Problems in investigating keyness, or clearing the undergrowth and marking out trails…
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Mike Scott
Abstract
The article explores what might be meant by keyness in Corpus Linguistics. Keyness is a textual quality which is beginning to arouse interest, but as yet it is little understood and much exploratory work is needed. To this end, the chapter focuses in on a number of specific issues: the amount of text to take as a unit when computing keyness, statistical problems in making claims of different kinds about they keyness of words and phrases, the choice of an appropriate reference corpus, and the types of repetition which characterize key words. Many of these are illustrated by reference to Shakespeare plays. However, the overall aim is less to characterise the Shakespeare plays than to delineate the research area, to pin down the nature of keyness.
Abstract
The article explores what might be meant by keyness in Corpus Linguistics. Keyness is a textual quality which is beginning to arouse interest, but as yet it is little understood and much exploratory work is needed. To this end, the chapter focuses in on a number of specific issues: the amount of text to take as a unit when computing keyness, statistical problems in making claims of different kinds about they keyness of words and phrases, the choice of an appropriate reference corpus, and the types of repetition which characterize key words. Many of these are illustrated by reference to Shakespeare plays. However, the overall aim is less to characterise the Shakespeare plays than to delineate the research area, to pin down the nature of keyness.
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
