Register Variation in the Lexico-Grammatical and Functional Usages of MAKE and TAKE

Abstract

Han, Sumi and Shin, Jeong-Ah. 2015. Register Variation in the Lexico-Grammatical and Functional Usages of MAKE and TAKE. Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics. 15-4, 919-941. This study explored the spoken-written register variation in the lexico-grammatical and functional usages of two high-frequency verbs make and take with in-house corpora including academic lectures and textbooks of American universities. All uses of each verb in each academic register were analyzed and compared with regard to frequency and collocate. The results showed that both verbs and their delexical uses were significantly more frequent in lectures than in textbooks. However, no register variation was found significant in phrasal and/or idiomatic uses. The nature of common collocates of each verb also varies in register, but stance words were common collocates of both verbs in the textbooks. Both similarities and differences in the usages of make and take between lectures and textbooks are informative to identify the general, non-arbitrary structural and semantic patterns of high-frequency verbs across registers and to apply them to L2 instruction and research.