Research in Corpus Linguistics

A corpus-assisted approach to discursive news values analysis

Arash Javadinejad — 2023-11-20

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.

The contribution of aspectual auxiliary verbs to the factual value of verb periphrases in Spanish: An empirical study

Ana Fernández-Montraveta — 2024-02-19

This paper presents the results of a corpus-based study on the contribution of Spanish aspectual auxiliary verbs to the factual interpretation of the predicates they modify and with which they constitute the verb complex (a verb periphrasis, VP). The study was carried out as part of a project that, based on linguistic knowledge, aimed at automatizing the annotation of the factual status of texts in this language. We analyzed 674 sentences in European Spanish extracted fromfour corpora, where 28 VPs were represented, considering only indicative tenses. Interestingly, the results show that, although one of the most important aspects that affects the factual interpretation in sentences with VPs is the verb tense of the auxiliary, in a few VPs, the type of auxiliary changes the factual value expected for the VP taking into account the tense used. Finally, based on the data under analysis, the study concludes that it is feasible to state general rules to automate the annotation of factuality for most of the aspectual VPs studied.

Recent trends in corpus design and reporting: A methodological synthesis

Brett Hashimoto — 2024-04-19

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.

Adjective comparison in African varieties of English

Cristina Suárez-Gómez — 2024-04-17

Adjectives in English can express the comparative in two ways, either synthetically, with the addition of the suffix -er (e.g. nicer), or analytically, with the adverb more preceding the adjective (e.g. more outstanding). With some adjectives, the two forms coexist (e.g. cleverer and more clever). While traditional grammars state that length (measured in number of syllables) is the main determinant for comparative variation (Quirk et al. 1985; Biber et al. 1999; Huddleston and Pullum 2002), more recent and focused studies (Mondorf 2003, 2007, 2009; Hilpert 2008) show that the distribution of English comparative forms is conditioned by more than the number of syllables, establishing a more complex set of factors to account for this alternation. The aim of the current paper is to assess the main factors that underlie comparative alternation through an in-depth analysis of the presence of synthetic and analytic forms in a set of adjectives taken from five African varieties of English (South African, Nigerian, Ghanaian, Kenyan, and Tanzanian English). In line with contemporary studies (Mondorf 2003), the results ascertain that comparative alternation is primarily governed by intra-linguistic factors, predominantly of morphosyntactic, semantic and phonological nature. Additionally, the impact of other commonly-cited factors, such as learner effects and L1 influence, which are expected to reinforce the observed tendency towards analyticization, is also explored.

Constructions and representations of Chinese identity through England’s curatorial imagination: A corpus-assisted analysis

JJ Chan — 2024-05-04

This article explores the linguistic representation of Chinese identity in art exhibitions across England in the period immediately following the Umbrella Revolution. It focuses on publicly funded institutions through an analysis of press releases from Art Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) between 2014 and 2020. By employing corpus-assisted methods of analysis (Baker et al. 2008; Partington et al. 2013; Gillings et al. 2023) and drawing on Karen Barad’s (2007) notion of ‘diffraction’ to read through linguistic and artistic practices, we identify five key areas of interest that run throughout the press releases: namely, colonial history, the foregrounding of ethnicity, the media, fantasy, and green issues. This analysis allows us to speculate on how the creative actions of these publicly funded institutions might have contributed to the socio-political Zeitgeist surrounding a racialised population in England, raising important questions for NPOs and other institutions on the role of the curatorial in the forming of social realities, and the extent of their practice in discourse on decolonisation, language, race, and politics. On a theoretical and methodological level, it also allows us to explore potential synergies between corpus-assisted discourse analysis and the arts.

A semantic analysis of bilingual compound verbs in two contact Spanish communities

Osmer Balam — 2024-05-07

Although previous work has contributed to our knowledge of bilingual compound verbs (BCVs) in different code-switching varieties, there is scant research on the semantic nature of these innovative constructions. To fill this gap, the present study examines semantic aspects of BCVs in Northern Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, two sociohistorically connected communities where Spanish hacer ‘do’ BCVs have been attested. Drawing on two datasets, we analyzed the semantic domains that are most open to other-language lexical verbs as well as the potential use of these structures as identity markers. The analysis of 1,140 BCVs (903 in Northern Belize and 237 in Yucatan) revealed that whereas ‘education’ particularly favored English lexical verbs in Northern Belize, ‘nourishment’ was the semantic sub-category most open to Yucatec Maya lexical verbs in the Yucatan Peninsula. Notably, only hacer BCVs from Yucatan evince the incorporation of cultural elements and linguistic practices such as albur ‘word play’ to index a Yucatec Maya ethnolinguistic identity. Our findings highlight the importance that the nature of bilingualism and community linguistic norms have on the semantic use of BCVs.

Review of Peters, Pam and Kate Burridge eds. 2023. Exploring the Ecology of World Englishes in the Twenty-first Century: Language, Society and Culture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Philip Shaw — 2024-05-06

Review of Leńko-Szymańska, Agnieszka and Sandra Götz eds. 2022. Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency in Learner Corpus Research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Paweł Szudarski — 2024-05-06

Review of Mattiello, Elisa. 2022. Transitional Morphology: Combining Forms in Modern English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cristina Lara-Clares — 2024-05-06

Review of Taavitsainen, Irma, Turo Hiltunen, Jeremy J. Smith and Carla Suhr eds. 2022. Genre in English Medical Writing, 1500–1820: Sociocultural Contexts of Production and Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Irene Diego Rodríguez — 2024-05-06

Review of Sánchez Fajardo, José A. 2022. Pejorative Suffixes and Combining Forms in English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Anke Lensch — 2024-05-06

Review of Zihan Yin and Elaine Vine eds. 2022. Multifunctionality in English: Corpora, Language and Academic Literacy Pedagogy. London: Routledge.

Pascual Pérez-Paredes — 2024-05-06