Corpus Linguistic Methods Research Articles

Mapping Vocabulary: A corpus-based comparison of Indonesian fourth-grade students' writing and English language textbooks

This study compares the vocabulary used by Indonesian fourth-grade students in their free writing with that taught in their English language textbooks to assist language teachers in developing relevant learning materials for young learners. To achieve this, the researchers employed the corpus linguistic method and analyzed the writings of 369 students from 19 public elementary schools in Malang, East Java, Indonesia, along with five selected English textbooks. The University of Adelaide Text Analysis Tool program, AdTAT, was used to analyze the corpus. The program generated word lists consisting of the top 100 words most frequently used by students and the top 100 words used in English textbooks. The findings of the study revealed a 45% match between the top 100 words most frequently used by students and the top 100 words used in English textbooks. This suggests that there is a significant overlap between the vocabulary used in free writing and that taught in textbooks. The implication of this study is that language teachers need to recognize the basic words students acquire before learning new vocabulary to achieve successful learning of the target language. The study suggests that language teachers should incorporate more culturally relevant vocabulary into their teaching materials to better engage and motivate their students. The findings of this study can also assist language curriculum developers in designing more effective and culturally relevant teaching materials for young learners.

Linguocultural Specifics of Cybersecurity Discursive Practices Representation in Russian Media Communication: Corpus-Assisted Approach

The issue of the semantic, pragmatic and axiological specifics of cybersecurity discursive practices as it is displayed in the genres of media and online communication is considered. The novelty of the work lies in the application of the corpus linguistics methodology to the study of discourse, understood as a language-mediated social practice. The relevance of the work is due to the interest of linguistics in the study of discursive practices that shape a new social reality formed as a result of the Russian language functioning. By using the methods of corpus linguistics, the cognitive-semantic structure of discursive thesaurus, which comprise a new layer of lexical units, has been reconstructed, thematic groups of lexical units have been identified and their distribution in various genres of cybersecurity discourse has been established. It has been found that along with the terminology focused on the transfer of operational, practical knowledge about safe online practices, the texts in the corpus regularly employ lexical units with military and aggressive semantics, which indicates the contradiction between the goals of the discourse aimed at forming a positive attitude towards digital technologies, and language means employed to achieve them. It is shown that due to regular occurrence of neutral lexical units in negatively colored contexts, they develop negative evaluative connotations, which also contributes to the formation of users’ distrust of new technologies, enhances the feeling of risk, and generates anxiety and concern.

Scientific Discourse: Evolution of Theoretical and Methodological Approaches and Concepts

Introduction. The article presents the results of an analytical review of scientific papers reflecting the stages of formation and development of the theory of scientific discourse in Russian linguistics. The purpose of the article is to systematize and critically analyze approaches, concepts and methodological principles of the study of scientific communication in the aspect of its communicative-pragmatic, genre-stylistic, linguocognitive and linguocultural specifics.Methodology and sources. The paper is based on theoretical concepts in the field of discourse analysis, considering discourse as a type of social practice, as a methodology of corpus linguistics using software tools and quantitative methods to extract language structures from large arrays of texts. An overview of the existing empirical research base is given.Results and discussion. As a result of the review study, the evolution of approaches to scientific discourse is characterized, their chronological framework is determined, key concepts that influenced the modern understanding of scientific communication are identified (genre-stylistic, sociocultural, cognitive, linguocultural, pragmalinguistic, communicative-pragmatic approaches), modern interpretations of scientific discourse are analyzed and prospects for further research are outlined. It is shown that in the study of scientific discourse, the corpus methodology is today in demand and is used in its synchronic and diachronic description. The diachronic development of the English-language scientific discourse by the example of a scientific article genre is an extremely interesting issue, which, according to our data, has not been thoroughly studied before. That is why our further works will be devoted to its consideration.Conclusion. It is shown that despite the long and intensive study of scientific discourse in the scientific literature there is an insufficient number of works highlighting the trends in the development of scientific communication genres, which demonstrate a certain historical dynamics and changes in the collective consciousness. It is concluded that the discursivecorpus approach to the study of scientific discourse and the methods of corpus linguistics make it possible to objectively identify and describe dynamic processes in the field of written scientific communication caused by changing ways of knowledge transfer under the influence of changes in the socio-cultural context and intensive development of science.

Distance learning during the pandemic era: Russian instructors’ experience

The article focuses on studying Russian university instructors’ experience acquired during the emergency remote learning period in 2020–2021. The need to adjust the development route of the distance learning system determines the topicality of the research. The novelty of the article is determined by significant gaps in scientific literature concerning studying, generalizing, and comprehending such experience.The study employed quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and processing. Russian university instructors (N = 57) filled in an online questionnaire which aimed to identify the advantages and disadvantages of distance learning. Corpus linguistics methods were used to outline the most common key themes, which made it possible to identify the frequent words employed to describe positive and negative experiences. Responses to open-ended questions were examined using contextual and content analysis.The most significant positive aspects of the online format identified by the respondents included travel time saving, extending the repertoire of teaching strategies and access to visual methods of presenting information thanks to the online platform technological capabilities. This enabled instructors to involve usually silent students in active communication. Moreover, the respondents cited safe communication during the spread of a viral disease as well as students’ constant access to information resources. As for disadvantages, respondents mentioned a marked deterioration in interaction with students due to the lack of personal and/or visual contact, technical communication problems, and labor intensity. Other often cited drawbacks were difficulties in developing practical skills and effectively monitoring students’ knowledge and psychological state, learners’ decreased motivation as well as health problems.Based on the results of the study, the article concludes that it is necessary to improve instructors’ professional competencies and improve technical facilities of educational institutions. This would provide access to and usage of multifunctional distance learning management systems and programs that permit videoconferencing, file sharing and demonstrating multimedia presentations and online materials.The research is relevant as it is important to study and summarize instructors’ positive and negative experience to improve professional development programs, make decisions on purchasing and using equipment and software, and change university development agendas.

Compiling an Arabic-English Transport Dictionary through Corpus Linguistic Methods

This research aims to compile an Arabic-English Transport Dictionary through Corpus Linguistic Methods. This dictionary is intended for general learners. Types of qualitative descriptive research and this research used a discourse analysis. This research used a discourse analysis of secondary data. The source of the data involved dictionary data from Arabic websites containing Arabic and English terms in the field of transportation, namely ootlah.com, and tostpost.com. The data collection technique was through discovering synonyms or similar Arabic and English words in the ootlah.com and tostpost.com. Then, collecting the terms related to transportation. After that, combine them into a table and sort by alphabetical letter. When the vocabulary has been combined, then eliminate the similar vocabulary and move it to the document work page according to the alphabet. The results obtained from this study revealed the vocabulary that was previously collected with a total of 600, then eliminated to around 460 Arabic vocabulary in the field of transportation, with eighteen different links from two websites of ootlah.com and tostpost.com produced by the author. In conclusion, the Arabic-English Transport Dictionary has been well arranged through Corpus Linguistics Methods.

A common language and shared understanding of family violence? Corpus-based approaches in support of system responses to family violence

Family violence is an enduring social problem with devastating impacts. The Victorian Government (Australia) Royal Commission (state inquiry) into Family Violence (rcfv) noted that language is implicated in the under-reporting and under-recording of violence, and emphasised the importance of agencies having ‘a common language’ and ‘shared understanding’ of family violence. Our analyses examine written submissions to the rcfv for frequencies and collocations, focussed on the construction and roles of human referents. We utilised corpus-assisted discourse analysis to explore whether community service and law-based professional bodies do have common vocabularies and if these represent shared ideas, responding directly to agendas set by those involved. Our analyses show key differences but also uncover a shared lack of agency given to victims and a loss of focus on the role of those who inflict these forms of violence. We argue for the utility of corpus linguistic methods to show empirically how language is used to construct conceptualisations of family violence across key sectors of the service system. We intend this research as a starting point for discussion between professionals working to improve cross-sector communication, by bringing linguistic insights to this deep-rooted social issue.

On the perception of science by Poles: corpus-based descriptive study of public consultation data

This descriptive study, conducted using corpus linguistic research methods, examines the ways the Polish public perceives science. Starting from selected assumptions of Critical Discourse Analysis and the Linguistic Picture of the World, whereby language is seen primarily as a social practice and as a carrier of knowledge, opinions, beliefs and attitudes, we analyse the data obtained during public consultations on science communication which were held in 2019 in Poland, as part of the CONCISE project. The combined quantitative and qualitative analyses focus on selected collocations of a high-frequency noun nauka (‘science’) and aim to identify patterns of reference and agency within the discourse.The findings revealed citizens’ expectations concerning science, including its clarity,accessibility, understandability, visibility and credibility.

Discourse Analysis of the Semiotic Field of the Concept FAMILY: A Comparative Study of the Chinese and English Parallel Corpora (In Eng.)

The article is devoted to the analysis of the semiotic field of the concept FAMILY in the English and Chinese languages through the application of the methodology of critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics. The article is based on the materials of the Chinese English Learners Corpus (CELC) and the combined materials of the BROWN and the written British National Corpus (BNC) for studying the vocabulary co-occurrence of the node word “family” from the point of view of collocation, colligation, semantic preference, and semantic prosody. The differences between Chinese and Western family cultures are revealed from the perspective of critical discourse analysis and the use of a horizontal combination of vocabulary relevant to the semiotic field of family. The study exemplifies the significant differences between Chinese learners and English native speakers in the choice and the use of core collocations in the minimal context of the family-related vocabulary. The conducted examination of the use of the node word “family” and its collocations in the Chinese English Learners Corpus compared to the combined English native speakers corpus in terms of semantic preference and semantic prosody demonstrates the most significant differences in understanding of the related concept as observed through the most common collocations. The article demonstrates the efficiency of the critical discourse analysis use in combination with the methods of corpus linguistics for the purpose of validation and verification of the conclusions regarding the content of the semiotic fields, as exemplified on the basis of the semiotic field of the concept FAMILY. Future research developments are seen in the possible extension of the corpus material base, including the materials on a wide variety of languages, for the purpose of further comparative analysis.

“This is not the place to bother people about BTS”: Pseudo-synchronicity and interaction in timed comments by Hallyu fans on the video streaming platform Viki

The community of users on Viki.com, a video streaming platform distributing Asian television to an international audience, use the site to engage with streams of television dramas. Rather than just being passive consumers, viewers interact in a range of different ways, among them the use of Timed Comments (TC). TCs are comments viewers post while viewing dramas. Subsequent viewers can read these comments when streaming the same episode. Users can read and respond to comments by previous viewers as if they were written at the time of watching (similar to Danmaku). Building on our previous work on Viki-TCs, we have framed the community mainly as a harmonious collective engaging with artefacts from a different cultural and linguistic context. In this study, we focus on the creation of pseudo-synchronicity by looking at interactivity between TC writers and in particular on those TCs that construct conflict. Our corpus consists of 320,000 multilingual, but predominantly English comments. We make use of an exhaustively annotated sample of 8,930 comments to extract and formalize patterns of implicit and explicit interaction and locate them in the larger corpus using corpus linguistic methods. Special attention is given to conflictual interaction in connection with plot spoilers, judgments on co-viewers’ analytic and experiential skills and inappropriate language usage, negative comments on actor appearance, commenters using the space for fan interaction outside of the drama-scope and the technical use of the platform. These conflictual interactions often function as negotiations of the platform norms, socialize viewers into how the space works and can thus also be linked to community building. Our study contributes to understanding better how online fan community norms are built and behavior is sanctioned or (implicitly) condoned through interaction. In this way we contribute both to the study of interaction in a context that works online and asynchronously and to the study of online fan communities.

Xiaofei Lu: Corpus Linguistics And Second Language Acquisition: Perspectives, Issues, And Findings

With the growing availability of large-scale learner corpora and the increasing reliability of automated corpus analytical tools, recent decades have witnessed a large body of empirical studies using corpus linguistic methods to investigate diverse areas of second language acquisition. Corpus Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition: Perspectives, Issues, and Findings, authored by Xiaofei Lu, is a valuable reference for corpus-based second language acquisition (SLA) research. Through a detailed examination of issues and research in second language (L2) use, processing, production, and development, this book offers a comprehensive overview of the interface between corpus linguistics and SLA. This volume consists of six chapters. It begins with a highly accessible introductory chapter that sets out the aims and scope of the book. In Chapter 1, the author first presents an overview of native and learner corpora and various tools for corpus annotation and analysis. This incursion into the basic knowledge makes the following chapters much easier to understand. The author then summarizes four major research questions in SLA, capturing the gist of each main chapter in the book. These questions also help engage the readers and motivate them to find the answers as they read along.

Prompting Reflection: Using Corpus Linguistic Methods in the Local Assessment of Reflective Writing

We report on a college-level study of student reflection and instructor prompts using scoring and corpus analysis methods. We collected 340 student reflections and 24 faculty prompts. Reflections were scored using trait and holistic scoring and then reflections and faculty prompts were analyzed using Natural Language Processing to identify linguistic features of high, middle, and low scoring reflections. The data sets were then connected to determine if there was a relationship between faculty prompts and scores. Additional analysis was completed to determine if there was a relationship between scores and students’ GPAs. The corpus linguistics analysis showed that higher-scoring reflections used words that referred to the self, the writing process, and specific rhetorical terms. Additional analysis showed student GPAs did not correlate with holistic scores but that higher scoring reflections were from faculty who included learning goals on reflective writing prompts. Results suggest that teachers can de-mystify reflective writing by linking learning outcomes to textual tasks and that corpus linguistics methods can provide an understanding of how local learning goals are transmitted to students.

A corpus-assisted discourse analysis of the representation of Syrian refugees in Canadian newspapers

This paper examines the representation of Syrian refugees in the Canadian press, from December 2015 to December 2017, in four English-language major newspapers. Using methods of Corpus Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this study found three prominent themes, namely intake, integration, and concern, through which Syrian refugees are depicted across the political spectrum. The results indicate that adopting a more inclusive immigration policy did not totally negate the biased and discriminatory representations entrenched in the media coverage of refugees, but it can set the stage for more empowering and sympathetic treatment of refugees in the media. This analysis speaks to the importance of media discourse in producing and maintaining particular depictions of refugees among the Canadian public, highlighting the role of ideological and political stances in the portrayals of refugees across news outlets.

Pesquisa com corpora de aprendizes de russo: estado da arte e apelo à ação

ABSTRACT With the increase in availability and user-friendliness of Russian language corpora and corpus-analytic tools, the field of Russian language education has recently begun to employ corpus linguistics as an approach to understanding the dynamic of language development in users of Russian as a second and heritage language. The paper provides a brief overview of the current state of learner corpus research as a field and explores the benefits of application of corpus linguistics methods and instruments to the study of Russian. The paper reviews pertinent issues in corpora design, compilation, and annotation; offers an overview of the existing Russian language corpora and reports on the currently available corpus-based studies of Russian as a second/heritage language. The paper concludes with a call to the field to explore the benefit of corpus-based approaches to the study of Russian.

Fostering diversity of teaching practices and the role of language for specific purposes – report

5th International ESP/LSP Workshop and Conference “Actual ESP/LSP Classroom Practice – sharing the what and how and why of our teaching” was held at the University of Niš, Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Serbia on 22-23 September, 2022 in the offline/hybrid mode. It was the jubilee workshop and conference held offline at the premises of the faculty, enhancing virtual participation and also accepting personal attendance. The 5th hybrid conference encompassed 38 presentations from 17 countries thus hosting colleagues from USA, Slovenia, Romania, Georgia, Serbia, Slovakia, Montenegro, South Africa, North Macedonia, France, Russia, India, Cyprus, Germany, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Hercegovina. Many esteemed colleagues joined us in considerations of conceptualizing the teaching and learning content, methods, approaches, materials, and sharing demonstrations of their own exemplary classroom practices. The keynote speaker, Dr. Mary Risner with the University of Florida, USA, delivered a workshop each day of the event providing hands on knowledge directly usable in our own classrooms (Making Real-World Connections in the ESP/LSP Curriculum through Technology and Experiential Learning). The scope of the conference topics included to name just a few: Financial Issues in Fiction, Symmetric and Asymmetric Communication in Teaching English for Medical Purposes, Testing Corpus Linguistics Methods in ESP Vocabulary Teaching, CLIL as the Vehicle of Transition from Mono- to Bilingual Instruction, Facilitating Legal English Teaching and Learning through SIOP Model, Implementing Emotional Intelligence Activities in the ESP Classroom, Cleared for Take-off: from Authentic Aviation Tasks to Communicative Classroom Activities, ELP/LE for the Judiciary: Instructional Design for Authentic Learning, Educational Videos as an Invaluable Teaching Material in ESP for Sports, Cross Cultural Communicative Challenges in an East-Indian Class, etc.

Interjections and individual style: A study of restoration dramatic language

This paper examines the manifestation of individual style through the lens of a specific language category: the interjection. The analysis considers how interjections are used as a resource in the dramatic dialogue of three Restoration playwrights: Aphra Behn, John Dryden and Thomas D’Urfey, and how their preferences and practices of use compare to previously identified trends in the history of English. Using the concept of the repertoire as a frame for situated language use, the paper examines how genre, time, and characterisation shape the selection and frequency of interjections in the plays of each author. Corpus linguistic methods are used to provide a quantitative and qualitative overview of each author’s interjection repertoire. The results suggest that whilst genre, time, and characterisation are influential in shaping the selection and implementation of interjection forms, the choice of expressive language in dramatic contexts is also distinctive and coherent at an authorial level.

Book Review

The field of corpus-based translation studies (CBTS) relies on corpus-linguistic methods and tools to analyze electronic corpora of authentic translations. Since its emergence in the early 1990s under the impetus of Mona Baker, CBTS has grown to become a recognized area of research in translation studies. By offering an overview of the field and presenting a variety of fresh perspectives provided by leading experts, The book Extending the Scope of Corpus-Based Translation Studies extends the scope of CBTS in multiple ways, and sheds light on the future of the translation industry.

Women, Who Climb - A Corpus Linguistic Tour Description with Potential Danger Zones

This paper explores novel ways in which Corpus Linguistics, Critical Discourse Studies (DHA – the discourse-historical approach), and Feminist Linguistics can be fruitfully combined and thus contribute to a new awareness and knowledge concerning language and gender in discourse. For the paper a large heritage corpus of texts on mountaineering (Alpenwort – Corpus of the Austrian Alpine Club Journal) is explored, which constitutes a type of discourse that has yet rarely been studied in the abovementioned fields. The corpus was used to analyse gendered nomination with the following questions in mind: What frequently occurring patterns and typical ways of producing gendered nomination can be observed? How are the binary categories ‘female’ and ‘male’ linguistically produced and reinforced in these texts? These questions are answered using standard corpus linguistic methods: for example, gendered key items are determined via historical keyness-analysis; the concept of c-collocates and the method UFA (Usage Fluctuation Analysis) are used to trace how the meaning of such key items develops over time. These procedures reveal salient patterns of gender referencing that are then interpreted with the background of the DHA framework and can thus contribute to the investigation of gender bias in sports/leisure discourse.

Discrepancies in the portrayal of the COVID-19 vaccine in Chinese and US international media outlets: A corpus-based discursive news values analysis

ABSTRACT This article compares the discursive construction of news values in English news reporting of China Daily and CNN about the COVID-19 vaccine, to reveal how the two media packaged the vaccine and improved the acceptance of the international community towards the vaccines made in the respective countries. Adopting corpus linguistic methods and Discursive news values analysis (DNVA) framework, this study examines news values through keywords, nomination strategies, and photographs. The results show that the two media outlets constructed the news value of Eliteness dominantly through a systematic combination of words and images, albeit in different ways. China Daily prominently consists of references to China's international communications in the production and application of the COVID-19 vaccine, at the same time packaging the COVID-19 vaccine as foreign aid to enhance diplomatic relations as well as protect and promote the order of the international community. In contrast, CNN chiefly demonstrates references to domestic medical experts and the well-known manufacturers of the COVID-19 vaccine, packaging the COVID-19 vaccine as the US’ medical/commercial product. The respective ways in which they portray the COVID-19 vaccine have helped to bolster the acceptance of each country's vaccine by the international community.

Russian Sociology in the Context of Society Digitalization: Results of a Corpus Analysis of Scientific Texts

Using the analysis of a corpus of texts from eight leading Russian sociological journals, the article examines the impact of the digitalization of society on sociology in 2000-2021. Frequency analysis of 13.8 thousand scientific texts tracked the introduction of concepts related to digitalization into scientific circulation. The article reveals the differences between the journals, due to their editorial policy in the selection of articles. Through content analysis of texts, the author studied the experience of using digital social platforms as a source of data and an object of reflection. The text shows that they are being used more and more over time, and since 2019, one in five publications mentions digital platforms. The study confirmed that due to the introduction of new digital technologies, the frequency and complexity of the software tools used by sociologists is increasing. Since 2015, there has been an increase in the number of studies whose authors develop their own algorithms for data collection and analysis. The identified trends are likely to continue in the future, as all the indicators considered show a steady increase over time. In the conclusions of the article, the author formulates the prospects for studying the patterns of development of sociological science using the methods of corpus linguistics.

DISFEMISME DAN FUNGSINYA DALAM KUMPULAN CERPEN SaiA KARYA DJENAR MAESA AYU

The study is attracted by freedom of opinion is misused in communication activities by using words that have harsh meanings, giving rise to negative feelings. The research aims to find out the forms and functions of dysphemism in Djenar Maesa Ayu's short story collection SAiA. The research data in the form of words and phrases were obtained from the utterances of the characters in the story which contain elements of dysphemism. Data collection used the document technique, through the corpus linguistic method, namely the Indonesian Archipelago Corpus (KORTARA). Triangulation technique is used in validating research data. Research data analysis techniques include categorization, tabulation, and interpretation with substitution techniques to find agreement and differences in euphemism as a form of replacement. The findings show that there are eight forms of dysphemism and the most used form is the use of everyday technical terms, the other seven forms are the use of technical terms and jargon, figurative expressions (figuratively speaking), similes, circumlocutions, metaphors, clippings. (clipping), and hyperbole (hyperbola); Dysphemism in Djenar Maesa Ayu's collection of short stories SAiA functions as an expression to hide other people, to show dislike, to give a negative description of political actors, to express anger or annoyance, to reveal quarrels, and to amplify or exacerbate insults