LNGN 450-01 - Introduction to Corpus Linguistics
Instructor: Susana M. Sotillo
Phone: (973)655-7377
Office Hours: Wednesday: 1:00 – 2:15 p.m.
Thursday: 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. - Following Lab sessions
Online: By appointment only via FaceTime (cassandra8@comcast.net)
Cell Phone: 201-341-0319 Text me only for emergencies and problems (Do not call).
Course meets: Tuesday, 11:30 – 12:45 CS 204 (Face-to-face session)
Lab meets in CS 122 every two weeks from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on the following Thursdays:
January 29th, February 12th, February 26th, March 26th, April 9th, and April 23 rd.
Copies of MonoConc are available in the teaching computers in 110, 125, 202, 204, and 214.
Textbooks:
McEnery T. et al. Corpus-based Language Studies: an advanced resource book. Routledge,
2006. Online resources: http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415286239/
Interviewer Jozsef Andor at MIT:
Let me inquire about your current view about corpus-based linguistic description
and theorizing, an amazingly developing field, which, as many
would say, has grown from childhood to adulthood … an outstanding
research field of empirical importance….
Chomsky: Corpus linguistics doesn’t mean anything. It’s like saying suppose
a physicist decides, suppose physics and chemistry decide that instead
of relying on experiments, what they’re going to do is take videotapes
of things happening in the world and they’ll collect huge videotapes
of everything that’s happening and from that maybe they’ll come up with
some generalizations or insights. Well, you know, sciences don’t do this.
But maybe they’re wrong… Well if someone wants to try that, fine.
(From The Master and his performance: An interview with Noam Chomsky, 2004)
Assessment: Participation/Presentations 10%, Corpus Development and Homework 40%, Final Project
50%.
If you know you won't be able to make a deadline, please talk to me before you miss the deadline.
All articles, materials, lab assignments, homework assignments, manuals, etc. will be posted to Canvas.
Please check Canvas regularly and read the materials carefully.
Month
January
Date
20
23
27
29
February
3
5
Topic
Introduction
Asynchronous
Representativeness,
balance and sampling
Lab Work
Markup and Annotation
Discussion of Corpora
Creation
Asynchronous on your
own: Create your own
corpus for your final
project or use two or
Readings/Assignments
Textbook: A1 and Gries’
Gries: Corpus
Linguistics
A2, B1, B2
Using MonoConc
Homework #1
A3, A4 – CLAWS 7
Tagger
Read Baron, A. et al.
Children Online. IJCL
2012.pdf
10
more databases for your
research project.
More on MonoConc
Read Perez-Paredes, P.
Learners' search
patterns. IJCL 2012.pdf;
12 Lab
Complete Homework #2
17
Writing an Academic
Paper - Basic Statistics
19
Making statistical
claims. Contact me at
201-341-0319 if you
want to use CHAT.
Guest Speaker: Tina
Bollettieri – MA
Research Project
24
(Consult Biber et al.,
2002)
March
26 Lab
More on MonoConc and
various databases.
3
Discuss findings in class
and read Mark Davis’
Expanding horizons in
historical
linguistics…
A5 in textbook.
Homework #2
instructions.
Upload homework by
5:00 p.m.
Download PP Slides
Read Hardy’s Record
Keeping Summary
Read A6, A7, A8, A9.
World Englishes: Inner,
Outer, and Expanding
Circles – Read Tobias
Bernaisch: The verbcomplementational
profile of OFFER in Sri
Lankan English [1]
Read Basic Statistics PP
slides and complete
exercises for in-class
discussion.
Lexicography: A10, B3;
Using strings in
MonoConc to find V + ing.
hardy-colombini2010.pdf
5 Use any of the
Student Labs on your
own
Lab: Use COCA, the
American National
Corpus, GloWbe
Homework #3 due on
Friday, March 6 by 5:00
p.m.
Spring Recess March 9-13
17
19 ( Lab on your own)
24
Using MonoConc for
Linguistic Analysis
Historical Variation: Go
to one of the student
labs (CS 132) and
explore COHA on your
own.
In Class: Explore the
Old Bailey Corpus –
Create an account.
Corpus to be distributed
in class.
Read hardy-colombini2010.pdf and B4, B5
Homework #4 to be
uploaded to Canvas by
Friday at 5:00 p.m.
Find an article from
eVarieg, the ICAME
Journal, or the
International Journal of
26 Lab Work
31
April
2
7
Select existing corpus to
be used in your project
or the one you have
created.
Select six or more
articles for your
research project. Use
MSU’s databases and
discuss your choices in
class.
Asynchronous Session:
Synthesize information
from articles
Literature Review
Discussion
9 Lab
Using Corpus
Linguistics for Language
Teaching: COCA and
ANC
14
In-class presentation of
phrasal verb
assignment.
16 On Your Own
Prepare first draft of
your research project.
Include Results,
Discussion, Limitations,
and Conclusion.
Maximum length: 20-25
pages including
references.
First draft of your
research project is
due.
Final lab session
21
23 Lab
28
Present preliminary
results and discussion
of research findings.
corpus Linguistics based
on the Old Bailey
searchable database.
Prepare an abstract
and research
questions and upload
these to Canvas.
Access the International
Journal of Corpus
Linguistics, Volume 17
(4) 2012
Prepare your Literature
Review. Upload to
Canvas by April 16th.
Follow publication
guideless from the
International Journal of
Corpus Linguistics.
B6; Homework #5:
prepare four exercises
to teach ELLs about
American English
phrasal verbs using
COCA, GloWbe, and
ANC. How would you
use these exercises in
teaching conversational
English? – Prepare PP
slides
Corpus-based research
on Learner English.
Read article by
Gabrielatos:
http://www.teslej.org/ej32/a1.html
Analyze your own
corpus using MonoConc
or a corpus or corpora
you have selected for
your project. Prepare
Results section, followed
by Discussion,
Limitations, Conclusion.
Upload draft to Canvas
or hand in hard copy to
instructor.
Complete any unfinished
work on your project.
Prepare PP slides or a
handout and discuss
your project in class.
Upload to Canvas or
hand in hard copy.
30
May
3
Continuation of
presentation of research
project via
BigBlueButton
Tuesday as Friday – No
class
Does your discussion
answer each of your
research questions or
hypotheses?
I will be available to
meet students in
CS240E.
Final Exam Schedule: For Classes with First or Only Meeting on T or F at
1130am .................... 0100pm-0300pm Hand in your research project by 5:00
p.m. on Tuesday, May 12th
Chomsky’s reply to my Birthday wishes on his 86th birthday:
From: "Noam Chomsky" <chomsky@mit.edu>
Date: December 7, 2014 at 1:05:31 PM EST
To: Susanna <cassandra8@comcast.net>
Subject: RE: Happy Birthday!
Many thanks for the kind wishes, very much appreciated.
Noam Chomsky
-----Original Message----From: Susana [mailto:cassandra8@comcast.net]
Sent: Sunday, December 07, 2014 12:02 PM
To: Noam Chomsky
Subject: Happy Birthday!
To a great scholar and excellent human being. Live long and continue to prosper because humanity
needs you. A voice of reason and compassion is needed in a world ruled by psychopaths and sociopaths.
Wishing you a very Happy Birthday!
Susana Sotillo and Grover Furr
Montclair State University
Sent from my iPhone