Register and Discourse through the Lens of Corpus Linguistics

Register and Discourse through the Lens of Corpus Linguistics offers a rigorous and engaging exploration of two of the field’s most dynamic areas. Drawing on key frameworks – including Construction Grammar, Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies, Speech Act Theory, and Local Grammar – the volume showcases how qualitative and quantitative corpus-driven methods illuminate the interplay between linguistic form, communicative function, and contextual embedding. Across eleven chapters, contributors examine a breadth of linguistic features, from swearing, syntactic fragments, prenominal modification, nonstandard forms, and phraseology to interruption and humour, expressive acts, epistemic presupposition, expertise, and predictive stance. The studies span diverse settings – teen talk, Reddit forums, news media, historical newspapers, workplace interaction, political debate, and economic discourse – and incorporate synchronic and diachronic perspectives, as well as cross-linguistic comparisons. Collectively, the chapters demonstrate how register and discourse intersect as mutually informing dimensions of language use, enriching established research traditions and offering practical models for future inquiry. Their insights extend beyond corpus linguistics, resonating with scholarship in sociolinguistics, pragmatics, World Englishes, and applied linguistics.