In:Cross-linguistic Register Variation
Edited by Sylvi Rørvik and Marlén Izquierdo
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 125] 2026
► pp. 165–190
Chapter 7Noun-phrase complexity
across languages and academic registers
Published online: 20 February 2026
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.125.07ror
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.125.07ror
Abstract
This cross-linguistic comparison of Norwegian and English explores the use of noun modification in two academic subregisters from the field of education, namely university textbooks and research articles. The study builds on the framework introduced by
Biber et al. (2011), which hypothesizes that noun modifiers can be divided
into complexity stages which are acquired as novices become more proficient in academic writing, with the aim of identifying cross-linguistic and
cross-register characteristics that may be problematic for Norwegian students in teacher education to adapt to. The results show that register differences are more
prominent in English than in Norwegian, and that differences between research articles in the two languages are rare. This has pedagogical implications for writing instruction in
Norwegian teacher education.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Previous research
- 2.1Characteristics of noun-phrase complexity in academic prose
- 2.2Acquisition of complex and sophisticated noun-phrase modification
- 2.3Summary and hypotheses
- 3.Material and method
- 3.1Material
- 3.2Method
- 4.Results
- 4.1The frequency of complex noun phrases
- 4.2The frequency of the four NP-modification stages
- 4.3Frequent modifier types in more detail
- 5.Concluding remarks
Notes References
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