Corpus Linguistics: Method, Theory and Practice (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics)

312 Pages·2011·1.17 MB·English

by  Tony McEnery

Corpus Linguistics
Corpus linguistics is the study of language data on a large scale – the
computer-aidedanalysisofveryextensivecollectionsoftranscribedutter-
ancesorwrittentexts.Thistextbookoutlinesthebasicmethodsofcorpus
linguistics, explains how the discipline of corpus linguistics developed,
andsurveysthemajorapproachestotheuseofcorpusdata.Itusesabroad
rangeofexamplestoshowhowcorpusdatahasledtomethodologicaland
theoreticalinnovationinlinguisticsingeneral.Clearanddetailedexplana-
tionslayoutthekeyissuesofmethodandtheoryincontemporarycorpus
linguistics.Astructuredandcoherentnarrativelinksthehistoricaldevel-
opmentofthefieldtocurrenttopicsin‘mainstream’linguistics.Practical
activitiesandquestionsfordiscussionattheendofeachchapterencourage
studentstotesttheirunderstandingofwhattheyhavereadandanextensive
glossaryprovideseasyaccesstodefinitionsofalltechnicaltermsusedin
thetext.
tony mcenery is Professor of English Language and Linguistics at
LancasterUniversity.
andrew hardie is Lecturer in Corpus Linguistics at Lancaster
University.

CAMBRIDGE TEXTBOOKS IN LINGUISTICS
Generaleditors:p. austin, j. bresnan, b. comrie, s. crain,
w. dressler, c. ewen, r. lass, d. lightfoot, k. rice,
i. roberts, s. romaine, n. v. smith
Corpus Linguistics:
Method, Theory and Practice
Inthisseries:
S. C. LEVINSONPragmatics
G. BROWNandG. YULEDiscourseAnalysis
R. HUDDLESTONIntroductiontotheGrammarofEnglish
R. LASSPhonology
B. COMRIETense
W. KLEINSecondLanguageAcquisition
A. J. WOODS,P. FLETCHERandA. HUGHESStatisticsinLanguageStudies
D. A. CRUSELexicalSemantics
A. RADFORDTransformationalGrammar
M. GARMANPsycholinguistics
G. G. CORBETTGender
H. J. GIEGERICHEnglishPhonology
R. CANNFormalSemantics
J. LAVERPrinciplesofPhonetics
F. R. PALMERGrammaticalRolesandRelations
M. A. JONESFoundationsofFrenchSyntax
A. RADFORDSyntacticTheoryandtheStructureofEnglish:AMinimalistApproach
R. D. VAN VALIN, JR,andR. J. LAPOLLASyntax:Structure,Meaningand
Function
A. DURANTILinguisticAnthropology
A. CRUTTENDENIntonationSecondedition
J. K. CHAMBERSandP. TRUDGILLDialectologySecondedition
C. LYONSDefiniteness
R. KAGEROptimalityTheory
J. A. HOLMAnIntroductiontoPidginsandCreoles
G. G. CORBETTNumber
C. J. EWENandH. VAN DER HULSTThePhonologicalStructureofWords
F. R. PALMERMoodandModalitySecondedition
B. J. BLAKECaseSecondedition
E. GUSSMANPhonology:AnalysisandTheory
M. YIPTone
W. CROFTTypologyandUniversalsSecondedition
F. COULMASWritingSystems:AnIntroductiontotheirLinguisticAnalysis
P. J. HOPPERandE. C. TRAUGOTTGrammaticalizationSecondedition
L. WHITESecondLanguageAcquisitionandUniversalGrammar
I. PLAGWord-FormationinEnglish
W. CROFTandA. CRUSECognitiveLinguistics
A. SIEWIERSKAPerson
A. RADFORDMinimalistSyntax:ExploringtheStructureofEnglish
D. BU¨RINGBindingTheory
M. BUTTTheoriesofCase
N. HORNSTEIN,J. NUN˜ESandK. GROHMANNUnderstandingMinimalism
B. C. LUSTChildLanguage:AcquisitionandGrowth
G. G. CORBETTAgreement
J. C. L. INGRAMNeurolinguistics:AnIntroductiontoSpokenLanguageProcessing
anditsDisorders
J. CLACKSONIndo-EuropeanLinguistics:AnIntroduction
M. ARIELPragmaticsandGrammar
R. CANN,R. KEMPSONandE. GREGOROMICHELAKISemantics:An
IntroductiontoMeaninginLanguage
Y. MATRASLanguageContact
D. BIBERandS. CONRADRegister,GenreandStyle
L. JEFFRIESandD. MCINTYREStylistics
R. HUDSONAnIntroductiontoWordGrammar
M. L. MURPHYLexicalMeaning
J. M. MEISELFirstandSecondLanguageAcquisition
T. McENERYandA. HARDIECorpusLinguistics:Method,TheoryandPractice
Corpus Linguistics
Method, Theory and Practice
TONY MCENERY AND
ANDREW HARDIE
LancasterUniversity
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,Tokyo,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521547369
(cid:2)c TonyMcEneryandAndrewHardie2012
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Firstpublished2012
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
McEnery,Tony,1964–
Corpuslinguistics:method,theoryandpractice/TonyMcEnery,AndrewHardie.
p. cm.–(Cambridgetextbooksinlinguistics)
Includesindex.
ISBN978-0-521-83851-1(hardback)
1.Corpora(Linguistics) I.Hardie,Andrew. II.Title.
P128.C68M38 2011
410.1(cid:3)88–dc23 2011026519
ISBN978-0-521-83851-1Hardback
ISBN978-0-521-54736-9Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
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Contents
Listoffigures pagex
Listoftables xi
Acknowledgements xii
Preface xiii
1 Whatiscorpuslinguistics? 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Modeofcommunication 3
1.3 Corpus-basedversuscorpus-drivenlinguistics 5
1.4 Datacollectionregimes 6
1.5 Annotatedversusunannotatedcorpora 13
1.6 Totalaccountabilityversusdataselection 14
1.7 Monolingualversusmultilingualcorpora 18
1.8 Summary 21
Furtherreading 21
Practicalactivities 22
Questionsfordiscussion 23
2 Accessingandanalysingcorpusdata 25
2.1 Introduction 25
2.2 Arecorporatheanswertoallresearchquestionsinlinguistics? 27
2.3 Corpusannotation 29
2.4 Introducingconcordances 35
2.5 Ahistoricaloverviewofcorpusanalysistools 37
2.6 Statisticsincorpuslinguistics 48
2.7 Summary 53
Furtherreading 54
Practicalactivities 55
Questionsfordiscussion 55
3 Theweb,lawsandethics 57
3.1 Introduction 57
3.2 Thewebandlegalissues 57
3.3 Ethicalissues 60
3.4 Summary 69
Furtherreading 69
Practicalactivity 70
Questionsfordiscussion 70
vii
viii Contents
4 EnglishCorpusLinguistics 71
4.1 Introduction 71
4.2 UniversityCollegeLondon(UCL) 74
4.3 LancasterUniversity 76
4.4 UniversityofBirmingham 79
4.5 Universite´CatholiquedeLouvain 81
4.6 UniversityofNottingham 84
4.7 NorthernArizonaUniversityandtheUSA 88
4.8 Summary 91
Furtherreading 91
Practicalactivities 92
Questionsfordiscussion 92
5 Corpus-basedstudiesofsynchronicanddiachronic
variation 94
5.1 Introduction 94
5.2 DiachronicchangefromOldEnglishtoModernEnglish 94
5.3 DiachronicvariationincontemporaryModernEnglish 96
5.4 Themulti-dimensionalapproachtovariation 104
5.5 Corporaandvariationistsociolinguistics 115
5.6 Summary 118
Furtherreading 119
Practicalactivities 119
Questionsfordiscussion 120
6 Neo-Firthiancorpuslinguistics 122
6.1 Introduction 122
6.2 Collocation 122
6.3 Discourse 133
6.4 Semanticprosodyandsemanticpreference 135
6.5 Lexisandgrammar 142
6.6 Corpus-as-theoryversuscorpus-as-method 147
6.7 Summary:Sinclair’scontributiontocorpuslinguistics 162
Furtherreading 164
Practicalactivities 164
Questionsfordiscussion 165
7 Corpusmethodsandfunctionalistlinguistics 167
7.1 Introduction 167
7.2 Functionalisminlinguistics:abriefoverview 168
7.3 Corpus-basedresearchfromafunctionalistperspective 171
7.4 Corporaandtypology 176
7.5 Corporaandcognitiveapproachestolinguistics 179
7.6 Corporaintheanalysisofmetaphor 185
7.7 Summary 188
Furtherreading 189
Practicalactivities 189
Questionsfordiscussion 191