Key words and key phrases in a corpus of travel writing
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Andrea Gerbig
Abstract
WordSmith Tools offers three procedures (key words, key-key words and associates) to select words from texts that are noteworthy in a statistical sense. All three procedures are applied in the present paper in order to make visible, statistically, the most noticeable propositional and stylistic changes in the representation of a specific field of interest over the course of five centuries. Some of these quantitative results (identified through key-key words) are followed up in more detail and their development and role throughout the centuries is discussed, for example in grammaticalization processes. These findings are supplemented further by an analysis of the most frequent phrases and n-grams, again diachronically. Together, they show the development of linguistic habits in society.
Abstract
WordSmith Tools offers three procedures (key words, key-key words and associates) to select words from texts that are noteworthy in a statistical sense. All three procedures are applied in the present paper in order to make visible, statistically, the most noticeable propositional and stylistic changes in the representation of a specific field of interest over the course of five centuries. Some of these quantitative results (identified through key-key words) are followed up in more detail and their development and role throughout the centuries is discussed, for example in grammaticalization processes. These findings are supplemented further by an analysis of the most frequent phrases and n-grams, again diachronically. Together, they show the development of linguistic habits in society.
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
