Studying connectivity with the help of computer-readable corpora
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Nicole Baumgarten
Abstract
This paper discusses methodological aspects of the use of electronic language corpora for the study of connectivity. We demonstrate how a corpus-based approach was used to investigate functional characteristics of coordinating elements in sentence- or utterance-initial position across different languages (English, German, Old Swedish and Turkish), across different modalities (written and spoken) and across the diachronic dimension (historic and modern languages). Our focus is on the difficulties we encountered in this study when attempting to transfer corpus-based methods developed for the analysis of corpora of modern, written language to the analysis of corpora of historic or spoken language. We suggest an abstract corpus-linguistic workflow and discuss where and how this workflow differs according to the corpus type, and how well its individual steps are supported by current corpus technology.
Abstract
This paper discusses methodological aspects of the use of electronic language corpora for the study of connectivity. We demonstrate how a corpus-based approach was used to investigate functional characteristics of coordinating elements in sentence- or utterance-initial position across different languages (English, German, Old Swedish and Turkish), across different modalities (written and spoken) and across the diachronic dimension (historic and modern languages). Our focus is on the difficulties we encountered in this study when attempting to transfer corpus-based methods developed for the analysis of corpora of modern, written language to the analysis of corpora of historic or spoken language. We suggest an abstract corpus-linguistic workflow and discuss where and how this workflow differs according to the corpus type, and how well its individual steps are supported by current corpus technology.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Connectivity as an object of linguistics 1
-
Aspects of language change and language acquisition
- Grammaticalization of converb constructions 21
- Contact, connectivity and language evolution 51
- Allora 75
- Some notes on the syntax–pragmatics interface in bilingual children 101
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Pronouns, topics and subjects
- Distribution and function of clitic object pronouns in popular16th-18th century Greek narratives 139
- Nominative subjects of non-finite clauses in Hiberno-English 165
-
Finiteness in text and discourse
- Aspectotemporal connectivity in Turkic 187
- Connectivity by means of finite elements in monolingual and bilingual Turkish discourse 199
-
Subordination – coordination
- Alternative subordination strategies in Turkish 231
- Studying connectivity with the help of computer-readable corpora 259
- Discourse coordination in Turkish monolingual and Turkish-German bilingual children’s talk: işte 291
-
Adverbials, particles and constructions
- Modal adverbs as discourse markers 329
- „So, given this common theme...“ 345
- An utterance-transcending connector 367
- Between connectivity and modality 395
- Matrix constructions 419
- Language index 449
- Name index 451
- Subject index 457
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Connectivity as an object of linguistics 1
-
Aspects of language change and language acquisition
- Grammaticalization of converb constructions 21
- Contact, connectivity and language evolution 51
- Allora 75
- Some notes on the syntax–pragmatics interface in bilingual children 101
-
Pronouns, topics and subjects
- Distribution and function of clitic object pronouns in popular16th-18th century Greek narratives 139
- Nominative subjects of non-finite clauses in Hiberno-English 165
-
Finiteness in text and discourse
- Aspectotemporal connectivity in Turkic 187
- Connectivity by means of finite elements in monolingual and bilingual Turkish discourse 199
-
Subordination – coordination
- Alternative subordination strategies in Turkish 231
- Studying connectivity with the help of computer-readable corpora 259
- Discourse coordination in Turkish monolingual and Turkish-German bilingual children’s talk: işte 291
-
Adverbials, particles and constructions
- Modal adverbs as discourse markers 329
- „So, given this common theme...“ 345
- An utterance-transcending connector 367
- Between connectivity and modality 395
- Matrix constructions 419
- Language index 449
- Name index 451
- Subject index 457
