Three concepts of keywords
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Michael Stubbs
Abstract
The term “keywords” is widely used to refer to words which are important in some way, either in individual texts or in a given culture. The general idea is perhaps clear enough, but there are two problems. First, there are several different concepts of “keywords”. This paper discusses three loosely related uses of the term, which derive from quite different academic traditions, and which are therefore only marginally compatible. Second, there is a very large gap between individual words, texts and culture. The paper argues that this gap can only be bridged by a theory which relates words, phrases and texts to the social institutions which are characterized by texts and text-types.
Abstract
The term “keywords” is widely used to refer to words which are important in some way, either in individual texts or in a given culture. The general idea is perhaps clear enough, but there are two problems. First, there are several different concepts of “keywords”. This paper discusses three loosely related uses of the term, which derive from quite different academic traditions, and which are therefore only marginally compatible. Second, there is a very large gap between individual words, texts and culture. The paper argues that this gap can only be bridged by a theory which relates words, phrases and texts to the social institutions which are characterized by texts and text-types.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Perspectives on keywords and keyness 1
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Section I. Exploring keyness
- Three concepts of keywords 21
- Problems in investigating keyness, or clearing the undergrowth and marking out trails… 43
- Closed-class keywords and corpus-driven discourse analysis 59
- Hyperlinks 79
- Web Semantics vs the Semantic Web? 93
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Section II. Keyness in specialised discourse
- Identifying aboutgrams in engineering texts 113
- Keywords and phrases in political speeches 127
- Key words and key phrases in a corpus of travel writing 147
- History v. marketing 169
- Metaphorical keyness in specialised corpora 185
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Section III. Critical and educational perspectives
- A contrastive analysis of keywords in newspaper articles on the “Kyoto Protocol” 207
- Keywords in Korean national consciousness 219
- General spoken language and school language 235
- Index 249
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Perspectives on keywords and keyness 1
-
Section I. Exploring keyness
- Three concepts of keywords 21
- Problems in investigating keyness, or clearing the undergrowth and marking out trails… 43
- Closed-class keywords and corpus-driven discourse analysis 59
- Hyperlinks 79
- Web Semantics vs the Semantic Web? 93
-
Section II. Keyness in specialised discourse
- Identifying aboutgrams in engineering texts 113
- Keywords and phrases in political speeches 127
- Key words and key phrases in a corpus of travel writing 147
- History v. marketing 169
- Metaphorical keyness in specialised corpora 185
-
Section III. Critical and educational perspectives
- A contrastive analysis of keywords in newspaper articles on the “Kyoto Protocol” 207
- Keywords in Korean national consciousness 219
- General spoken language and school language 235
- Index 249
