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Article published In: Register Studies
Vol. 1:1 (2019) ► pp.76–99

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Register in variationist linguistics

 | KU Leuven
Published online: 26 April 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/rs.18006.szm
Abstract
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). Grammatical variation in British English dialects: A study in corpus-based dialectometry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Cambridge) and Aggregating Dialectology, Typology, and Register Analysis: Linguistic Variation in Text and Speech (Szmrecsanyi, B., & Wälchli, B. (Eds.). (2014). Aggregating dialectology, typology, and register analysis: Linguistic variation in text and speech. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 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” ( (2017). Variationist sociolinguistics and corpus-based variationist linguistics: Overlap and cross-pollination potential. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue Canadienne de Linguistique, 62 (4), 1–17. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar: 696).
Article outline
  • 1.How is register conceptualized in variationist linguistics?
  • 2.How does register relate to the research goals within variationist linguistics?
  • 3.What are the major methodological approaches that are used to analyze or account for register in variationist linguistics?
  • 4.What does a typical register study look like in variationist linguistics?
    • 4.1Selection of the variable
    • 4.2Circumscription of the variable context
    • 4.3Retrieval and annotation
    • 4.4Analysis
    • 4.5Interpretation
  • 5.What are the most promising areas of future register research in variationist linguistics?
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (58)
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