This collection brings together the authors'' previous research with new work on the Register-Functional (RF) approach to grammatical complexity, offering a unified theoretical account for its further study.

The book traces the development of the RF approach from its foundations in two major research strands of linguistics: the study of sociolinguistic variation and the text-linguistic study of register variation. Building on this foundation, the authors demonstrate the RF framework at work across a series of corpus-based research studies focused specifically on grammatical complexity in English. The volume highlights early work exploring patterns of grammatical complexity in present-day spoken and written registers as well as subsequent studies which extend this research to historical patterns of register variation and the application of RF research to the study of writing development for L1 and L2 English university students. Taken together, along with the addition of introductory chapters connecting the different studies, the volume offers readers with a comprehensive resource to better understand the RF approach to grammatical complexity and its implications for future research.

The volume will appeal to students and scholars with research interests in either descriptive linguistics or applied linguistics, especially those interested in grammatical complexity and empirical, corpus-based approaches.

This collection brings together the authors'' previous research with new work on the Register-Functional (RF) approach to grammatical complexity, offering a unified theoretical account for its further study.

The book traces the development of the RF approach from its foundations in two major research strands of linguistics: the study of sociolinguistic variation and the text-linguistic study of register variation. Building on this foundation, the authors demonstrate the RF framework at work across a series of corpus-based research studies focused specifically on grammatical complexity in English. The volume highlights early work exploring patterns of grammatical complexity in present-day spoken and written registers as well as subsequent studies which extend this research to historical patterns of register variation and the application of RF research to the study of writing development for L1 and L2 English university students. Taken together, along with the addition of introductory chapters connecting the different studies, the volume offers readers with a comprehensive resource to better understand the RF approach to grammatical complexity and its implications for future research.

The volume will appeal to students and scholars with research interests in either descriptive linguistics or applied linguistics, especially those interested in grammatical complexity and empirical, corpus-based approaches.

Contemporary corpus linguists use a wide variety of methods to study discourse patterns. This volume provides a systematic comparison of various methodological approaches in corpus linguistics through a series of parallel empirical studies that use a single corpus dataset to answer the same overarching research question. Ten contributing experts each use a different method to address the same broadly framed research question: In what ways does language use in online Q+A forum responses differ across four world English varieties (India, Philippines, United Kingdom, and United States)? Contributions will be based on analysis of the same 400,000 word corpus from online Q+A forums, and contributors employ methodologies including corpus-based discourse analysis, audience perceptions, Multi-Dimensional analysis, pragmatic analysis, and keyword analysis.

In their introductory and concluding chapters, the volume editors compare and contrast the findings from each method and assess the degree to which ‘triangulating’ multiple approaches may provide a more nuanced understanding of a research question, with the aim of identifying a set of complementary approaches which could arguably take into account analytical blind spots. Baker and Egbert also consider the importance of issues such as researcher subjectivity, type of annotation, the limitations and affordances of different corpus tools, the relative strengths of qualitative and quantitative approaches, and the value of considering data or information beyond the corpus. Rather than attempting to find the ‘best’ approach, the focus of the volume is on how different corpus linguistic methodologies may complement one another, and raises suggestions for further methodological studies which use triangulation to enrich corpus-related research.

Contemporary corpus linguists use a wide variety of methods to study discourse patterns. This volume provides a systematic comparison of various methodological approaches in corpus linguistics through a series of parallel empirical studies that use a single corpus dataset to answer the same overarching research question. Ten contributing experts each use a different method to address the same broadly framed research question: In what ways does language use in online Q+A forum responses differ across four world English varieties (India, Philippines, United Kingdom, and United States)? Contributions will be based on analysis of the same 400,000 word corpus from online Q+A forums, and contributors employ methodologies including corpus-based discourse analysis, audience perceptions, Multi-Dimensional analysis, pragmatic analysis, and keyword analysis.

In their introductory and concluding chapters, the volume editors compare and contrast the findings from each method and assess the degree to which ‘triangulating’ multiple approaches may provide a more nuanced understanding of a research question, with the aim of identifying a set of complementary approaches which could arguably take into account analytical blind spots. Baker and Egbert also consider the importance of issues such as researcher subjectivity, type of annotation, the limitations and affordances of different corpus tools, the relative strengths of qualitative and quantitative approaches, and the value of considering data or information beyond the corpus. Rather than attempting to find the ‘best’ approach, the focus of the volume is on how different corpus linguistic methodologies may complement one another, and raises suggestions for further methodological studies which use triangulation to enrich corpus-related research.

This book builds on Baker and Egbert’s previous work on triangulating methodological approaches in corpus linguistics and takes triangulation one step further to highlight its broader applicability when implemented with other linguistic research methods. The volume showcases research methods from other linguistic disciplines and draws on ten empirical studies from a range of topics in psycholinguistics, applied linguistics, and discourse analysis to demonstrate how these methods might be most effectively triangulated with corpus-linguistic methods. A concluding chapter synthesizes these findings as a means of pointing the way toward future directions for triangulation and its implications for future linguistic research. The combined effect reveals the potential for the triangulation of these methods to not only enhance rigor in empirical linguistic research but also our understanding of linguistic phenomena and variation by studying them from multiple perspectives, making this book essential reading for graduate students and researchers in corpus linguistics, applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, and discourse analysis.

This book builds on Baker and Egbert’s previous work on triangulating methodological approaches in corpus linguistics and takes triangulation one step further to highlight its broader applicability when implemented with other linguistic research methods. The volume showcases research methods from other linguistic disciplines and draws on ten empirical studies from a range of topics in psycholinguistics, applied linguistics, and discourse analysis to demonstrate how these methods might be most effectively triangulated with corpus-linguistic methods. A concluding chapter synthesizes these findings as a means of pointing the way toward future directions for triangulation and its implications for future linguistic research. The combined effect reveals the potential for the triangulation of these methods to not only enhance rigor in empirical linguistic research but also our understanding of linguistic phenomena and variation by studying them from multiple perspectives, making this book essential reading for graduate students and researchers in corpus linguistics, applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, and discourse analysis.

This collection brings together the authors'' previous research with new work on the Register-Functional (RF) approach to grammatical complexity, offering a unified theoretical account for its further study.

The book traces the development of the RF approach from its foundations in two major research strands of linguistics: the study of sociolinguistic variation and the text-linguistic study of register variation. Building on this foundation, the authors demonstrate the RF framework at work across a series of corpus-based research studies focused specifically on grammatical complexity in English. The volume highlights early work exploring patterns of grammatical complexity in present-day spoken and written registers as well as subsequent studies which extend this research to historical patterns of register variation and the application of RF research to the study of writing development for L1 and L2 English university students. Taken together, along with the addition of introductory chapters connecting the different studies, the volume offers readers with a comprehensive resource to better understand the RF approach to grammatical complexity and its implications for future research.

The volume will appeal to students and scholars with research interests in either descriptive linguistics or applied linguistics, especially those interested in grammatical complexity and empirical, corpus-based approaches.

This collection brings together the authors'' previous research with new work on the Register-Functional (RF) approach to grammatical complexity, offering a unified theoretical account for its further study.

The book traces the development of the RF approach from its foundations in two major research strands of linguistics: the study of sociolinguistic variation and the text-linguistic study of register variation. Building on this foundation, the authors demonstrate the RF framework at work across a series of corpus-based research studies focused specifically on grammatical complexity in English. The volume highlights early work exploring patterns of grammatical complexity in present-day spoken and written registers as well as subsequent studies which extend this research to historical patterns of register variation and the application of RF research to the study of writing development for L1 and L2 English university students. Taken together, along with the addition of introductory chapters connecting the different studies, the volume offers readers with a comprehensive resource to better understand the RF approach to grammatical complexity and its implications for future research.

The volume will appeal to students and scholars with research interests in either descriptive linguistics or applied linguistics, especially those interested in grammatical complexity and empirical, corpus-based approaches.

Contemporary corpus linguists use a wide variety of methods to study discourse patterns. This volume provides a systematic comparison of various methodological approaches in corpus linguistics through a series of parallel empirical studies that use a single corpus dataset to answer the same overarching research question. Ten contributing experts each use a different method to address the same broadly framed research question: In what ways does language use in online Q+A forum responses differ across four world English varieties (India, Philippines, United Kingdom, and United States)? Contributions will be based on analysis of the same 400,000 word corpus from online Q+A forums, and contributors employ methodologies including corpus-based discourse analysis, audience perceptions, Multi-Dimensional analysis, pragmatic analysis, and keyword analysis.

In their introductory and concluding chapters, the volume editors compare and contrast the findings from each method and assess the degree to which ‘triangulating’ multiple approaches may provide a more nuanced understanding of a research question, with the aim of identifying a set of complementary approaches which could arguably take into account analytical blind spots. Baker and Egbert also consider the importance of issues such as researcher subjectivity, type of annotation, the limitations and affordances of different corpus tools, the relative strengths of qualitative and quantitative approaches, and the value of considering data or information beyond the corpus. Rather than attempting to find the ‘best’ approach, the focus of the volume is on how different corpus linguistic methodologies may complement one another, and raises suggestions for further methodological studies which use triangulation to enrich corpus-related research.

Contemporary corpus linguists use a wide variety of methods to study discourse patterns. This volume provides a systematic comparison of various methodological approaches in corpus linguistics through a series of parallel empirical studies that use a single corpus dataset to answer the same overarching research question. Ten contributing experts each use a different method to address the same broadly framed research question: In what ways does language use in online Q+A forum responses differ across four world English varieties (India, Philippines, United Kingdom, and United States)? Contributions will be based on analysis of the same 400,000 word corpus from online Q+A forums, and contributors employ methodologies including corpus-based discourse analysis, audience perceptions, Multi-Dimensional analysis, pragmatic analysis, and keyword analysis.

In their introductory and concluding chapters, the volume editors compare and contrast the findings from each method and assess the degree to which ‘triangulating’ multiple approaches may provide a more nuanced understanding of a research question, with the aim of identifying a set of complementary approaches which could arguably take into account analytical blind spots. Baker and Egbert also consider the importance of issues such as researcher subjectivity, type of annotation, the limitations and affordances of different corpus tools, the relative strengths of qualitative and quantitative approaches, and the value of considering data or information beyond the corpus. Rather than attempting to find the ‘best’ approach, the focus of the volume is on how different corpus linguistic methodologies may complement one another, and raises suggestions for further methodological studies which use triangulation to enrich corpus-related research.

This book builds on Baker and Egbert’s previous work on triangulating methodological approaches in corpus linguistics and takes triangulation one step further to highlight its broader applicability when implemented with other linguistic research methods. The volume showcases research methods from other linguistic disciplines and draws on ten empirical studies from a range of topics in psycholinguistics, applied linguistics, and discourse analysis to demonstrate how these methods might be most effectively triangulated with corpus-linguistic methods. A concluding chapter synthesizes these findings as a means of pointing the way toward future directions for triangulation and its implications for future linguistic research. The combined effect reveals the potential for the triangulation of these methods to not only enhance rigor in empirical linguistic research but also our understanding of linguistic phenomena and variation by studying them from multiple perspectives, making this book essential reading for graduate students and researchers in corpus linguistics, applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, and discourse analysis.

This book builds on Baker and Egbert’s previous work on triangulating methodological approaches in corpus linguistics and takes triangulation one step further to highlight its broader applicability when implemented with other linguistic research methods. The volume showcases research methods from other linguistic disciplines and draws on ten empirical studies from a range of topics in psycholinguistics, applied linguistics, and discourse analysis to demonstrate how these methods might be most effectively triangulated with corpus-linguistic methods. A concluding chapter synthesizes these findings as a means of pointing the way toward future directions for triangulation and its implications for future linguistic research. The combined effect reveals the potential for the triangulation of these methods to not only enhance rigor in empirical linguistic research but also our understanding of linguistic phenomena and variation by studying them from multiple perspectives, making this book essential reading for graduate students and researchers in corpus linguistics, applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, and discourse analysis.