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Article published In: Register Studies
Vol. 1:2 (2019) ► pp.269–295

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Exploring register variation on Reddit

A multi-dimensional study of language use on a social media website

 | University of Helsinki
Published online: 25 September 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/rs.18005.lii
Abstract
While the language of the internet has been an increasingly popular research topic, there remain many understudied areas and topics which deserve more attention. This study explores register variation within the social media website Reddit using the multi-dimensional approach developed by Douglas Biber. Reddit, the third most popular English-language social media website after the giants Facebook and Twitter, is made up of thousands of user-created ‘subreddits’, subcommunities centered around different topics, where users make posts and comment on them. Many different communities and topic areas under one roof makes Reddit a particularly fruitful source of research material. In this paper, three register dimensions are extracted from data collected over one month from a group of thirty-seven subreddits: ‘On-line Subjective Production’, ‘Informational Style’ and ‘Instructional Focus’. These dimensions describe register variation within Reddit in meaningful ways. They are also in line with suggested register universals ( (2014). Using multi-dimensional analysis to explore cross-linguistic universals of register variation. Languages in Contrast, 14(1), 7–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Multi-dimensional register studies
  • 3.Overview of the data
  • 4.Factor analysis and dimension scores
  • 5.Interpretation of the dimensions
    • 5.1Dimension 1: On-line subjective production
    • 5.2Dimension 2: Informational style
    • 5.3Comparing dimensions 1 and 2
    • 5.4Dimension 3: Instructional focus
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • References
References (42)
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