A discourse category model of register representation and processing

Abstract In the text-linguistic tradition of register analysis, registers have often been seen as varieties of language defined by situations of use (see e.g., Biber & Conrad 2019 ). Recently, however, registers have been reconceptualized so as to permit more robust analyses of situations, intra-register variation in situational characteristics, and functional correspondences between situational and linguistic variables (e.g., Biber & Egbert 2023 ). As part of this program, Biber and Egbert have recently called for psycholinguistic research into the nature of registers and register variation ( Biber & Egbert 2023 : 19). However, few researchers have attempted to theorize registers as explicitly psycholinguistic constructs (cf., Keller 2021 ). Toward this end, this paper proposes the Discourse Category Model (DCM) of cognitive processes underlying register acquisition, representation, and processing. In this model, registers are mental categories of discourse events. This view contrasts with a purely functional view of register variation that sees registers as corpus-linguistic epiphenomena rather than cognitive phenomena. The model is intended to provide a framework for investigating the nature of registers and register variation from an explicitly cognitive orientation. Testable predictions generated by the model are presented along with research paradigms that may be useful for testing them.