Corpus Linguistics Research Articles

UTILISING CORPUS STYLISTICS TO FACILITATE LITERARY ANALYSIS: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SEMANTIC DOMAINS IN IDENTIFYING MAJOR LITERARY THEMES IN A SELECTION OF CHARLES DICKENS’ NOVELS

Though still in an early stage of development, corpus-assisted literary analysis is becoming increasingly popular as having the full potential of corpus linguistics methodology for literary stylistics. This paper argues that corpus linguistic procedures can be considered an addition to the analytical inventory of traditional stylistics. It aims to explore how corpus linguistic procedures, particularly semantic domains, can be effective in detecting major literary themes in fiction. In order to do so, five corpora were compiled: a corpus for each of the four novels of Charles Dickens’ selected (i.e., Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend) and a compiled corpus combining all four novels. Wmatrix 5, with the BNC Sampler-Written as a reference corpus, was used to extract the key semantic domains in each corpus respectively. The literature on the selected novels was consulted to identify the major themes. Then, it was verified whether these themes were reflected in the corpus analysis, and, finally, the extent to which the procedure was effective in reflecting the major literary themes was also explored. The findings confirmed the effectiveness of the procedure of analysing semantic domains in studying literary texts, particularly in relation to their themes.

Grammar Instruction in the Digital Age: The Impact of Corpus Linguistics

The potential of corpus linguistics to transform grammar training in the digital era is examined in this study. An in-depth review of the literature looked at the benefits and challenges of corpus-based approaches. Teachers may customize education to meet the unique needs of each student by using corpus linguistics, which provides insightful information about how language is used in everyday situations. Through the integration of real-world language samples and theoretical grammar principles, corpora can foster critical thinking and increase student engagement. Nevertheless, integrating corpus linguistics necessitates resolving technological issues, creating useful teaching resources, and educating educators. The study provides suggestions for using corpora in grammar training as well as future research topics. Using online corpus tools for student exploration, utilizing corpus analysis to uncover typical student mistakes, and creating activities that motivate students to study corpus data in context are some of these proposals. By using corpus linguistics, teachers may close the gap between grammar instruction theory and practice and enable students to become independent language learners.

Recent trends in corpus design and reporting: A methodological synthesis

Methodological design is a central issue for researchers in corpus linguistics. To understand trends in the reporting of important aspects of corpus design and the type of corpora being used in corpus linguistics research articles better, this study analyzes 709 descriptions of corpora from research published in corpus journals between 2010–2019. Each article was manually coded by two trained coders for aspects of corpus design, such as the population definition, sampling method, and sample size. Additionally, the study identifies missing information in corpus reporting. Our results show trends in corpus design, such as an increased use of spoken corpora. We also observe the existence of some robust sampling methodology and slight improvements in reporting practices over time. Overall, there is great diversity in the types of corpora that are observed in the corpus data, such as size. However, our results also show widespread underreporting of generally important corpus design choices and features, such as sampling methods or the number of texts in in even newly constructed corpora. Resultantly, suggestions for ways to improve reporting practices for empirical corpus linguistics studies are provided for authors, reviewers, and editors.

A Computational Approach to Identifying Cultural Keywords Across Languages.

Distinctive aspects of a culture are often reflected in the meaning and usage of words in the language spoken by bearers of that culture. Keywords such as душа (soul) in Russian, hati (heart) in Indonesian and Malay, and gezellig (convivial/cosy/fun) in Dutch are held to be especially culturally revealing, and scholars have identified a number of such keywords using careful linguistic analyses (Peeters, 2020b; Wierzbicka, 1990). Because keywords are expected to have different statistical properties than related words in other languages, we argue that a quantitative comparison of word usage across languages can help to identify cultural keywords. To support this claim, we describe a computational method that compares word frequencies across languages, and apply it to both linguistic corpora and word association data. The method identifies culturally specific words that range from "obvious" examples, such as Amsterdam in Dutch, to non-obvious yet independently proposed examples, such as hati (heart) in Indonesian. We show in addition that linguistic corpora and word association data provide converging evidence about culturally specific words. Our results therefore show how computational analyses and behavioral experiments can supplement the methods previously used by linguists to identify culturally salient words acrosslanguages.

A corpus-assisted approach to discursive news values analysis

The main aim of this paper is the elaboration of an analytical tool for comparative studies. For this purpose, I used a combination of Discursive News Values Analysis (DNVA) and Corpus Linguistics (CL) to analyse a corpus of British Broadsheets’ news coverage of the Brexit campaign. The four major British broadsheets which were analysed were The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, and The Daily Telegraph. A specific procedure was designed following previous studies on the topic and considering the challenges and opportunities that such a mixed-method approach (DNVA and CL) can face in exploring journalistic discursive practices and mapping the cultural and ideological discourses around certain topics. Some initial results of the case study are presented to show how the suggested procedure works in practice. From the present study’s findings, the procedure seems to work in a reliable manner, although some challenges should be considered and addressed in future studies.

When Panache l’écureuil became Pompom the Little Red Squirrel and Mischief the Squirrel: the Anglophone translations of Père Castor’s Roman des Bêtes and the cultural significance of adding a “little” word

By combining textual analysis with archival evidence from Les Archives du Père Castor (Meuzac, France) and the George Allen & Unwin Ltd. Archive (University of Reading, UK), this paper sets out to examine and assess the respective merits of two parallel sets of translations, each subtly adapted for separate Anglophone markets. Methods drawn from corpus linguistics were employed to compare linguistic patterns and examine key words across sixteen translated picture books, with particular attention given to the word “little”, a distinctive feature in Anglophone children’s literature. Whilst all translations could be said to bear the marks of the shadowy fingerprints of their translators, the examination of two sets of concurrent translations also provides a snapshot of a precise moment in translation history, allowing us to move beyond the act of translation and seek out wider received notions of cultural norms present in children’s picture books of the 1930s.

Critical Discourse Analysis of Japanese Mainstream Media Reports on China’s Aid to Africa: Based on Corpus Data

This paper conducts a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis of coverage on China’s aid to Africa by the mainstream Japanese media, Asahi Shimbun, using corpus linguistics and Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis model. The study collected relevant news articles from Asahi Shimbun published between 1984 and 2023. Using the timeline of the coverage as a framework, it carried out statistical analyses, including word frequency analysis, co-occurrence analysis, and correlation analysis, accompanied by visualization techniques. By integrating historical context, the study explores the linguistic features and evolving focal points across different periods of reporting. Through analyzing word frequency, keyword indexing, collocations, and grammatical structures, the study reveals the underlying meaning of the discourse, exposing Japan’s ideology and discourse power structure within the media’s narrative. This research offers new perspectives and methodologies for exploring the interplay between media, international relations, and development aid.

The Agenda of The Reading Teacher Journal (RT) on reading skills: A Decade within a Corpus

The science of reading aims to explain the process of teaching and learning reading to educators, families, and students to enhance children's success in school and social life. Research in education, cognitive science, and cognitive neuroscience has provided insights into the cognitive processes of reading and the brain's functions during reading, facilitating the development of effective teaching methods and models. This study conducts a corpus-based analysis of the last decade of research trends related to reading to determine the frequently occurring collocations, their distribution over time, and the emerging and declining concepts in the field. Corpus linguistics is a quantitative approach that relies on analyzing large volumes of language data to uncover patterns and features of language use. It involves the preparation of corpora, which are digital collections of texts, and using statistical tools to analyze the data within them. RT's publications in the last ten years were recorded according to year, volume, and number. The data was harvested via online versions of journals and the collected data were transformed into raw text. Figures, tables, graphic information, and footnotes were excluded from the data. Each text was annotated with "year", "issue", "volume", "keyword 1" and "keyword 2" tags. TreeTagger was used for part-of-speech tagging and CQPWeb/CWB framework was used as the corpus interface. The whole data formed a corpus of 3,548,008 words. This study provides a corpus-based analysis of the concepts that frequently form collocations with the word "reading" in the Reading Teacher (RT) over the last decade. The findings reveal the most frequently used concepts and their distribution according to years and the concepts that have experienced a decline or an increase in usage. The study sheds light on the language and discourse of reading education and contributes to understanding the changes and trends in the field.

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) and social media corpora

The study of computer-mediated communication (CMC) has received extensive attention in recent years, due to its impact on human communication and the immediacy of its form. This introduction briefly reports on some of the changes that CMC has undergone lately. The focus is on those topics currently considered to be central to the field, such as questions of identity and ideology, (im)politeness and face, humour, group creation and affiliation, verbal violence, cyberbullying, etc. Some observations are also made on the challenges that the compilation of CMC corpora poses for linguists, ranging from data copyright, anonymisation and representativeness to distinctive features of CMC texts, namely multimodality, non-standard language and non-sequential organisation. It also introduces each of the eight papers selected for this special issue of Research in Corpus Linguistics, highlighting their specific contribution to the field of CMC studies.

A Review of Vocabulary Research in English Textbooks Based on Corpora

With the promulgation of high school New Curriculum Standards, various new textbooks have emerged, and the presentation of knowledge content for vocabulary that has a profound impact on English learning in these textbooks has also changed. Corpus linguistics often uses corpus software as a research tool to efficiently search and extract language patterns from numerous language examples. The research process is objective and the results are scientific. Therefore, more and more scholars are using corpus tools to study vocabulary in English textbooks. This study will summarize the current status of vocabulary research in English textbooks based on corpus and look forward to the development trends in this field. The study aims at revealing the distribution and development patterns of vocabulary in various English textbooks, provide inspiration for future textbook compilation, and provide reference for future vocabulary evaluation research in English textbooks.

Corpus-based Translation Studies: Examining Media Language through a Linguistic Lens

This paper delves into the multifaceted world where translation studies converge with corpus linguistics, casting a spotlight on the dynamic domain of media language. By harnessing the power of a corpus-based methodology, our research meticulously dissects the intricate process of translating and adapting media texts within a panoply of linguistic landscapes and cultural contexts. The core objective of the study is to excavate and analyze the pantheon of linguistic attributes and the repertoire of tactics translators wield in the realm of media, unlocking a treasure trove of understanding pertaining to cultural subtleties and the nuanced art of translation practices. Our exploration traverses a broad spectrum of media genres, encompassing the rigor of news journalism, the creative complexity of television programming, and the viral nature of digital content, to construct a comprehensive understanding of the translation phenomena at play. The findings illuminate the myriad ways in which media narratives are reconfigured and presented to global audiences, ultimately enriching the discourse on how translation shapes and is shaped by the currents of worldwide communication. This study, therefore, serves as a crucial beacon for academics, professionals, and enthusiasts poised at the crossroads of linguistics and cultural exchange, guiding them through the labyrinth of media translation and its profound influence on international dialogues and perceptions.

OS VERBOS DE DIZER COMO ESTRATÉGIA PARA TRANSEDIÇÃO NAS TRADUÇÕES DO LE MONDE PARA O PORTUGUÊS VIA SITE DA AGÊNCIA RFI: UMA ANÁLISE BASEADA EM CORPUS

ABSTRACT This study looks at reported speech as a component of the RFI news agency’s translation procedures for the newspaper Le Monde . We examined the frequency of verb usage in a comparable-cum-parallel corpus (European French (EF) ↔ Brazilian Portuguese (BP)) named Le Monde Journalistic Corpus ( JOSTLE ), which was based on Corpus Linguistics, Corpus-based Translation Studies, and Journalistic Translation principles. We identified the most commonly used verbs in both languages. Any discrepancies in usage between the reporting verbs and other verbs employed in this discursive function were identified by applying the computer program Sketch Engine. Furthermore, a higher frequency of this discursive resource was observed in BP, with the following verbs having the highest statistical incidence in the corpus: dizer (106), lembrar (55), afirmar (42), escrever (35), and apontar (33). Our analysis discovered that these verbs are used in gatekeeping portions that translators and journalists choose, suggesting an expansion, compression, and elision of Source Texts (ST) throughout a t ransediting process.

Humor i satira u modernom pikarskom romanu The bodigard Radivoja Bojičića - od etnopsihološke anegdote do društvene kritike

Starting from Northrop Frye's claim that one of the main characteristics of satire is the element of humor based on the feeling of the grotesque or absurd, but that satire is a critical presentation of social, political and other situations, this paper discusses the elements of humor and satire in the novel The Bodyguard by Radivoje Bojičić, which is already defined in the title as a "pictorial novel". Although pictorial novels in Serbian literature do not have a long and solid tradition, Bojićič's novel about a bodyguard, who as a kind of anti-hero tells about his life's vocation full of temptations and risks, with strong touches of irony, satire and parody, as well as humor that affirms values contrary to those that are recognizable at first glance, enters the ranks of original and self-contained achievements, thus strengthening the humorous-satirical tradition embodied mostly in the work of Branislav Nušić and of Branko Ćopić. The writer achieves a special dimension of the comic in the novel by using the procedure of comic characterization of the main character, the procedure of comic exaggeration (caricatural, hyperbolic, grotesque), the procedure of inserting intertextual sections, in which the main character parodically refers to well-known phrases, platitudes and quotations from domestic literature and culture, and using a linguistic corpus and terminology appropriate to the world in which the main character found himself, but putting in the foreground precisely the language of the main character and highlighting his origin, social status and special dialectal "literacy". Because of all this, it is possible to read this novel not only as a humorous and satirical piece but also as an ethnopsychological anecdote about a primitive, aggressive and naïve man who must be first in everything - especially in heroism.

Répétition, analogie et variation lexicale comme sources des binômes phraséologiques en anglais

This corpus linguistics study analyses a subset of phraseological binomials in English made up parasynonyms to reveal their origins, structures, meanings and axiological values. Based on a journalistic corpus, the study targets combinations presenting phonetic, semantic and phonetic-cum-semantic repetition phenomena falling within the [Aing and Bing] pattern, such as naming and shaming, booing and jeering or moaning and groaning. Two hypotheses are put forward: on the one hand, that this phraseological pattern has a negative axiological value which is the result of the link between form and sense, and, on the other hand, that certain binomials established by usage give rise to the creation of new combinations by analogy with lexical variants, which accounts for the productivity of this pattern. The use of three corpora of different dates and volumes allows us to corroborate these two hypotheses and to show their vitality and frequency of use in journalistic discourse.

КОРПУС-БАЗОВАНИЙ АНАЛІЗ КОНЦЕПТУ ФРАНЦІЯ

The article focuses on a corpus-based analysis of the concept FRANCE. The analysis of concepts through the lens of corpus linguistics allows us to determine the general perception of a particular reality. Given the current political context and the development of diplomatic relationships, the concept FRANCE becomes significant and requires analysis. As the material for our study, we chose the corpus of Ukrainian language GRAK. General Regionally Annotated Corpus of Ukrainian (GRAC) is a large representative collection of texts in Ukrainian accompanied by a program that enables customization of subcorpora, searching words, grammatical forms and their combinations as well as post-processing of the query results. For this analysis, journalistic and literary texts dated from 1991 to 2022 were selected. The lexeme “France”, representing the concept FRANCE, appeared 189,178 times in GRAK between 1991 and 2022 with the majority of occurrences found in journalistic texts. Besides, other lexical representatives of the concept FRANCE were analyzed, such as “French”, “Paris”, “France”. The article pays particular attention to the contexts in which the concept FRANCE is realized. Ten main thematic groups related to the concept FRANCE were identified and analyzed: FRANCE – PRESTIGE; FRANCE – REFUGE; FRANCE – HISTORY; FRANCE – LAW; FRANCE – POLITICS; FRANCE – LANGUAGE; FRANCE – ECONOMY; FRANCE – SPORT; FRANCE – FOOD; FRANCE – STYLE. Key adjectives and verbs that verbalize the concept FRANCE in the corpus were found. These words often evoke images of well-known politicians and the names of European countries. Moreover, crucial collocates were determined. Thirty collocates representing the lexeme France were identified: Germany, Macron (Emmanuel), Francois (Hollande), President, Italy, Britain, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Spain, Merkel, Sarkozy, Championship, Leaders, Paris, Ambassador, Team, Elections, PSG, Finance, Embassy, Canada, Government, Lady, Great, Match, Ukraine, Protests, Authority, Visit. These collocates predominantly align with themes of politics, international relations and sports. The extensive usage of the concept FRANCE in Ukrainian corpus indicates a strengthening of political relations between Ukraine and France.

“VIRADA MORAL” E ENTEXTUALIZAÇÃO DO HOMOSSEXUAL COMO PEDÓFILO EM FALAS DE BOLSONARO NO CONGRESSO (2000 A 2018)

ABSTRACT In this article, we aim to carry out a qualitative-quantitative investigation of 922 shorthand notes of Federal Deputy Jair Bolsonaro´s speeches in the Chamber of Deputies from 2000 to 2018. As objectives, we analyze (i) the presence of religious and military lexical items in the hatred rhetoric of Bolsonaro throughout this chronological segmentation and (ii) the “moral turn” in his political discourse, when, from 2011 on, he starts to associate homosexuality with pedophilia. To do so, we anchored ourselves in a lexical analysis methodology, bringing Corpus Linguistics closer to Linguistic Anthropology. To that end, we distributed the data into two sub-corpora, from 2000 to 2010 and from 2011 to 2018, having as a parameter, firstly, to describe the diachronic contrast in the occurrences of 20 keywords, divided into 10 for the religious discourse and 10 for the military, and, secondly, to explain the reentextualization of the sign “pedophilia” in the (re)organization of the relationship between hate speech, homophobia and moral panic in the speeches of the politician. The pronouncements were processed in the AntConc program and in Excel. From 2011 on, the Bolsonarist discourse begins to balance the use of lexicons from the ultraconservative military discourse and the Christian fundamentalist discourse.

THE VERBALISED CONCEPT ‘CHALLENGE’ IN FUNCTIONALLY DEFINED VARIETIES OF ENGLISH: TERMINOLOGISATION VS. METAPHORISATION

The article examines the interaction of the functional-communicative and cognitive parameters in conceptualisation of broad-meaning lexemes with special reference to the verbalised concept ‘CHALLENGE’. The target concept has been chosen on account of its being currently in great demand, which is evidenced by a considerable number of its lexical manifestations in most representative corpora of English. The aim of the research is to identify the types of content in concept development based on the scope of represented phenomena in the functional styles of fiction and journalism. Depending on the speaker’s (writer’s) communicative purport, the vector in categorisation of reality may change, which leads to a different interpretation of the linguistic means used. Considering the lexicographic data as well as the “big” corpus data we focus on the description of how the target concept is viewed on the lexicographic and discursive levels. The research is carried out within the framework of cognitive corpus linguistics, which enables us to identify types of situations and events (frames) that represent the distributional profile of the target lexeme. The conceptual-linguistic analysis revealed that the functional style of journalism contributes to the lexeme’s specification and terminologisation, while in the functional style of fiction metaphorisation increases.

АБАЙ ӨЛЕҢДЕРІН КОРПУСТЫҚ ТЕХНОЛОГИЯЛАР КӨМЕГІМЕН ЗЕРТТЕУ

The article discusses the features of studying Abai's poetics using corpus technology. The research and creation of corpora of Kazakh poetic texts is important not only for industry specialists, but also relevant as a social task. In the works of foreign and Russian scientists there is information that after the creation of the corpus, academic dictionaries and grammars were revised and rewritten. Thus, there is a need to create a small corpus of the Abai language, consider the possibilities of using language corpora based on the texts of the Kazakh literary language and develop a scientific and theoretical justification for the implementation of these possibilities. After all, the use of the results obtained in compiling a language corpus, in particular, when compiling various dictionaries, rewriting scientific grammar or defining certain linguistic phenomena, is important not only for the further development of corpus linguistics, but also for the formation of a new technology for scientific research. Another function of the corpus is to provide various references related to vocabulary, grammar, accentology, and history of the language. Modern computer technologies greatly simplify and speed up the process of linguistic text processing. By improving the corpus of poetic text, it is possible to create a small corpus of the Abai language, improve the functions of electronic language corpora, conduct lexicographic research, and create the basis for a scientific methodology for automating the small corpus of the Abai language. Generalization and implementation of the vocabulary wealth of Abai’s language into the corpus will be a key step towards transforming the Kazakh language into the language of science, the language of IT platforms and technology, raising it to the level of a language of global demand.

Introduction: Innovation in spoken corpus linguistics

Introduction: Innovation in spoken corpus linguistics

The Use of Interjections in Mad Men Fansubs in English and Portuguese: A Corpus Linguistics Perspective

RESUMO O objetivo deste estudo é analisar o uso de interjeições na série televisiva Mad Men, a partir de legendas disponíveis em fansubs nas línguas inglesa (língua-fonte) e portuguesa (língua-alvo). O intuito é verificar, ao longo de suas sete temporadas, em que medida há uma padronização no uso dessas interjeições, seja em uma mesma língua ou entre as duas línguas analisadas. A pesquisa está embasada na abordagem teórico-metodológica da Linguística de Corpus a fim de investigar o Corpus Mad Men com o auxílio da ferramenta AntConc, versão 3.5.8. Os resultados indicaram que as legendas em inglês têm por volta de quatro vezes e meia mais interjeições, e expressam mais sentimentos negativos, do que as legendas em português. Apesar dessas diferenças, ao longo das temporadas ambas demonstraram certa regularidade no uso das diversas interjeições, sugerindo uma boa organização e estrutura por trás das atividades das equipes de produção de legendas de material audiovisual.