The Register-Functional Approach to Grammatical Complexity

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.

Douglas Biber is Regents' Professor of English (Applied Linguistics) at Northern Arizona University. His research efforts have focused on corpus linguistics, English grammar, and register variation. Previous books include Register, Genre, and Style (2009/2019); the co-authored Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (1999); and studies of grammatical complexity (2016), university registers (2006), and Multi-Dimensional Analyses of register variation (1988, 1995, 2018).

Bethany Gray is Associate Professor of English (Applied Linguistics and Technology) at Iowa State University. Her research employs corpus linguistics methodologies to explore register variation, with a focus on academic language. Her publications include monographs on academic research articles (2015) and historical change in writing (2016). She is a co-founding editor of Register Studies.

Shelley Staples is Associate Professor of English (Applied Linguistics/SLAT) at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on corpus analysis, particularly for applications to language learning/teaching. Her publications include a monograph and edited volume on healthcare discourse, as well as articles in the Journal of English for Academic Purposes, English for Specific Purposes, Applied Linguistics, and TESOL Quarterly.

Jesse Egbert is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University. He specializes in register variation, corpus linguistics, and quantitative research methods. He is a General Editor of Register Studies. Two of his recent books focus on online register variation (2018) and corpus linguistics methods (2020).