Eniko Csomay

A Corpus Linguistic Investigation of Vocabulary-based Discourse Units in University Registers

The present study introduces an approach that combines corpus-linguistic and discourseanalytic perspectives to analyze the discourse patterns in a large multi-register corpus. The primary goals of the study were to identify Vocabulary-Based Discourse Units (VBDUs) using computational techniques, and to describe the basic types of VBDUs as distinguished by their primary linguistic characteristics, using Multi-Dimensional analytical techniques. The secondary goals were to compare the distributional patterns of spoken and written academic registers in their reliance on the different VBDU types, and to illustrate the analysis of the internal organization of a text as sequences of VBDUs. The three major registers analyzed in this study – university classroom teaching, university textbooks, and academic research articles – represent a continuum in the extent to which VBDUs are explicitly marked by surface/textual features.

Lexical bundle distribution in university classroom talk

The present study investigates the relationship between the discourse functions of lexical bundles found in classroom teaching and their position. Eighty-four lexical bundles, frequently occurring four-word combinations identified earlier in university classroom talk (Biber, Conrad, and Cortes, 2004), are tracked in the first six Vocabulary-Based Discourse Units (VBDUs) also identified previously (Biber, Csomay, Jones, and Keck, 2004) of 176 university lectures. Among others, expressions such as you might want to, I would like to, if you look at, and in the case of are traced in tandem with their previously identified classification of discourse functions. While earlier studies reported on the relationship between the bundles’ discourse functions and their position in the first three discourse units (Cortes and Csomay, 2007), there are no studies yet on how the frequency patterns may change in the second set of three discourse units.The findings of this study show a sharp increase in the use of referential bundles and those discourse organizers with a topic elaboration that focuses in the second set of discourse units. At the same time, the use of bundles expressing stance, especially those referring to personal ability and personal intention and those discourse organizers with a topic introduction, drop in the second set of discourse units. These findings provide further, lexical evidence for the claim that a strong relationship exists between intra-textual linguistic variation and the corresponding shift in discourse functions in university classes (Csomay, 2005, 2007).