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Corpus Linguistics (6)

Corpus Linguistics (6). Using a corpus for a linguistic study http://tinyurl.com/669o4zt Martin Wynne & Ylva Berglund Prytz. Social differentiation in the use of English vocabulary. Some analyses of the conversational component of the British National Corpus

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Corpus Linguistics (6)

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  1. Corpus Linguistics (6) Using a corpus for a linguistic study http://tinyurl.com/669o4zt Martin Wynne & Ylva Berglund Prytz

  2. Social differentiation in the use of English vocabulary Some analyses of the conversational component of the British National Corpus Paul Rayson, Geoffrey Leech and Mary Hodges Lancaster University International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 2:1, pp. 133-152, 1997 http://ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/papers/rlh97.html

  3. Research methodology • Select corpus • Investigate possibilities for comparative analysis in the corpus • Select aspects of variation • Select tools and statistical methods • Analysis of lexical variation by • sex • age • social class • mode (speech v. writing) • Write and publish paper

  4. Rayson, Leech and Hodges (1997) • Abstract • Introducing the corpus (and in particular the conversation corpus, and sampling methods) • Methodology for analysing lexical frequency • (literature search?) • Analysis of lexical variation by • sex • age • social class • mode (speech v. writing) • A bit more on statistics and methodology • Short conclusion

  5. TABLE 2: Words most characteristic of male speech

  6. TABLE 3: Words most characteristic of female speech

  7. Findings • Men use more taboo words (fucking, shit, hell, crap) • Men use more numbers • Women use more of certain pronouns (she/her/hers, I/me/mine) • Women use more of most family-related terms (mother, father, sister, brother)

  8. Critique • Motivation for the selection of corpus? • Motivation for the selection of searches? • Motivation for the selection of the particular aspects of 'social differentiation'? • Opportunism? • Engagement with sociolinguistic scholarship (see references)?

  9. How do we interpret this data? • Any objections? • Deborah Cameron, The Myth of Mars and Venus, OUP, 2007 (extract: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/oct/01/gender.books) • Maybe the evidence merely reflects social differentiation, not essential difference between the sexes? • Looking for and highlighting differences (without examining current prejudices and social factors) contributes to a tendency to “essentialize” difference.

  10. Tip of the week • Corpus linguistics blog: http://corplinguistics.wordpress.com/ Material from all sessions available at http://tinyurl.com/669o4zt(WebLearn) • Bibliography • Reading list • Lists of corpora and tools, etc.

  11. Questions, queries, thoughts? Now or in the future – contact us! ylva.berglund@oucs.ox.ac.uk & martin.wynne@oucs.ox.ac.uk

  12. Corpus Linguistics (6) Using a corpus for a linguistic study http://tinyurl.com/669o4zt Martin Wynne & Ylva Berglund Prytz

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