Register Variation in Hellenistic Greek

From the Introduction: 

We first outline our corpora and methodology, along with baseline probabilities for each of the variables annotated in our data and some brief discussion on these probabilities. Next, we demonstrate how register variation can be observed and interpreted by examining patterns of morphosyntactic variation within the New Testament. Third, we demonstrate that this register variation is scalable from a smaller to a larger corpus. Fourth, we examine whether similar patterns of variation exist between different sub-sections of a single text, the book of Romans. If register patterns, which shift from text to text in a corpus, are evident and also shift from section to section of a text, then we would expect the same patterns to characterize the variation observed between sections of a text. If the patterns of variation between texts in a corpus did in fact characterize intra-text variation as well, then register variation (in many ways similar to, though perhaps more comprehensive than, the “stylistic variation” form critics look for) would be an appropriate tool for distinguishing sections of a text as the products of different historical circumstances. Based on our findings to the contrary, however, we argue that register is a characteristic of complete texts, not of sections, episodes, or pericopes within a text. Therefore, we make the case that differences in systemic probabilities characterize register variations when examined across texts in a corpus, not within individual texts. Finally, we summarize our results in a final section.

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