Introduction to Corpus Linguistics. Sandrine Zufferey

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      Introduction to Corpus Linguistics

      Sandrine Zufferey

      First published 2020 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

      Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:

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      © ISTE Ltd 2020

      The rights of Sandrine Zufferey to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2020938264

      British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

      A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

      ISBN 978-1-78630-417-9

      Preface

      Since the 1990s, linguistics has progressively experienced a fundamental methodological turning point. Following the works of American linguist Noam Chomsky, it changed from the essentially rationalist discipline it had been since the middle of the 20th Century, and gradually (re)opened up the empirical approaches represented by corpus linguistics and experimental linguistics. Over the past decade, this transition has accelerated even more, in such a way that the majority of linguistic works published in international journals currently make use of empirical data. Thus, linguistic corpora have gradually established themselves as fundamental tools for linguists, and their use has spread to other fields in linguistics, including those traditionally favoring a rationalist approach, such as syntax. The development of corpus linguistics has led to the creation of new methods for collecting and analyzing linguistic data, which were made possible thanks to the development of computers and the arrival of the Internet. This new direction in linguistics has encouraged spectacular advances for dealing with the multiple facets of human language in all its complexity from a scientific perspective. Our book intends to introduce such a wealth to readers who are not particularly used to reading linguistics-oriented literature.

In our times, the ability to quantitatively analyze corpus data has become an integral part of the linguist’s toolbox. Nevertheless, the use of such data is based on precise theoretical and methodological principles, which require a thorough understanding. This turning point in linguistics implies the need to introduce the new generations of students to the use of these methods which will help them understand the issues underlying their use in scientific literature, to critically assess the results obtained, and to use them in the context of their academic work. Our book is intended as an educational support for students and, in general, for all those wishing to learn the use of corpora in linguistics.

      The material introduced in this book does not presuppose prior skills other than basic linguistic knowledge, as well as a minimum command of the most common computer tools, such as spreadsheet software. This book has been designed as study material for teaching corpus linguistics at university initiatory phases, as well as a tool for students wishing to be trained in the use of corpora. Students will be able to work independently thanks the revision questions presented at the end of each chapter, and the detailed answers provided.

      As it is an introductory work, this book is necessarily partial and does not deal with all the questions raised by the use of corpora in different linguistic disciplines. It does not cover certain advanced analysis methods which require a high level of computer and statistical skills for data analysis. However, further readings are suggested at the end of each chapter that will enable those who wish to deepen one or other of the aspects presented to go a step beyond.

      Finally, this book places a special emphasis on French as an object of study. While it is true that corpus linguistics has imposed itself in an incontestable manner in the English-speaking world and that a significant proportion of French-speaking researchers currently use these methods, the teaching of corpus linguistics still remains marginalized in France. Therefore, this book also aims to highlight the vitality and richness of corpus studies devoted to French, as well as identify the most important resources which have been developed for this language, in the hope of making a contribution to the rise of this discipline for the study of French.

      Sandrine ZUFFEREY

      June 2020

      1

      How to Define Corpus Linguistics

      This chapter aims to offer the main defining elements of corpus linguistics in order to understand what this field includes. It also aims to lay the theoretical and methodological bases on which the discipline is based. In particular, we will introduce the difference between empirical and rationalist methodologies in linguistics, the important role of computer science for corpus linguistics, the difference between quantitative and qualitative studies, as well as the differences between corpus linguistics and experimental linguistics. In conclusion, we will briefly review the different types of corpora. In the upcoming chapters, this introduction will help us to tackle the research questions that can be answered by means of a corpus study.

1.1.