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Corpus Linguistics

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Encyclopedia of Big Data

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Introduction

Corpus linguistics is, broadly speaking, the application of “big data” to the science of linguistics. Unlike traditional linguistic analysis [caricatured by Fillmore (1992) as “armchair linguistics”], which relies on native intuition and introspection, corpus linguists rely on large samples to quantitatively analyze the distribution of linguistic items. It has therefore tended to focus on what can be easily measured by computer and quantified, such as words, phrases, and word-based grammar, instead of more abstract concepts such as discourse or formal syntax. With the advent of high-powered computers and the increased availability of machine-readable texts, it has become a major force in modern linguistic research.

History

The use of corpora for language analysis long predates computers. Theologians were making Biblical concordances in the eighteenth century, and Samuel Johnson started a tradition followed to this day (e.g., most famously by the Oxford English Dictionary)...

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Further Readings

  • Fillmore, C. J. (1992). “Corpus linguistics” or “computer-aided armchair linguistics”. In J. Svartvik (Ed.), Directions in corpus linguistics: Proceedings of Nobel symposium 82. 4–8 August 1991 (pp. 35–60). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

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  • Juola, P. (2006). Authorship attribution. Foundations and Trends in Information Retrieval, 1(3), 233–334.

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  • Kennedy, G. (1998). An introduction to corpus linguistics. London: Longman.

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  • Kučera, H., & Nelson Francis, W. (1967). Computational analysis of present-day American English. Providence: Brown University Press.

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  • McEnery, T., & Hardy, A. (2012). Corpus linguistics: Method, theory, practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • Meyer, C. F. (2002). English corpus linguistics: An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Patrick Juola

Authors
  1. Patrick Juola
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Correspondence to Patrick Juola .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Policy, Government and International Affairs, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA

    Laurie A. Schintler

  2. School of Policy, Government and International Affairs, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA

    Connie L. McNeely

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Juola, P. (2018). Corpus Linguistics. In: Schintler, L., McNeely, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Big Data. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32001-4_523-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32001-4_523-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32001-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32001-4

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