Bringing together linguistics and media and communication studies, this volume showcases interdisciplinary perspectives on the nature of patterns in language and communication. Defining ‘patterns’ as empirical surface phenomena, the contributions focus on a strictly empirical, data-driven perspective, demonstrating the wide range of different phenomena that can be described as ‘patterns’ and the methodological challenges involved. At the same time, they discuss the role of theoretical grounding in describing and explaining patterns. It is this grounding which provides the minimal units that make up patterns, and which explains their inherently variable nature.