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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Genre-related language change
T2 - Discourse- and corpus-linguistic perspectives on Austrian German 1970-2010
AU - Rheindorf, M.
AU - Wodak, R.
PY - 2019/3/30
Y1 - 2019/3/30
N2 - The motivation and diffusion of language change have been modelled and discussed in frequently conflicting terms, often focused on an isolated set of features rather than more integrative sociolinguistic concerns. We present a case study of language change in Austrian German along a broad range of lexical, syntactic as well as textual features, approached through a corpus based on genres situated in the pertinent fields of news reporting, education and business. Based on our results, we argue that drawing on 'genre' as socially-situated, interactive and goal-oriented patterns of language use provides both a conceptual and empirical framework that may help address some of the more prominent issues in modelling language change: as a concept, it provides a frame within which to grasp the social changes driving language change; as empirical focus, it guides data selection and allows us to describe and explicate complex and seemingly contradictory diffusion patterns.
AB - The motivation and diffusion of language change have been modelled and discussed in frequently conflicting terms, often focused on an isolated set of features rather than more integrative sociolinguistic concerns. We present a case study of language change in Austrian German along a broad range of lexical, syntactic as well as textual features, approached through a corpus based on genres situated in the pertinent fields of news reporting, education and business. Based on our results, we argue that drawing on 'genre' as socially-situated, interactive and goal-oriented patterns of language use provides both a conceptual and empirical framework that may help address some of the more prominent issues in modelling language change: as a concept, it provides a frame within which to grasp the social changes driving language change; as empirical focus, it guides data selection and allows us to describe and explicate complex and seemingly contradictory diffusion patterns.
KW - Austrian German
KW - diffusion
KW - discourse studies
KW - genre analysis
KW - genre-related language change
KW - language change
U2 - 10.1515/flin-2019-2006
DO - 10.1515/flin-2019-2006
M3 - Journal article
VL - 53
SP - 125
EP - 167
JO - Folia Linguistica
JF - Folia Linguistica
SN - 0165-4004
IS - 1
ER -