Text Analysis of Corpus Linguistics in a Post-concordancer Era

Abstract

In this methodological paper, I review a number of studies in corpus linguistics that rely heavily on off-the-shelf computer programs known as concordancers. While acknowledging the fruitful research findings generated using concordancers, it is argued that natural language processing (NLP) tools such as Stanford parser and SyntaxNet should be used to automate certain analytical procedures that are often performed manually by corpus linguistics researchers using concordancers. More collaboration efforts between NLP researchers and corpus linguists are called for to help advance the field of corpus linguistics into a post-concordancer era.