| Kommentar |
Corpora are structured and annotated collections of texts that we can use to understand how language is actually used. For instance, we can determine degrees of 'attraction' between words (collocations such as 'confirmed bachelor'), distributional differences between (sometimes apparently) synonymous expressions (e.g. 'freedom' vs. 'liberty'), characteristics of specific text types (registers, e.g. 'spoken' vs. 'written' language), etc. In this way, corpora can be used for the compilation of dictionaries and for more specific lexicographic problems (e.g. when do we use 'big', 'large', etc.), for the writing of grammars (e.g. under what circumstances are specific modals such as 'may' and 'might' used?), and various other matters of descriptive and theoretical linguistics. Moreover, corpora are increasingly used for the purpose of language teaching, as they provide a window to authentic language use and can influence the design of teaching materials. In this course we will familiarize ourselves with the major corpora available and deal with the various ways in which corpora can enrich our knowledge of the English language, and inform applied branches of linguistics such as language teaching and translation. |
