Writing practice in a society with codified variation: a correspondence analysis of writing practice in New Norwegian/Nynorsk

Corpora ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Stig J. Helset
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Actual Usage ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Linguistic Methods ◽  
Writing Practice

This paper illustrates the advantages of combining corpus linguistic methods and correspondence analysis when investigating sub-varieties within written languages that have codified variation. Through a study of a large-scale corpus of the written standard New Norwegian/Nynorsk, the paper demonstrates how correspondence analysis is a method that is well-suited to mapping norm clusters consisting of different sub-varieties in actual usage. The study reveals the existence of a norm cluster within the corpus consisting of a moderate sub-variety. Current Norwegian language policy is to base the official norms on developments in observed usage. The paper thus concludes that future standardisation of Nynorsk should be moving towards a narrower, moderate norm in order to be in accordance with the operative norm. The methods presented in this paper may be of value when investigating other written languages with codified variation, such as Irish, or languages without official norms, such as Shona.

scholarly journals Stereotype in Webkorpora: Strategien zur Suche in sehr großen Datenmengen

2016 ◽  
Vol 79 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Uwe Quasthoff ◽  
Erla Hallsteinsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Text Corpora ◽  
Strong Focus ◽  
Image Identity ◽  
Linguistic Methods

Research on stereotypes (as well as on similar constructs such as prejudice, image, identity, etc.) goes back around a century. Most research on stereotypes belongs to the field of psychological, social and cultural studies, with a strong focus on cognitive and socio-cultural phenomena. Since Uta Quasthoff’s pioneering analysis in 1973, there have been several linguistic studies of stereotypes, i. e. on linguistic aspects of how stereotypes are realized in language use. Linguistic research on stereotypes uses methods from disciplines such as sociolinguistics, ethnography, discourse and conversation analysis. Discursive psychology and cognitive linguistics and single studies on stereotypes have used corpus-linguistic methods to explore stereotypes in language use. Nevertheless, we state that no large-scale empirical studies have yet investigated the linguistic realization of stereotypes by using empirical data from large text corpora. In this article, we explore the potential of corpus linguistic approaches in the research on the occurrences of stereotypes in written language. By using an analysis of co-occurrences, we aim to describe the relation between associative semantic stereotypes and co-occurrences in a corpus. Our hypothesis is that the linguistic construction of stereotypes as their realization in language use reproduces stereotypic representations of cognitive conceptualizations and meaning patterns, thus, stereotypic meanings should be detectable in statistical patterns in large corpora.

What Russian University Stands for: Analyzing Socially Embedded Vision and Values

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-506
Author(s):  
Valeria Chernyavskaya ◽  
Olga Kamshilova
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Mission Statements ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Analytical Methodology ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Core Mission ◽  
New Research ◽  
Linguistic Methods

Summary The present investigation is a response to the discourse analytical methodology expanded by corpus linguistic techniques. Within a discursive approach the university’s identity is seen as existing in and being constructed through discourse. The research interest is in how ideology and the obligation models set by the state construct the university’s self-image and university-based research as its core mission. The study is generally consistent with current trends in social constructivism where identity is considered as the process of identity construction rather than a rigid category. It is presumed that key factors are developed within a definite socio-cultural practice, which then shape the concept of collective identity. Detecting and analyzing such factors on the basis of Russian realities and modern Russian university is becoming a new research objective. The focus of the given article is on how certain values can be foregrounded in texts representing university strategies to the public. The research employs corpus linguistic methods in discourse analysis. The organization of the paper is as follows. First, it outlines the socio-political context in which the transformation of academic values and organizational principles of Russian national universities are embedded. Second, it discusses corpus findings obtained from an original research corpus which includes mission statements posted on the websites of Russian national research and federal universities. Conclusions concerning the university mission statements reflect ongoing transformations of the universities’ role in the society. The rhetoric of the statements is declarative and foregrounding new values. The linguistic data analysis shows their socially constructive nature as they build a framework for currently relevant uniformed ideas and concepts.

Corpora and intuition: a study of Mandarin Chinese adverbial clauses and subjecthood

Corpora ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
May L-Y Wong
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Semantic Function ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Semantic Classes ◽  
New Information ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Adverbial Clauses ◽  
Adverbial Clause ◽  
Linguistic Methods

This paper presents a corpus-based approach to investigating the distribution of adverbial clauses and their subjects (overt vs. non-overt) in spoken and written Mandarin Chinese. It argues that the choice of subject type is determined by three variables, namely, given-new information, semantic function of adverbial clause and text type. In written Chinese, the distribution of subject types varies across semantic classes of adverbial clauses, but not across text categories. The influence of semantic classes on the distribution of subject types, however, depends on text type. For the same semantic function, the decision as to whether to include a subject is governed by given and new information. In contrasting the distribution of subject types of adverbial clauses across speech and writing, it was found that both spoken and written Chinese use more overt subjects in clauses of reason. Methodologically, this study demonstrates how quantitative corpus-linguistic methods can be used to supplement introspective theoretical assumptions with authentic, observable evidence in order to gain better insights into the behaviour of adverbial clauses in speech and writing.

Lexical priming in humorous satirical newspaper headlines

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Skalicky
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
American English ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Lexical Priming ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Linguistic Patterns ◽  
Linguistic Methods ◽  
Pragmatic Knowledge ◽  
Do So

Abstract Satire is a type of discourse commonly employed to mock or criticize a satirical target, typically resulting in humor. Current understandings of satire place strong emphasis on the role that background and pragmatic knowledge play during satire recognition. However, there may also be specific linguistic cues that signal a satirical intent. Researchers using corpus linguistic methods, specifically Lexical Priming, have demonstrated that other types of creative language use, such as irony, puns, and verbal jokes, purposefully deviate from expected language patterns (e.g. collocations). The purpose of this study is to investigate whether humorous satirical headlines also subvert typical linguistic patterns using the theory of Lexical Priming. In order to do so, a corpus of newspaper headlines taken from the satirical American newspaper The Onion are analyzed and compared to a generalized corpus of American English. Results of this analysis suggest satirical headlines exploit linguistic expectations through the use of low-frequency collocations and semantic preferences, but also contain higher discourse and genre level deviations that cannot be captured in the surface level linguistic features of the headlines.

Terminological Entrepreneurs and Discursive Shifts in International Relations: How a Discipline Invented the “International Regime”

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Steffek ◽  
Marcus Müller ◽  
Hartmut Behr
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
International Regime ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Digital Discourse ◽  
Disciplinary History ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Linguistic Methods

Abstract The disciplinary history of international relations (IR) is usually told as a succession of theories or “isms” that are connected to academic schools. Echoing the increasing criticism of this narrative, we present in this article a new perspective on the discipline. We introduce concepts from linguistics and its method of digital discourse analysis (DDA) to explore discursive shifts and terminological entrepreneurship in IR. DDA directs attention away from schools of thought and “heroic figures” who allegedly invented new theories. As we show exemplarily with the rise of “regime theory,” there were entire generations of IR scholars who (more or less consciously) developed new vocabularies to frame and address their common concerns. The terminological history of “international regime” starts in nineteenth century international law, in which French authors already used “régime” to describe transnational forms of governance that were more than a treaty but less than an international organization. Only in the 1980s, however, was an explicit definition of “international regime” forged in American IR, which combined textual elements already in use. We submit that such observations can change the way in which we understand, narrate, and teach the discipline of IR. DDA decenters IR theory from its traditional focus on schools and individuals and suggests unlearning established taxonomies of “isms.” The introduction of corpus linguistic methods to the study of academic IR can thus provide new epistemological directions for the field.

Research of the Method for Traffic Generating Based on Genetic Algorithm

2014 ◽  
Vol 701-702 ◽  
pp. 3-7
Author(s):  
Liu Bo
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Network Traffic ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Network Reliability ◽  
Actual Usage ◽  
Large Scale Network ◽  
Scale Network ◽  
Self Similar ◽  
Optimal Values

It has great impact on result of the network test or simulation if the test simulated traffic is corresponding to real situation. The network traffic is the superposition of different traffic streams in the actual usage of the network. But because of the complexity and time-consumption to generate different traffic streams, it is difficult to generate the network traffic in the simulation for the large scale network. This paper proposes a kind of method for traffic generating based on genetic algorithm .According to building the self-similar traffic model ,the optimal values of the model’s parameters has been obtained. A case study shows the effectiveness of the method for the network reliability.

scholarly journals Public discourses on multilingualism in the UK: Triangulating a corpus study with a sociolinguistic attitude survey

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Jaworska ◽  
Christiana Themistocleous
Keyword(s):  
General Public ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Attitude Survey ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Media Discourses ◽  
Linguistic Methods ◽  
Large Press

AbstractThis article investigates public discourses of multilingualism in Britain. In contrast to previous research focusing on specific languages or varieties of language, we examine multilingualism as a metalinguistic construct and are interested in what is frequently said about multilingualism, and how it is said. More specifically, we explore the extent to which media discourses are consonant or diverge from the attitudes of lay people. Media discourses are investigated using a corpus-assisted discourse-study approach to the analysis of large-press corpora. Results from the corpus study are then incorporated in an attitude survey distributed to 200 participants living in a large superdiverse town in Britain. Our study shows that while positive media discourses are mostly shared by the general public, some of the negative themes, especially those relating to immigration, are either reinforced or challenged. The article demonstrates the usefulness of triangulating corpus-linguistic methods with a survey to provide a more comprehensive understanding of public discourses about language matters, and offers some implications for promoting multilingualism in society. (Multilingualism, metalanguage, corpus-assisted discourse study (CADS), attitude survey, triangulation)

Identity as space

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 675-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dionysis Goutsos ◽  
George Polymeneas
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Linguistic Methods

The paper studies the textual, discursive and social practices of the Greek “aganaktismeni” (indignados) movements, which mainly took place in the public gathering of tens of thousands of Greeks in Syntagma Square, outside the Greek parliament from May to August 2011. Data come from multiple sources, including the General Assembly proceedings and resolutions, while a linguistically-informed approach is followed, which combines Critical Discourse Analysis concepts with corpus linguistic methods. It is argued that the Syntagma protests generated a new context in Greek politics, by introducing new genres and the innovative articulation of already existing discourses. It was also found that social/political identities and social/public space were co-articulated, since the identity of the movement was crucially constructed in terms of space.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document