Orality on the searchable web

As Culpeper and Kytö (2010) discuss, one challenge of historical linguistics is the extent to which written texts represent the linguistic characteristics of speech. Synchronic linguists face similar challenges, leading to the practice of using a web corpus to represent the spectrum of oral–literate registers. However, there has been little research that tests the validity of this practice. The present chapter begins by summarizing the patterns of register variation on the searchable web documented in Biber and Egbert (2018) . While that study documents the importance of oral–literate linguistic dimensions, it does not investigate whether involved web registers represent the linguistic characteristics of spoken registers. We explore that research question here, comparing the multi-dimensional profiles of online registers and spoken conversation.