Books in the English Corpus Linguistics series

This multidimensional study focuses on computer chat, i.e. synchronous and supersynchronous computer-mediated communication, here termed "conversational writing". It employs Douglas Biber's methodology to compare systematically computer chat to speech and writing, and situates two genres of computer chat on Biber's dimensions of linguistic variation.

This study analyses syntactic dislocation in congregational song between 1500 and 1900. Two distinct dislocation patterns, which combine poetic factors and syntactic criteria, allow for a comparison to other genres. Indeed, syntactic dislocation makes congregational song a conservative genre both compared to religious prose and to secular poetry.

The study provides a comprehensive description of from a micro- and macro-linguistic perspective. A corpus of different spoken and written genres is the basis for a detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis, which shows that 'general nouns' fulfil various genre-specific functions.