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Author and register as sources of variation : A corpus-based study using elicited texts

Publikace na Filozofická fakulta |
2020

Tento text není v aktuálním jazyce dostupný. Zobrazuje se verze "en".Abstrakt

This paper investigates the contribution of author/idiolect vs. register/type-of-text - as the most salient factors influencing the final shape of a text - towards explaining the variation observed in Czech texts. Since it is almost impossible to explore the effect of these factors on authentic data, we used elicited letters collected in a fully crossed experimental design (representative sample of 200 authors x four elicitation scenarios serving as a proxy to register variation).

The variation encompassed by the elicited texts is analyzed through the lens of a general-purpose multi-dimensional model of Czech. Using triangulation via three established statistical methods and one devised for the purpose of this study, we find that register matters a great deal, explaining 1.5 times as much variation overall as idiolect.

This should be taken into account when designing research in sociolinguistics or variation studies in general.