University Language: A corpus-based study of spoken and written registers

Studies in Corpus Linguistics #23

by Douglas Biber

University students must cope with a bewildering array of registers, not only to learn academic content, but also to understand course expectations and requirements. While many previous studies have investigated academic writing, we know comparatively little about academic speech; and no linguistic study to date has investigated the range of academic and advising/management registers that students encounter. This book is a first step towards filling this gap. Based on analysis of the T2K-SWAL Corpus, the book describes university registers from several different perspectives, vocabulary patterns; the use of lexico-grammatical and syntactic features; the expression of stance; the use of extended collocations ('lexical bundles'); and a Multi-Dimensional analysis of the overall patterns of register variation. All linguistic patterns are interpreted in functional terms, resulting in an overall characterization of the typical kinds of language that students encounter in university academic and non-academic; spoken and written.

Genres: Linguistics

Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Douglas Biber: Regents’ Professor in the Applied Linguistics Program (English Department) at Northern Arizona University.