variation to a continuous situational space 19
- Chapter 3. How register-specific is probabilistic grammatical knowledge? 51
- Chapter 4. Theme as a proxy for register categorization 85
- Chapter 5. Between context and community 111
- Chapter 6. A register variation perspective on varieties of English 143
- Chapter 7. Register and modification in the noun phrase 179
- Chapter 8. A register approach toward pop lyrics in EFL education 209
- Chapter 9. On the importance of register in learner writing 235
- Chapter 10. Nominalizations in Early Modern English 259
- Chapter 11. Measuring informativity 291
- Chapter 12. Exploring sub-register variation in Victorian newspapers 313
- Index 339
