Dimensions of Variation in Written Chinese uses a corpus-based, multi-dimensional model to account for variation in written Chinese. Using statistical method and two-dimensional visual representation, it provides a concrete and objective view of the internal variation in written Chinese. This book is a timely work that addresses the growing interest in quantitative genre analysis and how knowledge thus gained can contribute to the teaching as well as understanding of the Chinese language.

Zheng-sheng Zhang is Professor of Chinese at San Diego State University. He has been a long-term editor of the Journal of Chinese Language teachers Association (now known as Chinese as a Second Language) and is a respected researcher in the field of Chinese linguistics.

Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Critique of Existing Literature Chapter 3: Corpora and Search Tools Chapter 4: Features Selection, Selected Features and Frequency Profiles Chapter 5: Theoretical Framework and Correspondence Analysis Chapter 6: Two Dimensions of Stylistic Variation in Modern Written Chinese Chapter 7: Cross-linguistic Comparison with English Chapter 8: Case Studies Chapter 9: Theoretical Issues and Future Directions Chapter 10: Practical Implications Index