So? The effect of register and social settings on the use of so as a linking adverbial

So as a high-frequency multifunctional form has been widely researched in both linguistics and applied linguistics studies. However, there is a lack of research on the effect of register and social settings on the frequency of... [ view full abstract ]

So as a high-frequency multifunctional form has been widely researched in both linguistics and applied linguistics studies. However, there is a lack of research on the effect of register and social settings on the frequency of various pragmatic meanings of so in native corpora. In order to bridge this research gap, this paper uses data from Wellington Corpora of Written and Spoken New Zealand English to analyse the various pragmatic meanings that so can carry in both written and spoken English, and compares the frequency of the meanings in different registers and social settings. This paper concludes that so can carry up to nine different meanings in written and spoken registers and that patterns of use of meaning of so vary across registers and social settings. While significant difference has been found in spoken registers in terms of the range and frequency of meanings of so, no significant difference is identified in the two written registers. There is also significant difference in the use of the range and frequency of meanings of so in academic settings, but no such difference exists in news settings. The more frequent or sole use of some of the meanings of so in a certain register/social setting to some extent has reflected the distinctive features of that particular register/social setting.