Research in Corpus Linguistics https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl <p style="text-align: justify;"><em><strong>Research in Corpus Linguistics</strong></em> (<em>RiCL</em>, ISSN 2243-4712) is a scholarly peer-reviewed international scientific journal aiming at the publication of contributions which contain empirical analyses of data from different languages and from different theoretical perspectives and frameworks, with the goal of improving our knowledge about the linguistic theoretical background of a language, a language family or any type of cross-linguistic phenomena/constructions/assumptions. <em>RiCL</em> invites original, previously unpublished research articles, reports on corpus development, and book reviews in the field of Corpus Linguistics. The journal also considers the publication of special issues on specific topics, whose edition can be offered to leading scholars in the field.</p> en-US <p><a href="https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/copyright-notice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Copyright notice</a></p> ojs@aelinco.es (Research in Corpus Linguistics) ojs@aelinco.es (Research in Corpus Linguistics) Thu, 09 May 2024 07:14:46 +0000 OJS 3.1.2.1 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 A corpus-assisted approach to discursive news values analysis https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/269 <p style="text-align: justify;">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 <em>The</em> <em>Guardian</em>, <em>The Independent</em>, <em>The Times</em>, and <em>The</em> <em>Daily Telegraph</em>. 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.</p> Arash Javadinejad Copyright (c) 2023 Research in Corpus Linguistics http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/269 Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 The contribution of aspectual auxiliary verbs to the factual value of verb periphrases in Spanish: An empirical study https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/326 <p style="text-align: justify;">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.</p> Ana Fernández-Montraveta, Glòria Vázquez, Hortènsia Curell Copyright (c) 2024 Research in Corpus Linguistics http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/326 Mon, 19 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Recent trends in corpus design and reporting: A methodological synthesis https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/361 <p style="text-align: justify;">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.</p> Brett Hashimoto, Kyra Nelson Copyright (c) 2024 Research in Corpus Linguistics http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/361 Fri, 19 Apr 2024 07:46:35 +0000 Adjective comparison in African varieties of English https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/349 <p style="text-align: justify;">Adjectives in English can express the comparative in two ways, either synthetically, with the addition of the suffix <em>-er </em>(e.g. <em>nicer</em>), or analytically, with the adverb <em>more</em> preceding the adjective (e.g. <em>more outstanding</em>). With some adjectives, the two forms coexist (e.g. <em>cleverer </em>and <em>more clever</em>). While traditional grammars state that length (measured in number of syllables) is the main determinant for comparative variation (Quirk <em>et al.</em> 1985; Biber <em>et al.</em> 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.</p> Cristina Suárez-Gómez, Cristhian Tomàs-Vidal Copyright (c) 2024 Research in Corpus Linguistics http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/349 Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Constructions and representations of Chinese identity through England’s curatorial imagination: A corpus-assisted analysis https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/342 <p style="text-align: justify;">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 <em>et al</em>. 2008; Partington <em>et al</em>. 2013; Gillings <em>et al.</em> 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.</p> JJ Chan, Mathew Gillings Copyright (c) 2024 Research in Corpus Linguistics http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/342 Sat, 04 May 2024 18:15:34 +0000 A semantic analysis of bilingual compound verbs in two contact Spanish communities https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/359 <p style="text-align: justify;">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 <em>hacer</em> ‘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 <em>hacer </em>BCVs from Yucatan evince the incorporation of cultural elements and linguistic practices such as <em>albur</em> ‘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.</p> Osmer Balam, Lidia Pérez Leutza, Ian Michalski, María del Carmen Parafita Couto Copyright (c) 2024 Research in Corpus Linguistics http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/359 Tue, 07 May 2024 22:48:52 +0000 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. https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/368 Philip Shaw Copyright (c) 2024 Research in Corpus Linguistics http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/368 Mon, 06 May 2024 13:31:55 +0000 Review of Leńko-Szymańska, Agnieszka and Sandra Götz eds. 2022. Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency in Learner Corpus Research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/360 Paweł Szudarski Copyright (c) 2024 Research in Corpus Linguistics http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/360 Mon, 06 May 2024 13:41:27 +0000 Review of Mattiello, Elisa. 2022. Transitional Morphology: Combining Forms in Modern English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/350 Cristina Lara-Clares, Salvador Valera Copyright (c) 2024 Research in Corpus Linguistics http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/350 Mon, 06 May 2024 14:14:10 +0000 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. https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/338 Irene Diego Rodríguez Copyright (c) 2024 Research in Corpus Linguistics http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/338 Mon, 06 May 2024 14:23:43 +0000 Review of Sánchez Fajardo, José A. 2022. Pejorative Suffixes and Combining Forms in English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/329 Anke Lensch Copyright (c) 2024 Research in Corpus Linguistics http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/329 Mon, 06 May 2024 17:42:12 +0000 Review of Zihan Yin and Elaine Vine eds. 2022. Multifunctionality in English: Corpora, Language and Academic Literacy Pedagogy. London: Routledge. https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/328 Pascual Pérez-Paredes Copyright (c) 2024 Research in Corpus Linguistics http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://ricl.aelinco.es/index.php/ricl/article/view/328 Mon, 06 May 2024 17:51:12 +0000