Sandrine Zufferey - Introduction to Corpus Linguistics

56 52

57 53

58 54

59 55

60 56

61 57

62 58

63 59

64 60

65 61

66 62

67 63

68 64

69 65

70 66

71 67

72 68

73 69

74 70

75 71

76 72

77 73

78 74

79 75

80 76

81 77

82 78

83 79

84 80

85 81

86 83

87 84

88 85

89 86

90 87

91 88

92 89

93 90

94 91

95 92

96 93

97 94

98 95

99 96

100 97

101 98

102 99

103 100

104 101

105 102

106 103

107 104

108 105

109 107

110 108

111 109

112 110

113 111

114 112

115 113

116 114

117 115

118 116

119 117

120 118

121 119

122 120

123 121

124 122

125 123

126 124

127 125

128 126

129 127

130 128

131 129

132 130

133 131

134 132

135 133

136 134

137 135

138 136

139 137

140 138

141 139

142 140

143 141

144 142

145 143

146 144

147 145

148 146

149 147

150 148

151 149

152 150

153 151

154 152

155 153

156 154

157 155

158 156

159 157

160 158

161 159

162 160

163 161

164 162

165 163

166 164

167 165

168 166

169 167

170 168

171 169

172 170

173 171

174 172

175 173

176 174

177 175

178 176

179 177

180 178

181 179

182 180

183 181

184 182

185 183

186 184

187 185

188 186

189 187

190 188

191 189

192 190

193 191

194 192

195 193

196 195

197 196

198 197

199 198

200 199

201 200

202 201

203 202

204 203

205 204

206 205

207 206

208 207

209 208

210 209

211 210

212 211

213 212

214 213

215 214

216 215

217 216

218 217

219 218

220 219

221 220

222 221

223 222

224 223

225 224

226 225

227 226

228 227

229 228

230 229

231 230

232 231

233 232

234 233

235 234

236 235

237 236

238 237

239 238

240 239

241 240

242 241

243 242

244 243

245 244

246 245

247 246

248 247

249 248

250 249

251 250

252 251

253 252

254 253

255 256

256 257

257 258

258 259

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:

ISTE Ltd

27-37 St George’s Road

London SW19 4EU

UK

www.iste.co.uk

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

111 River Street

Hoboken, NJ 07030

USA

www.wiley.com

© 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

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.