In:Cross-linguistic Register Variation
Edited by Sylvi Rørvik and Marlén Izquierdo
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 125] 2026
► pp. 1–23
Chapter 1English in cross-register and cross-linguistic research
An overview
Published online: 20 February 2026
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.125.01izq
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.125.01izq
Abstract
This chapter reviews recent cross-linguistic research on register variation from a contrastive perspective. The scholarship under review
encompasses corpus-based contrastive studies between English and five other languages, namely Norwegian, German, Spanish,
French, and Dutch, with the first relevant publication appearing in 2010. Although a great variety of registers, mainly
written but also spoken, have been examined, their distribution across languages is random. Studies on only written registers
are most frequent, closely followed by writing-vs-speech comparisons, and works about only spoken registers are least
frequent. All the works adhere to a functional approach to register variation, looking into the lexico-grammatical behaviour of the language features which are the object of study,
irrespective of whether the starting point is onomasiological or semasiological.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Recent studies of cross-linguistic register variation
- 3.The contributions to the current volume
Note References Appendix
References (46)
Adolphs, S., & Knight, D. (2010). Building
a spoken corpus. What are the basics? In A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy (Eds.), The
handbook of corpus
linguistics (pp. 38–52). Routledge.
Aijmer, K., & Lewis, D. (2017). Introduction. In K. Aijmer & D. Lewis (Eds.), Contrastive
analysis of discourse-pragmatic aspects of linguistic genres. Yearbook of corpus linguistics and
pragmatics (pp. 1–9). Springer.
Baños, R., & Chaume, F. (2009). Prefabricated
orality: A challenge in audiovisual translation. In M. Giorgio Marrano, G. Nadiani, & R. Chris (Eds.), The
translation of dialects in multimedia. Special Issue
of InTRAlinea. [URL]
(2003). Register
variation: A corpus approach. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, & H. Hamilton (Eds.), Handbook
of discourse
analysis (pp. 175–196). Blackwell.
Carretero, M. (2010). ‘You’re
absolutely right!’ A corpus-based contrastive analysis of ‘absolutely’ in British English and
absolutamente in Peninsular Spanish, with special emphasis on the relationship between degree and
certainty. Languages in
Contrast, 10(2), 194–222.
Carretero, M., & Villamil-Touriño, A. (2011). A
contrastive study of verbs of remembering and forgetting in English and
Spanish. Languages in
Contrast, 11(1), 40–69.
Carretero, M., Marín-Arrese, J. I., & Lavid-López, J. (2017). Adverbs
as evidentials: An English-Spanish contrastive analysis of twelve adverbs in spoken and newspaper
discourse. Kalbotyra, 70, 32–59.
Crible, L. (2018). Forms
and functions across languages and registers. John Benjamins.
Crible, L., Degand, L., & Gilquin, G. (2017). The
clustering of discourse markers and filled pauses. A corpus-based French-English study of
(dis)fluency. Languages in
Contrast, 17(1), 69–96.
Crosthwaite, P., Ningrum, S., & Schweinberger, M. (2023). Research
trends in corpus linguistics. A bibliometric analysis of two decades of Scopus-indexed corpus linguistics research in
arts and humanities. International Journal of Corpus
Linguistics, 28(3), 344–377.
Dupont, M. (2020). Placement
patterns of English and French conjunctive adjuncts of contrast. The impact of
register. Languages in
Contrast, 20(2), 263–287.
Dupont, M., & Zufferey, S. (2017). Methodological
issues in the use of directional parallel corpora. A case study of English and French concessive
connectives. International Journal of Corpus
Linguistics, 22(2), 270–297.
Ebeling, S. O. (2024a). Structural
and semantic features of adjectives across languages and registers. Languages in
Contrast, 24(1), 57–83.
(2024b). Seeing
through languages and registers. A closer look at the cognates SEE and
SE. In A. Cermakova, H. Hasselgård, M. Malá, & D. Sebestová (Eds.), Contrastive
corpus linguistics: Patterns in lexicogrammar and
discourse (pp. 29–60). Bloomsbury.
(2021). Hope
for the future: An analysis of hope/hÅp(e) across genres and
languages. BeLLs, 11(1), 7–26.
Ebeling, S. O., & Ebeling, J. (2020). Dialogue
vs narrative in fiction. A cross-linguistic comparison. Languages in
Contrast, 20(2), 288–313.
Fetzer, A., & Speyer, A. (2019). Discourse
relations across genres and contexts. A contrastive analysis of English and German
discourse. Languages in
Contrast, 19(2), 205–231.
Gómez-González, Mª. A. (2014). Canonical
tag questions in English, Spanish and Portuguese. A discourse-functional
analysis. Languages in
Contrast, 14(1), 93–126.
Goulart, L., Gray, B., Staples, S., Black, A., Shelton, A., Biber, D., Egbert, J., & Wizner, S. (2020). Linguistic
perspectives on register. Annual Review of
Linguistics, 6, 1–21.
Granger, S. (2016). A
lexical bundle approach to comparing languages. Stems in English and
French. In M.-A. Lefer & S. Vogeleer (Eds.), Genre-
and register-related discourse features in
contrast (pp. 59–72). John Benjamins.
Gray, B. (2015). Linguistic
variation in research articles: When discipline tells only part of the story. John Benjamins.
Hasselgård, H. (2024). Periphrastic
genitive constructions in English and Norwegian. In A. Cermakova, H. Hasselgård, M. Malá, & D. Sebestová (Eds.), Contrastive
corpus linguistics: Patterns in lexicogrammar and
discourse (pp. 62–86). Bloomsbury.
(2023). Seem
and appear and their Norwegian verbal counterparts: A cross-register contrastive
study. English
Studies, 104(1), 173–200.
(2020). Corpus-based
contrastive studies: Beginnings, developments and directions. Languages in
Contrast, 20(2), 184–208.
(2017). Adverbial
clauses in English and Norwegian fiction and news. In K. Aijmer, & D. Lewis (Eds.), Contrastive
analysis of discourse-pragmatic aspects of linguistic genres. Yearbook of Corpus Linguistics and
Pragmatics (pp. 119–139). Springer.
(2014). Discourse-structuring
functions of initial adverbials in English and Norwegian news and fiction. Languages in
Contrast, 14(1), 73–92.
Johansson, S. (2007). Seeing
through multilingual corpora: On the use of corpora in contrastive studies. John Benjamins.
Krielke, M. P. (2024). Cross-linguistic
dependency length minimization in scientific language. Syntactic complexity reduction in English and German in the
late modern period. Languages in
Contrast, 21(1), 133–163.
(2021). Relativizers
as markers of grammatical complexity: A diachronic, cross-register study of English and
German. Bergen Language and Linguistics Studies
(BeLLS), 11(1), 91–119.
Kunz, K., & Lapshinova-Koltunski, E. (2015). Cross-linguistic
analysis of discourse variation across registers. Nordic Journal of English
Studies, 14(1), 258–288.
Kunz, E., Lapshinova-Koltunski, E., & Martínez Martínez, J. M. (2018). Shallow
features as indicators of English-German contrasts in lexical cohesion. Languages in
Contrast, 18(2), 175–206.
Lapshinova-Koltunski, E., & Martínez Martínez, J. M. (2017). Statistical
insights into cohesion: Contrasting English and German across
modes. In M. Janebová, E. Lapshinova-Koltunski, & M. Martinková (Eds), Contrasting
English and other languages through
corpora (pp. 133–162). Cambridge Scholars.
Lavid, J., Arús, J., & Moratón, L. (2013). Thematic
variation in English and Spanish newspaper genres. A contrastive corpus-based
study. In K. Aijmer & B. Altenberg (Eds.), Advances
in corpus-based contrastive linguistics: Studies in honour of Stig
Johansson (pp. 261–286). John Benjamins.
Li, H., Dunn, J., & Nini, A. (2023). Register
variation remains stable across 60 languages. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic
Theory, 19(1).
López-Arroyo, B., Roberts, R., & Moreno Pérez, L. (2019). The
use of -ing and -ndo forms in sales contracts. Languages in
Contrast, 19(29), 256–279.
Neumann, S. (2014a). Cross-linguistic
register studies. Theoretical and methodological considerations. Languages in
Contrast, 14(1), 35–57.
(2014b). Contrastive
register variation: A quantitative approach to the comparison of English and
German. De Gruyter Mouton.
Seoane, E., & Biber, D. (2021). A
corpus-based approach to register variation. In E. Seoane & D. Biber (Eds.), Corpus-based
approaches to register
variation (pp. 1–17). John Benjamins.
Siepmann, D. (2023). This
deserves a brief mention. A multi-corpus comparison of written and spoken academic discourse in English and French
with implications for pedagogy and lexicography. Languages in
Contrast, 23(1), 69–92.
Staples, S., Egbert, J., Biber, D., & Conrad, S. (2015). Register
variation. A corpus approach. In D. Tannen, H. E. Hamilton, & D. Schiffrin (Eds.), The
handbook of discourse
analysis (pp. 505–525). John Wiley & Sons.