Contemporary Corpus Linguistics

Description

Corpus linguistics uses large electronic databases of language to examine hypotheses about language use. These can be tested scientifically with computerised analytical tools, without the researcher's preconceptions influencing their conclusions. For this reason, corpus linguistics is a popular and expanding area of study. Contemporary Corpus Linguistics presents a comprehensive survey of the ways in which corpus linguistics is being used by researchers. Written by internationally renowned linguists, this volume of seventeen introductory chapters aims to provide a snapshot of the field of corpus linguistics. The contributors present accessible, yet detailed, analyses of recent methods and theory in Corpus Linguistics, ways of analysing corpora, and recent applications in translation, stylistics, discourse analysis and language teaching. The book represents the best of current practice in Corpus Linguistics, and as a one volume reference will be invaluable to students and researchers looking for an overview of the field.

Paul Baker is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and Modern English language at Lancaster University, UK.

"The inclusion of Contemporary in the title is no idle boast - all of these papers take corpus linguistics forward in exciting and challenging ways." - Michael Hoey, Baines Professor of English language, University of Liverpool, UK. "...the book is of significant interest to linguistics and language learners, with its fascinating case studies, abundance of tables, examples, useful web links, references to freely downloadable tools (as AntConc) and an extensive bibliography. It clearly states the benefits of using corpus linguistics for pure, applied and computational linguistics. We believe that it can attract more researchers to the corpus-linguistic methods and provide a good starting point for further research." English Text Construction, 2:2, 2009 After [Baker's] useful introduction, which provides a brief but sensible update on the current status of corpus Work, there are sixteen chapters by different authors on the way corpora can contribute to the study of all kinds of topics, including metaphor, critical discourse analysis, stylistics, lexical patterning, patterns in speech, linguistic variation, dictionaries, second language teaching, translation and on the more technical issues of software development and corpus-building. -- The Year's Work in English Studies, Volume 90