Linguistics Specificity of Universities Prospectuses: A Corpus-Based Genre Analysis

Abstract

This study investigates the specific lexical choices found in university prospectuses while
examining the linguistic structures that define their textual characteristics and determining the
genre type by comparing it with similar text types to understand the unique language features of
these documents. The necessary prospectuses were downloaded from the universities' online
platforms to achieve this objective. A collection of text samples was assembled by examining
various sections of university websites to create a representative corpus. The section titled
Introduction, About Us, Vice Chancellor Messages, Vision, Mission, and Facilities. A
quantitative approach was employed; lexical and linguistic features were quantified to compare
with registers' specific dimensions scores as studied in Biber, and for framing the textual
dimensions. Functions of lexical specificity were interpreted to describe the workings of tools of
lexical specificity. The data was analyzed with the help of software like MAT and AntConc. The
investigation of the data utilized theoretical frameworks, including Hyland's (2009) specificity
model alongside Biber's (1993) multidimensional analysis model. The research indicates that
university prospectuses frequently employ lexical items that predominantly include self
reference terms, hedging expressions, directional words, reporting verbs, and lexical bundles.
Through Biber's (1993) multidimensional analysis, the research findings indicate that university
prospectuses align most closely with the learned exposition text type, encompassing registers
such as official documents, press reports, and academic prose, thus establishing it as a distinct
genre.