Variations in Written English

摘要

This book reports on multivariate analyses of two one-million-word corpora-of published American English (Francis & Kucera, 1979; Hundt et al., 1999; Hofland et al., 1999). The study found statistically significant relationships between micro-rhetorical priming features (Kaufer et al. In Press) and high-level rhetorical plans. The study found five groups of co-occurring priming features were affected by text genre at the alpha = 0.001 or better level of significance. These five groups were confirmed as significant across both corpora. These groups were interpreted as language dimensions based upon a qualitative analysis of their usage in the corpora. The implication is that these five dimensions mark fundamental rhetorical 'cut points' in written English, functioning as a heretofore hidden meso-layer linking micro-level linguistic decisions and writers' macro- level rhetorical plans and tasks. The five language dimensions are listed below. The evidence suggests writers of the corpora controlled for these language dimensions in effecting their textual designs. 1. Writing for the Eyes vs. Informing 2. Writing for the Intellect 3. Retrospecting vs. Notifying 4. Instructing 5. Referencing Positive Relationships. This book outlines the background and methods used to define these functional language dimensions and discusses several of the potential implications and research possibilities afforded by these findings.