Corpus-linguistic approaches to language

2019 ◽  
pp. 41-73
Author(s):  
Claudia Lange ◽  
Sven Leuckert
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Linguistic Approaches

Arab women in news headlines during the Arab Spring: Image and perception in Germany

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 515-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Mustafa-Awad ◽  
Monika Kirner-Ludwig
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
News Media ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab Women ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
University Courses ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Linguistic Approaches ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
News Headlines

This article reports on the first stage of a research project on German university students’ conceptualization of Arab women and to what extent it is affected by the latters’ representation in the Western press during the Arab Spring. We combined discourse analysis and corpus-linguistic approaches to investigate the relationship between lexical items used by the students to express their attitudes toward Arab women and those featuring in news headlines about them published in British, American, and German news media. Results show that the portrayal of Arab women in Western news headlines has a clear impact on German students’ opinions of them. The findings also show that our participants tend to be aware of this effect, which could be partly due to their familiarity with discourse analysis as students of linguistics. These results have implications for incorporating media education systematically in general university courses.

What learner corpus research can contribute to multilingualism research

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 734-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Wulff
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Methodological Tool ◽  
Learner Language ◽  
Linguistic Approaches

Corpus linguists are increasingly interested in applying their methodological tool box to the various areas of multilingualism. This paper gives an overview of corpus resources and presents three case studies on L2 foreign language learning that employ quantitative methods. The goal is to demonstrate that corpus-linguistic approaches further our understanding of many hot topics in learner language research, including appropriate characterizations of the L1 input and/or target norm; the adequate modeling of the intrinsically complex and highly L1-specific nature of learner language; and the increasingly recognized role of individual variation in the acquisition process. The paper closes with a brief discussion of how these methods can and should be applied to other areas of multilingualism research.

scholarly journals Snack Names In China

Names ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 13-20
Author(s):  
Dan Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Brand Names ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Food Ingredient ◽  
Dominant Type ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Descriptive Names ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Linguistic Approaches

Previous studies of snack names have focused on their psychological impact on consumers in different cultures but have tended to ignore their onomastic features. This study helps to address this gap based on a corpus of 121 snack names extracted from the book Chinese Famous Local Delicious Food and Special Products. This study explores the patterns of syllables, sounds, and name types of snack names compiled in this small-scale corpus. In this investigation, it was found that descriptive names were the dominant type in the corpus and the most frequently described type feature was the food ingredient. Interestingly, metaphorical names in the corpus were in general found to be related to shape similarities. Contrary to previous findings on dish names and drinking brand names in China, the snack names examined in this corpus showed a preference for three-syllable patterns and “light” or “flat” tones. After discussing these and other findings of this research, this paper discusses what insights this study may provide for other name investigations that utilize corpus linguistic approaches.

scholarly journals A new approach to (key) keywords analysis: Using frequency, and now also dispersion

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Stefan Th. Gries
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Measure ◽  
Dimensional Approach ◽  
Likelihood Ratios ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Log Likelihood ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
Linguistic Approaches ◽  
National Corpus

A widely-used method in corpus-linguistic approaches to discourse analysis, register/text type/genre analysis, and educational/curriculum questions is that of keywords analysis, a simple statistical method aiming to identify words that are key to, i.e. characteristic for, certain discourses, text types, or topic domains. The vast majority of keywords analyses relied on the same statistical measure that most collocation studies are using, the log-likelihood ratio, which is performed on frequencies of occurrence in two corpora under consideration. In a recent paper, Egbert and Biber (2019) advocated a different approach, one that involves computing log-likelihood ratios for word types based on the range of their distribution rather than their frequencies in the target and reference corpora under consideration. In this paper, I argue that their approach is a most welcome addition to keywords analysis but can still be profitably extended by utilizing both frequency and dispersion for keyness computations. I am presenting a new two-dimensional approach to keyness and exemplifying it on the basis of the Clinton-Trump Corpus and the British National Corpus.

4. CORPUS LINGUISTIC APPROACHES FOR DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

2002 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 75-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Conrad
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Dimensional Analysis ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Computer Tools ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
Linguistic Approaches

This chapter provides an overview of approaches within corpus linguistics that address discourse-level phenomena. The shared characteristics of all corpus-based research are first reviewed. Then four major approaches are covered: (1) investigating characteristics associated with the use of a language feature, for example, analyzing the factors that affect the omission or retention of that in complement clauses; (2) examining the realizations of a particular function of language, such as describing all the constructions used in English to express stance; (3) characterizing a variety of language, for example, conducting a multi-dimensional analysis to investigate relationships among the registers used in different settings at universities; and (4) mapping the occurrences of a feature through entire texts, for example, tracing how writers refer to themselves and their audience as they construct authority in memos. For each approach, a variety of studies are reviewed to illustrate the diverse perspectives that corpus linguistics can bring to our understanding of discourse. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of some other foci in corpus linguistics and suggests that two areas require particular attention for the advancement of discourse-oriented corpus studies: the need for more computer tools and computer programmers for corpus linguistics, and the need for further studies about how best to represent language varieties in a corpus.

scholarly journals New corpus-linguistic approaches to the investigation of poetic occasionalisms: The case of Johann Nepomuk Nestroy

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang U. Dressler ◽  
Barbara Tumfart
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Contextual Analysis ◽  
New Words ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Unfamiliar Word ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Linguistic Approaches ◽  
First Time

Abstract This paper reports on new approaches to the analysis of poetic occasionalisms, i.e. of words created by an author for a specific place in a literary text, and exemplifies them with the occasionalisms found in three comedies by Johann Nepomuk Nestroy, the greatest Austrian comedy writer and creator of new words in the 19th century. Corpuslinguistic search in Nestroy’s complete works and in large German electronic corpora enables better decisions with regard to whether an unfamiliar word was really an occasionalism. Comparison with Nestroy’s French models (never done so far) shows that these occasionalisms are really Nestroy’s original creations. Two new analyses of their relative audacity offer novel insights, which are corroborated by a first comparison between Nestroy’s and a rival’s occasionalisms. Next, the results of a cotextual and contextual analysis of occasionalisms are offered. Finally, for the first time it is studied to which actors the presentation of most occasionalisms was assigned in order to achieve optimal theatrical effects.

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