Genre as Textual Variable
Some Historical Evidence from Scots and American English
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8728283 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Amy J Devitt (0000-0001-8815-6218, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1989 |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 291-291 |
| Publication date | 1989-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Speech (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-1283 • E-ISSN: 1527-2133 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/455722 |
| OpenAlex | W2312345922 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 3 |
M UCCH OF LINGUISTIC RESEARCH HAS CONCENTRATED ON investigating different varieties of language: regional varieties, social varieties, stylistic varieties. Although long acknowledged as important, stylistic varieties have received the least empirical linguistic investigation until relatively recently. Labov's discoveries of various contextual styles (1972) and of varieties within a relatively homogeneous group (1973) have been followed by considerably more research on stylistic varieties, including some recent studies of language in different types of texts or genres. Most notably, Romaine (1980, 1982) has examined the language of different types of Scottish poetry and prose, and Biber (1986, 1987) has recently studied the language of texts in a number of different contemporary spoken and written genres. Neither Biber nor Romaine takes genre as the primary variable to be investigated. Rather, both assume genre's significance and hence control for genre while investigating another linguistic issue: for Biber, the issue is the communicative of clusters of linguistic features; for Romaine, the issue is the changing use of the relative clause marker in past Scottish texts. Yet, because they control for genre, the data from both scholars' studies demonstrate the significance of genre as a textual variable, its significant correlation with the use of linguistic features. This study continues the examination of genre as a factor in stylistic variation by directly examining its significance as a textual variable both synchronically and diachronically. Confirming Romaine's and Biber's discoveries, my data demonstrate that texts of different genres use different linguistic forms. This study also demonstrates that genre functions as a historical variable, that different genres are affected differently by linguistic change. Two complementary sets of data are presented in this article: some results from a study of linguistic usage in Scots-English genres between 1520 and 1659 and of usage in American English genres between 1640 and 1810.1 Before considering how genre and language correlate in these two studies, however, this article will explore the re
Biology · Botany · Linguistics · Pinus · Scots · Scots pine · Variable (mathematics · Lexicography and Language Studies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Medieval Literature and History · History · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.09 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1993 - 2005 (13) |
| Highly cited | No |