A data-driven approach to finding significant changes in language use through time series analysis
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Andrew Kehoe
Abstract
This paper conducts a diachronic study of language change in a corpus covering almost 30 years of mainstream UK news text. In our previous studies, several databases were compiled from the corpus, including diachronic records of word frequency, collocation and morphological analysis. Upon user enquiry, our WebCorp Linguist’s Search Engine produced tailored output from these resources. The system was therefore passive, requiring a word or phrase to be specified before querying the databases. The aim now is to extend the data-driven functionality to track the frequency of words in the corpus across time automatically and alert users to statistically significant change patterns. Three tests are employed to find upward and downward trends, sudden jumps in frequency, and seasonal variation.
Abstract
This paper conducts a diachronic study of language change in a corpus covering almost 30 years of mainstream UK news text. In our previous studies, several databases were compiled from the corpus, including diachronic records of word frequency, collocation and morphological analysis. Upon user enquiry, our WebCorp Linguist’s Search Engine produced tailored output from these resources. The system was therefore passive, requiring a word or phrase to be specified before querying the databases. The aim now is to extend the data-driven functionality to track the frequency of words in the corpus across time automatically and alert users to statistically significant change patterns. Three tests are employed to find upward and downward trends, sudden jumps in frequency, and seasonal variation.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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New perspectives
- Competing future constructions and the Complexity Principle 9
- Diachronic learner corpus research 41
- Rhoticity in Southern New Zealand English 69
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Revisiting old debates
- “I’m putting some salt in my sandwich”. 93
- Determinants of exaptation in Verb-Object predicates in the transition from Late Middle English to Early Modern English 133
- Recent changes in spoken British English in verbal and nominal constructions 173
- “Oh yeah, one more thing: It’s gonna be huge.” 197
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Refinements & innovations
- Retrieving Twitter argumentation with corpus queries and discourse analysis 229
- MuPDAR for corpus-based learner and variety studies 257
- A data-driven approach to finding significant changes in language use through time series analysis 285
- Index 319
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
New perspectives
- Competing future constructions and the Complexity Principle 9
- Diachronic learner corpus research 41
- Rhoticity in Southern New Zealand English 69
-
Revisiting old debates
- “I’m putting some salt in my sandwich”. 93
- Determinants of exaptation in Verb-Object predicates in the transition from Late Middle English to Early Modern English 133
- Recent changes in spoken British English in verbal and nominal constructions 173
- “Oh yeah, one more thing: It’s gonna be huge.” 197
-
Refinements & innovations
- Retrieving Twitter argumentation with corpus queries and discourse analysis 229
- MuPDAR for corpus-based learner and variety studies 257
- A data-driven approach to finding significant changes in language use through time series analysis 285
- Index 319
