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Project B03: Mastaba of Wep-em-neferet (G 8882), Relief of Eastern Wall, from Hassan (1936, Vol. 2, p. 190).
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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...
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... Such clusters of texts are called registers. A register can be defined as "recurring variation in language use depending on the function of language and on the social situation" [14]. In Czech, the register variation has been thoroughly examined by Cvrček et al. [15], using the methodology of multidimensional analysis (MDA). ...
This study investigates whether individuals can learn to accurately discriminate between human-written and AI-produced texts when provided with immediate feedback, and if they can use this feedback to recalibrate their self-perceived competence. We also explore the specific criteria individuals rely upon when making these decisions, focusing on textual style and perceived readability. We used GPT-4o to generate several hundred texts across various genres and text types comparable to Koditex, a multi-register corpus of human-written texts. We then presented randomized text pairs to 255 Czech native speakers who identified which text was human-written and which was AI-generated. Participants were randomly assigned to two conditions: one receiving immediate feedback after each trial, the other receiving no feedback until experiment completion. We recorded accuracy in identification, confidence levels, response times, and judgments about text readability along with demographic data and participants' engagement with AI technologies prior to the experiment. Participants receiving immediate feedback showed significant improvement in accuracy and confidence calibration. Participants initially held incorrect assumptions about AI-generated text features, including expectations about stylistic rigidity and readability. Notably, without feedback, participants made the most errors precisely when feeling most confident -- an issue largely resolved among the feedback group. The ability to differentiate between human and AI-generated texts can be effectively learned through targeted training with explicit feedback, which helps correct misconceptions about AI stylistic features and readability, as well as potential other variables that were not explored, while facilitating more accurate self-assessment. This finding might be particularly important in educational contexts.
... Daher sind auch viele Registeruntersuchungen korpusbasiert (oft, aber nicht nur, mit den von Biber & Conrad 2009 vorgeschlagenen Methoden). In einer Gegenwartssituation können zusätzlich experimentelle Methoden herangezogen werden (siehe Pescuma et al. 2023). Zumindest soweit die Information zugänglich ist. ...
... Es gibt Ansätze, die Register mit Hilfe von sprachlichen Ähnlichkeiten finden (so bspw. Biber & Conrad 2009 oder die pregisters in Pescuma et al. 2023). Dafür haben wir in historischen Korpora oft nicht genug Daten. ...
... Speakers adjust their register, the level of formality or style, based on the situation and interlocutors [17]. People tend to choose different conversation topics or use different vocabulary, tone, and grammar when, for example, narrating a story versus giving instructions, or when speaking in a formal setting versus a casual one [21]. ...
As social robots and other artificial agents become more conversationally capable, it is important to understand whether the content and meaning of self-disclosure towards these agents changes depending on the agent's embodiment. In this study, we analysed conversational data from three controlled experiments in which participants self-disclosed to a human, a humanoid social robot, and a disembodied conversational agent. Using sentence embeddings and clustering, we identified themes in participants' disclosures, which were then labelled and explained by a large language model. We subsequently assessed whether these themes and the underlying semantic structure of the disclosures varied by agent embodiment. Our findings reveal strong consistency: thematic distributions did not significantly differ across embodiments, and semantic similarity analyses showed that disclosures were expressed in highly comparable ways. These results suggest that while embodiment may influence human behaviour in human-robot and human-agent interactions, people tend to maintain a consistent thematic focus and semantic structure in their disclosures, whether speaking to humans or artificial interlocutors.
... This question is specific to MC in the modal domain, as it is available across languages and varieties of English, in contrast to the phenomenon of 'multiple modals' (e.g., might could), which is much more restricted, that is, only possible in some varieties of English (see the first sentence in Lyons' 1977 quote above, andKortmann &Schneider 2004 on colloquial American and Appalachian American English) and in general, in a smaller set of natural languages. Based on the sociolinguistic literature and more recent work on register in Lüdeling et al. (2022) and Pescuma et al. (2023), we assume that the choice between MC and SM can be register-driven, that is, the speaker chooses one or the other depending on the properties of the situational contexts with regard to, for example, interlocutor relations or communicative purposes. Furthermore, the choice can be better understood in relation to the social meaning, that is, "the set of inferences that can be drawn on the basis of how language is used in a specific interaction" (Hall-Lew et al. 2021;3). ...
Modal concord (MC) refers to the phenomenon where two modal elements of the same flavor and force in a sentence yield an interpretation of single modality (SM). In this paper, we report on an experimental study on MC in English, addressing their linguistic and social meaning. Our results show a strengthening effect by necessity MC and a weakening effect of possibility MC in that significantly higher speaker commitment ratings were received for necessity MC vs. SM constructions (i.e., must certainly vs. must) with the reverse pattern for possibility modal constructions (i.e., may possibly vs. may). Furthermore, MC and SM were shown to differ in social meanings, suggesting a correlation between the meaning strength of a linguistic expression and the social perception of the speaker.
... Current vocational curricula often fail to bridge the gap between classroom instruction and real-world demands, leaving students underprepared for professional communication in their field. Gray (2022), and Pescuma et al. (2023) further support the need for more focused research on register variation and A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE FEATURES ACROSS COMMUNICATIVE ENGLISH SKILLS AND GARMENT VOCATIONAL TEXTS rhetorical structures specific to understudied vocational fields like garment and textile studies. This research is aimed to address these gaps by providing a more tailored and context-specific analysis of the linguistic needs of garment industry trainees. ...
... As Cortes (2013) demonstrated in her study on business English, combining structural language analysis with social conventions enhances learners' ability to use language pragmatically. Similarly, Pescuma et al. (2023) highlights the significance of register variation in training setting, suggesting that trainees need to engage with both spoken and written English to navigate workplace communication successfully. ...
Linguistic variations across academic and professional domains highlight the need for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) curricula tailored to technical communication demands. This study aims to analyze discourse characteristics in Communicative English Language Skills texts and Garment and Apparel Fashion materials to identify genre-based distinctions. Purposive sampling was used to select relevant courses, and quantitative register analysis was conducted using adapted multidimensional frameworks to identify patterns in vocabulary, grammar, and discourse types. The findings revealed that Garment and Apparel Fashion texts emphasized descriptive, instructional, and analytical functions essential for skill development, while Communicative English Language Skills texts incorporated a broader range of genres to foster versatility. These variations in discourse features were contextually driven and informed the need for curriculum refinement. The study emphasizes the importance of evidence-based, context-sensitive English instruction to address disciplinary discourse differences.
... Thus, one of the main findings from Phase I concerns the methodological wealth and complexity characterizing an interdisciplinary approach to the empirical study of register. We have synthesized our efforts in a collective methodological publication (Pescuma et al. 2023, see also Section 5), where we show how (existing and novel) corpus-based and experimental methods can be adapted to the various challenges imposed by the study of register-related phenomena, and how the various methodologies can inform different aspects of register research. ...
... Regular meetings of members of Areas A and C on experimental methodologies have facilitated this work. Finally, A02 and A06 have conducted linguistic fieldwork to develop new situation-specific corpora, for which A06 developed a novel data collection design that involves intraindividual variation in situational settings that are cross-culturally comparable (Adli et al. 2023); A02 advanced corpora based on dialogues between carefully selected speakers based on age, gender and familiarity. ...
... The bottom-up approach of identifying "pregisters" (for 'potential registers'), established by project A04 (Phase I), was successfully used by project B04 to break the register-proxy 'genre' into a more fine-grained analysis of situational-functional sequences. In terms of cross-project topics, the projects of Area B contributed to the CRC-internal paper on register terminology by the reading circle, the CRC's methods paper (Pescuma et al. 2023) as well as the annotation guidelines of the narration group (Lehmann et al. 2023). ...
The goal of the CRC 1412 "Register: Language Users' Knowledge of Situational-Functional Variation" is to answer the overarching research question "What constitutes a language user's register knowledge?". Our starting point is the observation that many situational and functional parameters-such as the relation between the interlocutors, the purpose of a conversation, the formality of the setting, etc.-influence the way speakers use language. Speakers seem to know which linguistic behavior is appropriate in which situation, typically without having been explicitly made aware of it. This is what we call register knowledge and The purpose of this CRC is to enhance our understanding of the role of register knowledge in language use, acquisition, processing, variation, and change; and develop a general theory of register knowledge to complement current linguistic models. In Phase I, we found that register is pervasive on all linguistic levels and is mostly non-categorial. In Phase II, we will be concerned with the integration of the findings into models of grammar, acquisition, variation, change, and processing.
... There wasn't nothing for them to get into. 'There wasn't anything for them to get into.' (Blanchette and Lukyanenko 2019a: 2) Despite the difference in standard and non-standard English, a recent rating study has shown that registers, i.e., intra-individual variation based on situational and functional parameters (Lüdeling et al. 2022;Pescuma et al. 2023), influence the appropriateness ratings of NC constructions in US English (Rotter and Liu 2024). ...
... This makes them particularly suitable for studies on linguistic variation and register, which the paper aims to address. Here, we use the notion of register to refer to patterns of intra-individual variation influenced by situational-functional settings (Biber 2012;Biber and Conrad 2019;Lüdeling et al. 2022;Pescuma et al. 2023). For instance, the same person might use the word "dinner" when talking to their boss and "supper" when talking to their spouse. ...
... Registers are defined as sets of speech repertoires linked to specific situational and functional parameters, e.g., the identities and relations of speakers and interlocutors, circumstances and the setting of the conversation, as well as communicative purposes (Agha 2007: 147;Biber 2009;Lüdeling et al. 2022;Pescuma et al. 2023). The formation of registers is connected to social norms, in that a re-occurring linguistic behavior is acknowledged and normalized by a communicative population. ...
Negative concord (NC) is used in many English varieties but usually considered ungrammatical in ‘standard’ contemporary English, where negative polarity items (NPIs) are used. In this paper, we take a novel experimental approach to the use of NC versus NPI constructions in relation to register, i. e., sets of speech repertoires linked to specific situational and functional parameters. We report on two rating experiments with American and British English participants using interlocutor relations as a formality manipulation. Results show that (i) across both samples, NC constructions were rated as less appropriate than NPI associates, and (ii) there was a register effect in the American English data in that NC was rated less appropriate in formal than informal contexts. Our study is the first to provide experimental evidence for the register-sensitivity of NC constructions in American English.
... Indexical order is normally referred to as the organizational principle behind pragmatics. In the level of social variation, differentiable registers take place when the class, occupation, gender, or age of an individual are different, such as the doctor register or lawyer register [10]. Being noteworthy, the burst of COVID-19 engenders, or to say magnifies another type of register: the Internet register [11]. ...
This paper aims to review the study of linguistic variation in English. The paper examines three main parts: the founding and significance of linguistic variation and its compartmentalization, the dialectical variation in lexical, phonological, morphosyntactic, and pragmatic facets, and linguistic registers. The first part investigates how linguistic variation thrives as a systematic and theoretical study and how it plays an important role in current linguistic study, especially in initiating the sociolinguistics study. Then, the various variations are reviewed progressively in four dimensions: phonology, lexis, morphology, and syntax. The second part examines the dialectal variation in lexical, phonological, morphosyntactic, and pragmatic angles, each of which is vital to drawing the outline and fulfilling the connotation of dialectal variation. The third part discovers the definition and variation of registers. Registers are a prevalent linguistic phenomenon and occur in miscellaneous situations as an indexical indicator to imply the sociocultural background of individuals. This paper is of high value as a systematic review of the differentiable forms and functions of linguistic variation in English, be that variation lexical, phonological, morphological, or syntactic, and could further be a cornerstone contributing less or more to the future variationist research, via offering rudimentary modules to sketch out a framework, inspiring resourceful perspectives of exploring all sorts of variations or imparting a succession of enlightening experience.
... The more accessible the language, the more efficiently the audience will understand it. Aristotle's rhetorical theory also explains how we can use simple language in different ways to persuade people's minds (Pescuma et al., 2023). ...
This exploration examines the topic of aesthetic treatments, considering non-surgical and surgical ways to enrich facial and body aesthetics. These techniques—which include tools like liposuction and Botox—often serve as a cover to camouflage personal anxieties beyond mere appearance. Using a qualitative-descriptive procedure, researchers investigate the convincing skills—ethos, pathos, and logos—used in Pakistani dermatological and surgical publicity on YouTube and TV. Using data from a randomized sample, the report provides insight into the elements contributing to these advertisements' rising fame in Pakistan. The conclusion emphasizes how these ads deftly employ pathos, ethos, and logos to sway viewers' views or opinions. These ten ads efficiently market cosmetic operations by appealing to feelings, believability, and rationality. Their capacity to connect with the audience on a level that combines sentiment, logic, and dependability gives them persuasive power. This qualitative investigation clarifies the workings of Pakistani beauty advertisements and highlights their expanding impact, creating an engaging story for the reader.
