Variation Across Speech and Writing

This widely acclaimed empirical study uses a factor analysis to identify six dimensions of variation on the basis of linguistic co-occurence patterns. The resulting model of variation provides for the description of the distinctive linguistic characteristics of any spoken or written text, and of the degree to which any two spoken or written texts are similar. The model shows how the polarization of speech and writing has been misleading and enables reconciliation of many of the contradictory conclusions reached by previous research.Biber, Douglas is the author of 'Variation Across Speech and Writing' with ISBN 9780521425568 and ISBN 0521425565.