STUDYING MULTIDIMENSIONAL PATTERNS OF CHANGE OVERTIME IN WRITING LETTER TO EDITOR

Abstract

This study is an attempt to identify the patterns of linguistic variation providing an insight into how the language of letter-to-the-editor(LE) which represents the language of the common members of public as opposed to the professional experts or editors changed over a period of seventy years.Biber’s (2006) new multidimensional analysis was used toexplore the linguistic variation in LE from Pakistani English newspapersover a period of time. The findings of the study show that the lexico-grammatical patterns of LE change over time. It shifted from mixed purpose to informational to opinionated discourse. During the period of seventy years, it became less argumentative. It also showed a transition from informational discourse to dialogical reporting and from context-oriented to explicit discourse.English language teachers and syllabus designers should consider this linguistic variation while designing courses for English language learners.