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Zusatztext A significant collection....The book has succeeded admirably....An invaluable resource for those concerned with the socially situated side of language, whether it concerns dialect variation, interlanguage, or any other type of variation within language. This collection is a significant and useful contribution to sociolinguisics that is worthy of a `must read' designation. Klappentext This collection brings together several perspectives on language varieties defined according to their contexts of use--what are variously called registers! sublanguages! or genres. The volume highlights the importance of these central linguistic phenomena; it includes empirical analyses and linguistic descriptions! as well as explanations for existing patterns of variation and proposals for theoretical frameworks. The book treats languages in obsolescence and in their youth; it examines registers from languages from around the globe; and it offers several of the most complete studies of registers and register variation published to date! adopting both synchronic and diachronic perspectives. Zusammenfassung The guiding idea of this collection is to bring together a number of different perspectives on variation in language according to occasion of use. At present this is a rather ill-defined field of interest sometimes referred to as style variation and sometimes as register variation. This area has not figured as prominently in sociolinguistics as certain and other aspects of variation (social dialect variation in particular). This volume draws attention to the importance of this ubiquitous linguistic phenomenon and points the way to a unified approach. Biber and Finegan have solicited studies presenting a variety of perspectives on registers and register variation, as well as papers that attempt to integrate register and social dialect variation into a coherent theoretical framework.
Summary
This is a collection of previously unpublished papers on the topic of variation in language according to occasion of use, which is variously known as register, register variation, or style variation. It will be the first comprehensive treatment of the subject, and will not only draw attention to its importance but point the way to a unified approach to it.
