Situating language register across the ages, languages, modalities, and cultural aspects: Evidence from complementary methods

Abstract

In the present review paper by members of the collaborative research center “Register: Language Users' Knowledge of Situational-Functional Variation” (CRC 1412), we assess the pervasiveness of register phenomena across different time periods, languages, modalities, and cultures. We define “register” as recurring variation in language use depending on the function of language and on the social situation. Informed by rich data, we aim to better understand and model the knowledge involved in situation- and function-based use of language register. In order to achieve this goal, we are using complementary methods and measures. In the review, we start by clarifying the concept of “register”, by reviewing the state of the art, and by setting out our methods and modeling goals. Against this background, we discuss three key challenges, two at the methodological level and one at the theoretical level: (1) To better uncover registers in text and spoken corpora, we propose changes to established analytical approaches. (2) To tease apart between-subject variability from the linguistic variability at issue (intra-individual situation-based register variability), we use within-subject designs and the modeling of individuals' social, language, and educational background. (3) We highlight a gap in cognitive modeling, viz. modeling the mental representations of register (processing), and present our first attempts at filling this gap. We argue that the targeted use of multiple complementary methods and measures supports investigating the pervasiveness of register phenomena and yields comprehensive insights into the cross-methodological robustness of register-related language variability. These comprehensive insights in turn provide a solid foundation for associated cognitive modeling.

Register variation and linguistic background modulate accuracy in detecting morphosyntactic errors

“…In our results, this translates into register modulating the ability to detect morphosyntactic errors. This finding is in accordance with what has been reported in the literature, regarding the interplay between register congruence and semantic and/or syntactic processing (Patarroyo et al, 2022;Maquate et al, 2023;Pescuma et al, 2023;Plesca et al, 2023).…”

“…Linguistic register is defined as a variety of specialized language shaped by specific situational features, linguistic functions, social contexts, and communicative purposes (Biber & Conrad, 2009;Pescuma et al, 2023). The term "register" was used for the first time with this meaning in 1956, to point out that people "on different occasions speak or write differently according to what may roughly be described as different social situations" (Reid, 1956:32).…”

Enhancing translation pedagogy through culture-specific terms

“…Even within the same language, different words may be employed to render the same meaning in different cultural environment, such as the case with the words friend, lad, bro, man, mate, pal; all of these have meanings that vary slightly depending on the geographical area of the speakers, their education, and the concrete event in which they are uttered. Going further, in this light, culture-specific terms may belong to specific language registers or sociolects within a culture, converting into language registers and assuming a diachronical component as well (Pescuma, Serova, Lukassek et al, 2023). Translators need to accurately capture these linguistic nuances to maintain the tone and style of the original text.…”

Word Trends in Digital Communication of High School Students in the New Capital of Indonesia (IKN)

“…Word trends, or lexical trends, encompass the fluctuating popularity and frequency of specific words or phrases in a language or language variety over time (Pescuma et al, 2023;Sugianto & Hasby, 2023). To explore word trends among high school students in IKN, this research utilized large language corpora and advanced computational linguistic tools.…”