Corpus Linguistics: Readings in a Widening Discipline

Description

Corpus Linguistics seeks to provide a comprehensive sampling of real-life usage in a given language, and to use these empirical data to test language hypotheses. Because corpus linguistics has grown fast from small beginnings, newcomers to the field often find it hard to get their bearings. Important papers can be difficult to track down. This volume reprints forty-two articles on corpus linguistics by an international selection of authors, which comprehensively illustrate the directions in which the subject is developing. It includes articles that are already recognized as classics, and others which deserve to become so, supplemented with editorial introductions relating the individual contributions to the field as a whole. This collection of readings will be useful to students of corpus linguistics at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, as well as academics researching this fascinating area of linguistics.

Geoffrey Sampson is a former Professor of Natural Language Computing at the School of Informatics, University of Sussex. He is now a Research Fellow at the University of South Africa. Diana McCarthy is a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow, in the Department of Informatics at Sussex University.

...I highly recommend Corpus Linguistics: Readings in a Widening Discipline to anyone with any interest in linguistic corpora. Besides bringing students and practitioners of other branches of linguistics up to speed on advances in modern corpus linguistics, this volume may as a secondary effect help inform applied, computational, descriptive, and even theoretical linguists about each other's fields... In any event, this collection is a wonderful addition to the currently available textbooks on corpus linguistics, and provides yet another reason that, as the editors say in their introduction, 'this is a good time to bcome a corpus linguist'. Robert Malouf, San Diego State University. Compuational Linguistics -- Robert Malouf, San Diego State University "The editors have made significant contributions to the area of corpus linguistics and here they provide a coherent presentation of the approach enunciated in various arenas over the years. The result is a collection of articles intended as a basic source book of 'background knowledge' for students working in the field of corpus linguistics.... are numerous features that make the book easily accessible and thoroughly rewarding to read.... Overall, the book is an extremely valuable resource on its own, not only for corpus linguists as a valuable reference. Those newly interested in the area will also find the volume an essential collection, not least to understand the wider field of corpus linguistics and the historical developments it has undergone. The richness of the book is the editors' vast collective experience and knowledge in presenting the development in terms of linguistic research..... This is an impressive volume that demonstrates just how far the field has progressed over the last 50 years." -Linguist List, April 2006 '...the book has been compiled with a lot of thought, covering a large number of different topic areas within corpus linguistics. The editors' introductions to each chapter are very useful as they do not only briefly summarize the chapter but also put it into context for the readers. All chapters are relatively short so that they are not overwhelming for a reader new to the area and all were selected for their importance to the field of corpus linguistics.' * Blurb from reviewer * '...the book is an extremely valuable resource to own, not only for corpus linguists as reference, but also for those newly interested in the area to understand the wider field of corpus linguistics as well as the historical development that it has undergone.' Ute Knoch, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Review on LinguistList. * Blurb from reviewer *