English Register Research Articles

Register identification from the unrestricted open Web using the Corpus of Online Registers of English

This article examines the automatic identification of Web registers, that is, text varieties such as news articles and reviews. Most studies have focused on corpora restricted to include only preselected classes with well-defined characteristics. These corpora feature only a subset of documents found on the unrestricted open Web, for which register identification has been particularly difficult because the range of linguistic variation on the Web is known to be substantial. As part of this study, we present the first open release of the Corpus of Online Registers of English (CORE), which is drawn from the unrestricted open Web and, currently, is the largest collection of manually annotated Web registers. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the CORE registers can be automatically identified with competitive results, with the best performance being an F1-score of 68% with the deep learning model BERT. The best performance was achieved using two modeling strategies. The first one involved modeling the registers using propagated register labels, that is, repeating the main register label along with its corresponding subregister label in a multilabel model. In the second one, we explored how the length of the document affects model performance, discovering that the beginning provided superior classification accuracy. Overall, the current study presents a systematic approach for the automatic identification of a large number of Web registers from the unrestricted Web, hence providing new pathways for future studies.

Assessing the complexity of lectal competence: the register-specificity of the dative alternation aftergive

AbstractRecent evidence suggests that probabilistic grammars may be modulated by communication mode and genre. Accordingly, the question arises how complex language users’ lectal competence is, where complexity is proportional to the extent to which choice-making processes depend on the situation of language use. Do probabilistic constraints vary when we talk to a friend compared to when we give a speech? Are differences between spoken and written language larger than those within each mode? In the present study, we aim to approach these questions systematically. Guided by theorizing in cognitive (socio)linguistics and using logistic regression based on corpus materials, we analyzed the dative alternation withgive(The government gives farmers moneyvs.The government gives money to farmers) in four broad registers of English: spoken informal, spoken formal, written informal, and written formal. Corpus analysis was supplemented with a scalar rating experiment. Results suggest that language users’ probabilistic grammars vary as a function of register.

A Multi-Dimensional Analysis of English tweets

This paper applies Multi-Dimensional Analysis (MDA) to a corpus of English tweets to uncover the most common patterns of linguistic variation. MDA is a commonly applied method in corpus linguistics for the analysis of functional and/or stylistic variation in a particular language variety. Notably, MDA is an approach aimed at identifying and interpreting the frequent patterns of co-occurring linguistic features across a corpus, such as a corpus of spoken and written English registers (Biber, 1988). Traditionally, MDA is based on a factor analysis of the relative frequencies of numerous grammatical features measured across numerous texts drawn from that variety of language to identify a series of underlying dimensions of linguistic variation. Despite its popularity and utility, traditional MDA has an important limitation – it can only be used to analyse texts that are long enough to allow for the relative frequencies of many grammatical forms to be estimated accurately. If the texts under analysis are too short, then few forms can be expected to occur sufficiently frequently for their relative frequency to be accurately estimated. Tweets are characteristically short texts, meaning that traditional MDA cannot be used in the present research. To overcome this problem, this paper introduces a short-text version of MDA and applies it to a corpus of English tweets. Specifically, rather than measure the relative frequencies of forms in each tweet, the approach analyses their occurrence. This binary dataset is then aggregated using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA), which is used much like factor analysis in traditional MDA – to return a series of dimensions that represent the most common patterns of linguistic variation in the dataset. After controlling for text length in the first dimension, four subsequent dimensions are interpreted. The results suggest that there is a great deal of linguistic variation on Twitter. Notably, the results show that Twitter is commonly used for self-commodification, as people manage their identities, engaging in practices of self-branding through stance-taking, self-reporting, promotion and persuasion, as well as broadcasting their message beyond their followership, distributing news and expressing opposition, and this often occurs in order to attract attention. Additionally, the results show that interaction is common, suggesting that Twitter is also used for social and interpersonal gain.

Modal Verb “Shall” in Contemporary American English: A Corpus-Based Study

This paper explored the modal verb shall in formal and informal writings in academic and fiction registers. It focused on the frequencies of shall across academic and fiction domains in contemporary American English and the differences in the usage of shall between academic and fiction registers of contemporary American English. The researchers used a corpus linguistic method. Data were collected from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and analysed using Hanks’ (2004) Corpus Pattern Analysis technique. All occurrences of shall in academic and fiction writing styles of COCA were retrieved, and 400 concordance lines consisting of 200 texts from each domain were collected. The texts were analysed and described in accordance with their syntactic, stylistic, and semantic characteristics. Results showed that shall was rare in COCA’s academic and fiction registers as the overall frequencies were 59.77 and 68.34 words per million, respectively. From all the 400 tokens being analysed, the researchers found that shall in the observed data could be classified as rules and regulations, direction, prediction, volition, and etc. The uses of shall in both domains in COCA varied syntactically, semantically, and stylistically.

‘A very pleasant, safe, and effectual medicine’: The serial comma in the history of English

ABSTRACT The present paper traces the historical development of the serial comma in the history of English until its eventual decline over the course of the twentieth century. The serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma or Harvard comma) refers to the existence of a pause immediately before the conjunctions and/or (and sometimes nor) in a series of three or more elements in a clause. Although the use of this mark of punctuation is no longer a desideratum in Present-day British English, it was a disseminated practice among seventeenth-, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century writers. In light of this, this work has been conceived with the following objectives: (a) to study the use and distribution of the serial comma in the period 1500–1999; (b) to evaluate its distribution in the two types of writing, i.e. handwriting and printing, and the level of variation across text types; and (c) to ascertain whether the number of elements in the series participates in its deployment. The source of evidence comes from The Málaga Corpus of Early English Scientific Prose (MCEESP), the corpus of Early English Medical Writing (CEEM) and A Representative Corpus of Historical English Registers (ARCHER 3.2).

Building a foundation for reading success: early American Sign Language and academic literacy outcomes among deaf and hard of hearing adolescents

ABSTRACT Although there is evidence that academic registers of English are important for hearing monolingual and multilingual learners as they develop through adolescence, there has been less research in this area with deaf and hard of hearing students. The current study sought to determine whether students who were exposed to American Sign Language (ASL) before age 5 experienced a different relationship between language and literacy skills (e.g. reading comprehension, reading fluency, academic English, ASL proficiency) as compared to students who learned ASL after age 5. Findings suggested that academic English was a predictor of reading comprehension across all students, though differences in language development seemed to exist between those who had early ASL and deaf parents as compared to students with later ASL exposure and/or hearing parents. Findings indicate the need to continued research in these areas and for increased opportunities for language learning during the earliest years of life.

Teaching mathematics in post-Apartheid South Africa: the perspectives of teachers of black students

ABSTRACT Using a critical race theoretical lens, we examine how South African secondary mathematics teachers of Black students characterised their preparation in the post-apartheid era, how they portrayed good mathematics instruction, and what challenges they identified as barriers to becoming a good mathematics instructor. We found that teachers characterised their preparation in terms of their students’ achievement, often talked about the importance of teaching their students mathematical skills and procedures, identified challenges associated with using English as the language of instruction, and engaged in student blaming. Implications from this study include prioritising quality professional development for mathematics teachers of Black students that focuses on developing teachers specialised mathematical knowledge. Professional development should also strengthen South African mathematics teachers’ abilities to teach the mathematics register in English and support teachers to examine the detrimental effects of student blaming.

MOTT, BRIAN (UB): Postmodificación de frases preposicionales en inglés y español (con referencia especial a postmodificadores locativos)

Las frases preposicionales constituyen el tipo más frecuente de posmodificación en todos los registros del inglés (Biber et a. 1999: 634). En el español, las expresiones locativas suelen incorporar un pronombre relativo y un verbo (the books [which are] on the table > los libros que están encima de la mesa), o bien expresarse mediante una frase introducida por la preposición de (los libros de encima de la mesa). Wonder (1979) sostiene que el español permite el uso de preposiciones que no sean de en las frases locativas en el caso de “situaciones ‘activas’” (el aterrizaje en pleno campo) frente a “situaciones estáticas” (*el sofá en la sala), y también si la frase puede tener una función adverbial antes que, o además de, una interpretación adjetiva (el ruido en la calle), sobre todo si dicha frase encierra la idea de una posición alternativa para un objeto, o bien un contraste con otro objeto similar (el sofá en la sala contigua). El presente estudio pretende examinar este argumento y, además, explorar la posmodificación preposicional en español de un modo más general, a la par que propone una explicación sobre la elección de estructura en español que se basa en el criterio de la densidad léxica.

Register variation in understudied academic contexts

A major focus of register research has been language variation in academic discourse. These studies describe patterns of language use in spoken and written academic texts. Although there have been numerous studies of this type, most have focused on academic registers in English and on descriptions of published academic registers (e.g. textbooks, research articles, and abstracts). Much less work has been caried out on academic registers in other languages or unpublished academic registers. This special issue presents five studies describing the language patterns of understudied academic discourse in English (learners’ writing and statutory law), as well as descriptions of published academic registers in languages other than English (Russian, Portuguese, and Arabic). We hope that the papers in this special issue will pave the way for future research in other understudied academic contexts.

Diary null subjects in L2 English: A study on grammatical acceptability

The current paper investigates the grammatical acceptability of null subjects in the diary register of L2 English by intermediate and advanced students, L1 speakers of Romanian. Overall results indicate performance that does not surpass chance level, and therefore, a strong conservative preference for overtly realized subjects in diary contexts. However, individual analysis has identified a small group of L2 learners who consistenly scored well above chance in the four experimental conditions (overt subject, null subject in root clause, null subject in embedded clause and null subject in yes-no questions). I discuss several factors that relate to the difficulty L2 learners have with accepting on-target null subjects in the diary register. Quite likely, they never had enough exposure to the relevant input. L2 acquisition slows down when multiple grammars (core and non-core) are identified. Also, subject omission is optional, so the study tested a preference, not a mandatory phenomenon.

Register analysis of language use in the Jakarta Post’s football news

This research investigated the types of linguistic forms of English register and the meaning of register used in The Jakarta Post Football news. The linguistic forms that are investigated are specifically in content words and noun phrases. To obtain the data, documentation was used as the instrument. The data were analyzed using the model proposed by Elo and Kyangas (2007), it was found that there are two kinds of data in the form of content words, eight data of nouns, two verbs. In the form of the noun phrase, the researcher found two data in the category of attributive adjective and seven data of nouns in noun phrases. All of English registers found in The Jakarta Post’s football news have different meanings when compared with their conceptual meaning in the dictionary. The most dominant type of change in meaning is social meaning.

Diachronic register change

Abstract A number of studies have found that grammatical differences across registers are more extensive than those across dialects. However, there is a paucity of research examining intervarietal register change, exploring how registers change differently over time in different regional varieties. The present study addresses this diachronic deficit, focusing on grammatical developments – from the early 20th to the early 21st century – in corpora representing three written registers and two speech-based registers in Australian, British and American English. We conducted a factor analysis on 68 lexicogrammatical features to identify six dimensions of register variation, and subsequently investigated the diachronic change of the five registers across these dimensions. We interpret our findings in terms of the differential effects of broad social changes on individual registers, in light of existing findings on trends of change in different registers and varieties.

Exploring the role of lexis and grammar for the stable identification of register in an unrestricted corpus of web documents

The Internet offers great possibilities for many scientific disciplines that utilize text data. However, the potential of online data can be limited by the lack of information on the genre or register of the documents, as register—whether a text is, e.g., a news article or a recipe—is arguably the most important predictor of linguistic variation (see Biber in Corpus Linguist Linguist Theory 8:9–37, 2012). Despite having received significant attention in recent years, the modeling of online registers has faced a number of challenges, and previous studies have presented contradictory results. In particular, these have concerned (1) the extent to which registers can be automatically identified in a large, unrestricted corpus of web documents and (2) the stability of the models, specifically the kinds of linguistic features that achieve the best performance while reflecting the registers instead of corpus idiosyncrasies. Furthermore, although the linguistic properties of registers vary importantly in a number of ways that may affect their modeling, this variation is often bypassed. In this article, we tackle these issues. We model online registers in the largest available corpus of online registers, the Corpus of Online Registers of English (CORE). Additionally, we evaluate the stability of the models towards corpus idiosyncrasies, analyze the role of different linguistic features in them, and examine how individual registers differ in these two aspects. We show that (1) competitive classification performance on a large-scale, unrestricted corpus can be achieved through a combination of lexico-grammatical features, (2) the inclusion of grammatical information improves the stability of the model, whereas many of the previously best-performing feature sets are less stable, and that (3) registers can be placed in a continuum based on the discriminative importance of lexis and grammar. These register-specific characteristics can explain the variation observed in previous studies concerning the automatic identification of online registers and the importance of different linguistic features for them. Thus, our results offer explanations for the jungle-likeness of online data and provide essential information on online registers for all studies using online data.

Intensification in Eighteenth Century Medical Writing

While intensifiers are primarily associated with informal spoken registers, they serve important interpersonal functions also in more formal registers like academic prose. The use of intensifiers in scientific writing has accordingly been explored in Present-Day English, and previous studies have also investigated diachronic changes in this register in Middle and Early Modern English. However, the Late Modern English period remains largely unexplored, despite the fact that at least in medical writing it represents an important transition period both intellectually and textually. To follow up on the trends and developments established in previous work, this paper explores the patterns of intensification in eighteenth century medical writing using Late Modern English Medical Texts (LMEMT; Taavitsainen et al. 2019), which contains a large collection of texts representing different areas of medicine. While the intensifiers that are selected for study are ubiquitous in the data, their frequency varies considerably between individual texts, and this variation is often linked to the characteristics of individual sub-registers. At the same time, the use of intensifiers in this period is characterized by stability rather than dramatic change, despite ongoing changes in the sociocultural context of medicine. Along with providing a detailed investigation of the frequency of the main intensifiers in different categories of medical writing of the period, the analysis describes their co-selection patterns with particular adjectives.

Systematic evaluation of clinical trial protocols of new drugs as a cure of chronic hepatitis B

Objective: To describe the current status of registration and design characteristics of clinical trials of new drugs for curing hepatitis B through domestic and foreign websites, so as to provide references for the follow-up clinical trials of new hepatitis B drugs. Methods: A search was conducted on the US Clinical Trials Database and the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry Center. The search date was from the establishment of the database to May 26, 2020, and the registration trials of new drugs for curing hepatitis B at home and abroad were included. Two researchers independently searched and screened the literature and extracted the data. Results: A total of 106 registered clinical trials of new drugs for curing hepatitis B were included (94 English registration websites and 12 Chinese registration websites), and the number of registrations had increased year by year. Among them, the proportion of therapeutic vaccines and core protein inhibitors were the highest, accounting for 27.4% (n = 29) and 22.6% (n = 24), respectively. The vast majority of clinical trials (n = 96, 90.6%) were in the early stages (Phase I and II). The subjects in phase I clinical trial were mainly healthy people and treated CHB patients, while the subjects in phase II clinical trial were mainly CHB patients who had achieved viral suppression after initial or post-treatment. The main evaluation indicators of Phase I clinical trials were the safety and tolerability of new drugs. The main evaluation indicators in about half of Phase II clinical trials were HBsAg negative conversion/quantitative decline. Overall, the number of clinical trials with the new design was small, accounting for 3.8% (4 / 106). There were relatively few trials of new drugs for curing hepatitis B on domestic registration websites, and the information provided was incomplete. Conclusion: The number of clinical trials of new hepatitis B drugs at home and abroad is increasing year by year, but most of them are in phase I and II, with few adopting new designs. In addition, the information integrity of the domestic website registration center needs to be improved.

The Development of Islamic English Register in Pawening Madrassa

This research is descriptive qualitative and has three research objectives: to know the forms of Islamic English Registers, Islamic English Register characteristics and the boosting force and impeding factors of the development of the Islamic English Register at Pawening Madrassa (PM), Surakarta, Indonesia. From the results of observations and interviews it can be seen the results of the study as follows: There was a direct learning strategy using Teacher-Centered-Approach and the "Army-Method" learning model. The Students’ learning model follows a Behaviorist pattern that focused on the habituation of language skills with a pattern of creating the habit of Students with a Punishment and Reward pattern. The boosting Force of the Learning Process of Islamic English Register at PM were adequate facilities, infrastructure, language learning Environment to develop Students to be able to speak and write in the Islamic English Register whereas, the impeding factor was the attitude of Students who consider trivial the given penalties of their dishonored actions. Keywords: Register, Islamic English ,Direct method, Army method, Teacher-Centered-Approach

On the interaction between register variation and regional varieties in English

AbstractThis paper examines the extent to which regional varieties of English influence register variation. Register is a key concept in systemic functional linguistics (SFL), whereas regional variation is rarely studied in this framework. However, languages like Chinese, Spanish and English are used in more than one region and such more complex language situations raise the question of whether registers are used consistently throughout. In this study, texts from three varieties represented in the International Corpus of English are analysed for frequencies of 41 lexico-grammatical features and subjected to exploratory multivariate analysis. The analysis shows that, while there are clear indications of register patterns irrespective of varieties, variety appears to override register in some cases. Variety therefore needs to be accounted for in language theory in addition to the language system and registers as subsystems.

Silence and Service: Searching for My Grandfather

Silence and Service: Searching for My Grandfather Nessa O’Mahony (bio) Creagh Cemetery, Ballinasloe, County Galway, 2012 We are the last to arrive, scrabbling our way through the new graves at the back of the cemetery in order to get a good vantage point. There must be two hundred people here, gathering round the open plot and spilling backward down the paths where cars have been parked by those who couldn’t get a spot in the small carpark to the front of the graveyard. My sister left her car on the Roscommon road; we pray that her English registration plates won’t attract unwanted attention. The rain holds off, though the low cloud has threatened all day, making its own contribution to the somber mood: the “pathetic fallacy,” my mother will pronounce later. The prayers are getting underway; my uncle’s coffin is still being shouldered by the escort of six middle-aged, balding men who had gathered around the entrance of the funeral home earlier in the day and who’d carried the casket, shrouded under an Irish flag, to the church with military precision. Each wears an Easter lily made out of cloth and pinned to their lapels. They approach the open grave and begin to lower the coffin, guided by two attendants who have been waiting quietly beside the mound of earth. The flag has been removed and folded in a precise square before being handed to my aunt, who clutches it to her. The priest begins to lead the prayers. I glance over at my mother. My oldest brother is beside her should support be needed, but she stands there erect and wet-cheeked. She knows the ritual. This is the sixth brother she has laid to rest; three are buried in other parts of this cemetery, as are her parents, a nephew, and an infant niece. The graveside oration is conducted by an elderly man who speaks mostly in Irish interspersed with a few English words. My school Irish can’t quite follow the thrust, although I pick up individual words and phrases. I understand his final sentence; how when he was a boy, he’d always wanted to be a member of the clann Mac Cana. The crowd seems to murmur agreement. I understand that feeling. For the past thirty-six hours I’ve been surrounded by that clann; I’ve seen men and women, little boys and girls who bear the hallmark wiry blond [End Page 9] hair, the high cheekbones and foreheads, the pale blue eyes. I’ve felt strangely proud to be identified as one of them. All my life I’ve heard stories about this clann. About the ten little girls and boys ranging over Ballinasloe during the 1930s and ’40s, watching drowned dogs float down the River Suck, stealing coffin lids to use as improvised rafts, swinging out of trees, and raiding the ammunition store to construct makeshift explosions. The stories that have gripped me the most have been those surrounding the man who fathered those children, my grandfather Michael McCann, the quiet man from North Mayo who was involved in all the major conflicts of the first quarter of the twentieth century. Like many of his generation, he never spoke about his exploits. Stories filtered down through my grandmother and mother about the horrors he must have seen, the comrades lost, the quiet bravery he took for granted. I’d been planning to write at length about him for some time. The most I had mustered had been passing references in some of my poems. In one, I refer to his walking stick, which currently rests in my mother’s stick stand and which mirrors an earlier stick he is photographed with when posing in his British Army uniform during World War I. In another, I picture him discussing with his older brother the prospect of going off to war. I had even made a start on a memoir a few years back, before life, and my own father’s death in 2010, had interrupted. I’d interviewed my aunts and last remaining uncle, Liam, the one being buried today. Time doesn’t wait for us, I...

A Remedial English Course from the Freshmen EFL Learners’ Viewpoints and Expectations at the Hashemite University in Jordan

The higher education system in Jordan requires freshmen students in each university to set for an English aptitude exam. If the student fails in this exam, s/he should register in the remedial English 99 course which is regarded as a prerequisite for English 101. The purpose of this study is to explore students’ expectations of this course and whether these expectations are met. The study adopts a qualitative design. Data was collected through a questionnaire interview from 97 students registered in two sections in the Language Center at the university. The findings of the study revealed that students expected the course would improve their communication skills. Later, they discovered that this course benefited them more from the grammatical and structural aspects of language. The findings can be valuable for EFL curriculum developers, syllabus designers and administrators to understand students’ needs better and to take their viewpoints into account.

Using linked English cancer registration data to assess variation in diagnostic pathway length

BackgroundFor the majority of cancer patients, the length of the diagnostic pathway is unknown. Only those on a specific pathway are monitored. Quantifying pathway length is important in understating which patients may benefit most from an expedited pathway.
 AimThis study aimed to develop a novel methodology using linked cancer registration data to calculate the Secondary Care Diagnostic Interval (SDCI): the period from first interaction with secondary care to receiving a cancer diagnosis. Subsequently variation in SCDIs across twenty-five cancer sites were analysed.
 MethodsEnglish cancer registrations (2014-15) from Public Health England’s National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service were linked to three routine health datasets: Hospital Episode Statistics, Diagnostic Imaging Dataset and Cancer Waiting Times.
 The SCDI was calculated as the difference between the earliest event relating to the secondary care diagnostic process (comprised of referral into/secondary care appointment or diagnostic procedure in the 6 months before diagnosis) and the diagnosis date.
 SCDI length was stratified by stage at diagnosis, route to diagnosis (e.g. emergency presentation, GP referral) and patient characteristics.
 ResultsThe median SCDI (days) was shortest for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) (2) and longest for kidney (45). In general, SCDIs decreased with later stage (for example stage 1-4 colorectal: 35 to 20, lung: 75 to 25). Patients diagnosed after routine GP referrals had longest SCDIs compared to urgent referrals, for all sites except ALL. Geographical variation in SCDIs exists by Cancer Alliance, with the greatest differences compared to the England average observed for prostate cancer (median national SCDI: 28, Cancer Alliance range: 21 - 42).
 ConclusionSubstantial variation exists in SCDIs by cancer site, stage and presentation route. Many patients are experiencing SCDIs over 28 days, even those diagnosed via urgent GP referrals. Understanding variation can support creation of targeted initiatives to expedite diagnostic pathways where appropriate.