The construal of space in different registers: an exploratory study

• The paper studies the construal of human experiences of location in and movement through “space” in English texts.
• The study explores the construal of space for different purposes in different registers.
• The study is discourse-based and register-based.
• The categories of register are context-based and field-oriented, in the sense of functional varieties of language operating in different contexts of use.

In this paper we present linguistic variation in the construal of “space” in different registers. We focus in particular on variation in the lexicogrammatical construal of space across texts belonging to different registers, offering a report based on our exploration of samples of texts operating in different contexts. The registers are differentiated according to the field of activity within context (e.g. Matthiessen, 2006, 2013); the ones considered here are reporting, recreating, doing, enabling, recommending, and expounding. The study is part a long-term research project concerned with the construal of location in and movement through space in language and other semiotic systems, and it is an exploratory guide sketching part of the findings from the research. Our aims, in addition to reporting findings of the project, are to provide the exploratory guide for both more detailed and more extensive analysis in future studies and thus to stimulate more register-based research in this area.