Writing a Paper in English Corpus Linguistics.docx
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Writing a Paper in English Corpus Linguistics.docx
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WritingaPaperinEnglishCorpusLinguistics
WritingaPaperinEnglishCorpusLinguistics1
By Stig JohanssonandHildeHasselgård
Choosingatopic, Usingsources, Theinvestigationprocess, Writingstrategies, Somecharacteristicsoflinguisticdiscourse, Supportingyourstatements, Organizingthepaper, Languageuse, Links
1Purpose
Atermpaper('semesteroppgave')isanexerciseinlinguisticmethod. The object istoshow that you can:
∙define a research question
∙selectandarrangealimitedmaterial
∙conductatheoreticaldiscussionandanalyselinguisticproblemsinEnglish
∙usesecondarysourcesinacriticalway
Ifyouchooseyourtopicwisely,youmayalsomakeacontributiontoEnglishlinguistics.
2Choosinga topic
Yourteacherwillsuggestpossibletopicsthatrelatetothecourseyouaretaking.Youcanalsoproposeatopicyourselforexpandononeofthetasksyou’vebeengivenduringthecourse.Anotherpossibilityistocarryoutastudysimilartoonethatyouhavereadaboutinthecoursesyllabus.Itisimportanttoberealisticandlimitthetopic,sothatyoucanfinishyourpaperwithinareasonableperiodoftime.Contactyourteacheratanearlystagetodrawupaplanforyourpaper.Thetopicwilloftenhavetoberestrictedandmodifiedasyougoalong.
Inchoosingyourtopicanddefiningyourresearchquestion,itmaybeusefultoaskyourselfthefollowingquestions:
∙Willitbepossibletofindcorpusmaterialthatcanhelpyouanswertheresearchquestion?
∙Willitbepossibletoworkthroughtheprojectinthelimitedtimethatyouhaveavailable?
∙Doyouknowwhatelsehasbeenwrittenonthetopic?
Moreaboutchoosingatopicanddefiningaresearchquestion.
3 Sources
Yourpapershoulddiscusssomeprimarymaterialandshouldnotjustbeareviewbasedonsecondarysources.Primarymaterialistheactuallinguisticdatayouwriteabout,suchaswrittentexts,transcriptionsofspokenmaterial,taperecordings,orelicitedresponsesfromnativespeakers.FortheCorpusLinguisticscourse,youwillbeexpectedtogetyourprimarymaterialfromacorpus.Secondarymaterialiswhathasbeenwrittenpreviouslyonthetopic.
3.1Secondarymaterial
Startbymakingageneralsurveyofsecondarymaterial.Thiswillshowyouwhathasbeendonebefore(whichmeansthatyoudonothavetodoit)andwillprobablygiveyouideasonhowyoushould(orshouldnot)dealwithyourprimarymaterial,onproblemsthatyouhadnotthoughtof,etc.Startwithgeneralsurveysingrammars,handbooks,dictionaries,etc.Inconnectionwithatermpaperthereisofcoursealimittotheamountofsecondarysourcesyoucanbeexpectedtogothrough.Consultyourteacher,whomayadviseyouonrelevantsourcesorbibliographies.
Ingoingthroughthesecondarymaterial,youshouldmakenotesandcollectexcerptsasyougoalong.Itisimportanttoorganizeyournotesinsuchawaythatyoucansurvey(andrearrange)themwhileyouareworkingonyourpaper.Ifyouarewritinginacomputerdocument,makesureyouorganizeyourparagraphswithheadlinesorkeywordsthatwillhelpyouseeimmediatelywhattheparagraphisabout.Ifyouwriteonpaper,writeononesideofthepaper(oronindexcards),tomakeitpossibletoreorderthenotesoraddtothem.Makesurethatyoucopyyourexcerptscorrectlyandwritethenameofthesourceandthepagenumberimmediately.Thiswillsaveyoualotofextraworkandtroublelateron.Gettingthefactsrightisfundamentalinscholarlyprocedure.
3.2Primarymaterial
Though itisimportanttostudythesecondarymaterialcarefully,yourmaintaskistocollectandanalysesomeprimarymaterial.YoumaydrawyourprimarymaterialfromcorporasuchastheLOBCorpus,the BritishNationalCorpus (BNC),the CorpusofContemporaryAmericanEnglish (COCA),the English-NorwegianParallelCorpus (ENPC),the OsloMultilingualCorpus (OMC),theInternationalCorpusofEnglish (ICE),orthe InternationalCorpusofLearnerEnglish (ICLE,includingtheNorwegiansubcorpusNICLE).Thecorpusyouchoosedependsonyourresearchquestion.Ifyouareinterestedingrammar,themillion-wordLOBCorpusortheICE-GBwilloftenbesufficient.Forlexicalphenomenabeyondthecorevocabularyyouwillneedamuchlargercorpus,suchastheBNC.Ifyouwanttostudytranslationorcomparelanguages,youwillfindagoodsourceintheENPCortheOsloMultilingualCorpus(OMC).AspectsoflearnerEnglishcanbestudiedonthebasis of the InternationalCorpusofLearnerEnglish(ICLE).
Findoutmoreaboutavailablecorpora
Tousethecorpora,youneedcomputerprograms.Manycorporacanbesearchedbymeansof WordSmithTools (seeScott2001),butforexample,theBNC,ICE-GB(theBritishpartofICE),andtheENPChavetheirownsearchengines.
Itisoftenusefultomakeapilotstudyfirst,i.e.tomakeasmallcollectionofmaterialandanalyseitalongthelinesintended.Thiswillshowyouifyourmaterialisgivingyouenoughdata,andtherightkindofdata,orwhetheryoumayhavetousedifferentkindsofmaterial.
Becarefulinregisteringyourmaterial.Normallyacardindexshouldbequitesufficientforthelimitedamountofmaterialthatcanreasonablybedealtwithinatermpaper.Ifyouhaveadatabaseprogram,e.g. FileMakerPro,youcanuseitforstoring,surveying,analysingandretrievingyourmaterialefficiently.
Whicheversystemyouuse,makesuretocopyeachexamplecorrectly,tocopyenoughcontext,andtonotethesourcecorrectlyatonce,tosavetimeandtroublelateron.Thisisbecauseyoumaywanttolookuptheexampleinthecorpusagain(forexample,ifyouneedtolookatthewidercontext)andbecauseyoushouldspecifythesourcewhenyougivequotationsfromyourmaterial.Leaveenoughspaceontheindexcardsforclassificationcodesandfornotes.
4The investigationprocess
Wecanbroadlydistinguishbetweenthefollowingstages:
∙data collection
∙classification
∙analysis
4.1Theresearchquestion
Supposeyouareinterestedinstudyingthepositionofthedirectobjectwithphrasalverbs;i.e.doyousay sheswitchedthelighton or sheswitchedonthelight?
Thesecondarysourceswilltellyouthatapronounasdirectobjectisplacedbetweentheverbandtheparticle(e.g. sheswitchediton),whileanounornoun-headedphrasemayappeareitherbeforeoraftertheparticle.Youdecidetofocusonthewordorderprobleminthelattercase.Theworkingtitleofyourtermpapercouldbe"Whatfactorsdeterminetheplacementofnounsandnounphrasesasdirectobjectsofphrasalverbs?
".
4.2Datacollection
To startyourinvestigationyoufirstneedtocollectrelevantexamplesfromacorpus.Theexamplesmaybeextractedintheformofconcordancelines,sentences,orotherunits,dependingonyourresearchquestion.Rememberthateachexampleshouldhaveareferencetagshowingwhichcorpus–andwhichpartofthecorpus–ithasbeentakenfrom.
Incollectingthematerialyouimmediatelymeetanumberofproblems.Itisnotalwayseasytodistinguishphrasalverbs(e.g. sheputonhercoat)fromothersuperficiallysimilarconstructions,e.g.constructionswithprepositionalverbs(e.g. shecalledonMr.Xtospeak)orwithprepositionalphrasesasadverbials(e.g. shecalledonMonday).Andwhataboutexampleslikethese(fromtheLOBCorpus):
DrHornswayedtwoorthreeinchesback, Ugo hadhisglassesoffnow, Iownsomelandupinthefoothills?
Thefirstexamplelookssuperficiallylikeaconstructionwithadirectobject,butshouldnodoubtbeanalysedascontaininganadverbial.Inthelastexample up clearlygoeswiththefollowingprepositionalphraseratherthanwith own.Thesecondexampleisarealproblem. Dowerecognize haveoff asaphrasalverb?
Collectingtheprimarymaterialisnoteasy.Itisnecessarytobealert,soasnottomissoutrelevantexamplesorincludeirrelevantones.Ifyouhavestudiedthesecondarymaterialcarefully,youwillhaveagoodideaaboutwhattolookforandhowtodistinguishrelevantfromirrelevantexamples.Nevertheless,therewillalwaysbedoubtfulexamples.Makesuretoincludethese,withanoteonthetypeofproblem.Suchmaterialisusuallyimportanttodiscussinyourpaper.
Asyougoonyoumaydiscoverthatitisnecessarytolimitthematerialagreatdeal.Forexample,inastudyofphrasalverbs,itmaybenecessarytolimitthesearchtocertainverbswithdifferentparticles,ortocertainparticleswithdifferentverbs.Adictionaryofphrasalverbswillguideyouintheprocess.
Inastudyofphrasalverbs(1986) Stig JohanssondecidedtofocusonallexamplesintheLOBCorpusofsixlexicalverbsco-occurringwithanounornoun-headedphraseasdirectobjectandtenparticles;see Table1.Tofindthese,itwasnecessarytosearchforallformsoftherelevantverbsfollowedwithinacertainspanbyoneofthetenparticles.SuchsearchescanbeeasilydoneusingaprogramlikeWordSmithTools.
Afterirrelevantinstanceshadbeendiscarded,thematerialwasaspresentedinTable1.Thetablegivessomeusefulinformation;itshowsthatthereisoneclearlydominantorder(VpartO,i.e.verb+particle+directobject).Butthisisonlythestarting-pointoftheanalysis.
4.3Classificationofthematerial
The nextlogicalstepintheinvestigationprocessistheclassificationofthematerial.Itisnaturaltostartthinkingabouttheclassificationwhilethematerialisbeingcollected.Totakeourexamplewiththeorderofdirectobjectswithphrasalverbs,weclassifyeachexampleaccordingtotheparameterswhichwesuspectmayaffectthewordorder(basedonthesecondaryreadingorourownpreliminaryhypotheses).HereFileMaker(orasimilardatabaseprogram)isaninvaluabletool;see Figur
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