Register Studies - Current Issue

Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen elaborates on the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) approach to register in this contribution to the inaugural issue of Register Studies. He is Chair Professor of the Department of English at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he pursues a scholarly agenda that includes developing the theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics and applying it to text and discourse analysis, functional grammar, issues related to language evolution and typology, and comprehensive descriptive models of register. Throughout his career, Matthiessen has made major contributions to SFL theories and methods. Among his major works is Lexicogrammatical Cartography: English Systems (1995, International Language Sciences Publishers). More than any other scholar, Matthiessen has expounded on Halliday’s early ideas on register and applied SFL theory to describing models of register variation. He remains an active researcher in the area of register studies which includes his registerial cartography – the comprehensive and systematic description of the registers in a language. Matthiessen’s work has left an indelible mark on the theory and systematic study of patterns of register in language use.

Douglas Biber, Regents’ Professor of Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University, authors this article exploring the connections between register and a text-linguistic approach to language variation. He has spent the last 30 years pursuing a research program that explores the inherent link between register and language use, including at the phraseological, grammatical, and lexico-grammatical levels. His seminal book Variation across Speech and Writing (1988, Cambridge University Press) launched multi-dimensional (MD) analysis, a comprehensive framework and methodology for the large-scale study of register variation. This approach was innovative in taking a text-linguistic approach to characterize language use across situations of use through the quantitative and functional analysis of linguistic co-occurrence patterns and underlying dimensions of language use. MD analysis is now used widely to study register variation over time, in general and specialized registers, in learner language, and across a range of languages. In 1999, the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (Biber et al.) became the first comprehensive descriptive reference book to systematically consider register variation in describing the grammatical and lexico-grammatical patterns of use in English. Douglas Biber’s quantitative linguistic research has consistently demonstrated the importance of register as a predictor of language variation. In his own words, “register always matters” (Gray 2013: 360, Interview with Douglas Biber, English Language & Linguistics).

Benedikt Szmrecsanyi, Professor of Linguistics in the Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics research group at the Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven, writes this article exploring the connections between register and variationist linguistics. He is involved with various large-scale research projects in areas such as probabilistic grammar, variationist sociolinguistic research, linguistic complexity, and dialectology/dialectometry. Szmrecsanyi’s books include Grammatical Variation in British English Dialects: A Study in Corpus-based Dialectometry (2013, Cambridge) and Aggregating Dialectology, Typology, and Register Analysis: Linguistic Variation in Text and Speech (Szmrecsanyi & Wälchli 2014, Mouton de Gruyter). He is currently a principal investigator on a major grant-funded research project titled ‘The register-specificity of probabilistic grammatical knowledge in English and Dutch’, a project aimed at exploring the question of whether register differences lead to differences in the processes of making linguistic choices. In sharp contrast to the status quo in variationist linguistics, where register is often ignored entirely, much of Szmrecsanyi’s variationist research treats register as a variable of primary importance. The findings from these studies have led Benedikt Szmrecsanyi to state that “we need more empirical/variationist work to explore the differences that register makes” (Szmrecsanyi 2017: 696).

Shlomo Argamon is Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Master of Data Science Program at the Illinois Institute of Technology (USA). In this article, he reflects on the current and potential relationship between register and the field of computational linguistics. He applies his expertise in computational linguistics and machine learning to a variety of problems in natural language processing. These include stylistic variation, forensic linguistics, authorship attribution, and biomedical informatics. He is particularly interested in the linguistic structures used by speakers and writers, including linguistic choices that are influenced by social variables such as age, gender, and register, as well as linguistic choices that are unique or distinctive to the style of individual authors. Argamon has been a pioneer in computational linguistics and NLP research in his efforts to account for and explore register variation. His computational linguistic research on register draws inspiration from Systemic Functional Linguistics, Biber’s multi-dimensional approach to register variation, as well as his own extensive experience accounting for variation within and across text types and authors. Argamon has applied computational methods to text classification and description across registers – including blogs, academic disciplines, and news writing – as well as the interaction between register and other social variables, such as age and gender. His cutting-edge research in these areas is certain to have a lasting impact on the future of computational linguistics and NLP.

Merja Kytö is Professor of English Language at Uppsala University. In this article, she provides a detailed accounting of the role of register in research on the historical development of language. Her substantial body of work has focused on both the historical development of specific registers, as well as how historical change has been mediated by register. Her research has encompassed a range of time periods (from Early Modern English to the 19th century) and registers (for example, depositions, Salem witchcraft records, and dialogues). Her many edited collections have brought historical linguists together into comprehensive and rigorous volumes, including the Cambridge Handbook of English Historical Linguistics (Kytö & Pahta 2016, Cambridge University Press), English in Transition: Corpus-Based Studies in Linguistic Variation and Genre Styles (Rissanen, Kytö, & Heikkonen 1997, De Gruyter), and Developments in English: Expanding Electronic Evidence (Taavitsainen, Kytö, Claridge, & Smith 2014, Cambridge University Press). She has been a key contributor to the development of principled historical corpora, such as the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts project, which represents a range of registers from Old and Middle English to Early Modern English. Merja Kytö has long been a leader in demonstrating how systematic attention to register can result in rich profiles of historical development, and in addressing the inherent challenges involved in utilizing historical documents for linguistic research.

Susan Conrad, Professor of Applied Linguistics at Portland State University (USA), contributes this article on the applications of register research to English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Her research focuses on topics including academic register variation, discipline-specific language, student and workplace writing, and grammar and writing pedagogy. Since the 1990s, her work has advocated for and exemplified the ways in which register-based descriptions can facilitate language teaching, including building awareness of register variation in learners and novice writers themselves. This focus is illustrated in her book Real Grammar: A Corpus-Based Approach to English (Conrad & Biber 2009, Pearson Longman), which takes many of the major register-based patterns of variation in English grammar (described in the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English,Biber et al. 1999) and translates them into practical grammar lessons for language learners, making explicit how grammar use is mediated by register. Her applied focus is also evident in her work as Principal Investigator for the Civil Engineering Writing Project <http://www.cewriting.org/>. The project, funded by the National Science Foundation, addresses the writing needs of Civil Engineering students through corpus-based register comparisons (of university student writing, practitioner workplace writing, and published academic writing), applying the results to the development and evaluation of pedagogical materials that improve students’ preparation for writing in the workplace.

Edward Finegan, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Law at the University of Southern California, provides this afterword to synthesize and provide commentary on the six articles in this issue. He has been involved with research on register for more than 30 years, publishing a large number of empirical studies on register and the book Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Register (Biber & Finegan 1994, Oxford University Press). He is also co-author on the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad, & Finegan 1999, Longman), the first comprehensive reference grammar to systematically account for register. He is currently involved in research on the relationship between register variation and social dialect variation. In addition to his research on register, Finegan has made tremendous contributions in the areas of general linguistics, language variation in the U.S., and language attitudes toward correctness, publishing widely-used textbooks in all three areas. He has also been an influential figure in the application of linguistics in legal proceedings, acting as expert witness in many legal cases, particularly those related to defamation and trademark. He currently serves as the Editor of the journal Dictionaries: The Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America.