The multi-dimensional approach to linguistic analyses of genre variation: An overview of methodology and findings

The present paper summarizes the major methods and results of the multi-dimensional approach to genre variation. The approach combines the resources of computational tools, large text corpora, and multivariate statistical tools (such as factor analysis and cluster analysis). It has been used to address issues such as the relations among spoken and written genres in English, and the historical development of genres and styles. The approach has also been applied to other languages; in this regard it has been used to address broader theoretical issues, such as the extent to which genre, and style variation are comparable cross-linguistically, and the linguistic consequences of literacy.Douglas Biber is an associate professor in the Department of English, Applied Linguistics Program, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ. His research deals with the linguistic variation among registers and the diachronic evolution of registers, addressing both theoretical concerns and methodological issues relating to the design and use of computer-based text corpora.