Chapter 4. Lexical obsolescence and loss in English: 1700–2000
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Ondřej Tichý
Abstract
This paper explores a new methodology for extracting forms that were once common but are now obsolete, from large corpora. It proceeds from the relatively under-researched problem of lexical mortality, or obsolescence in general, to the formulation of two closely related procedures for querying the n-gram data of the Google Books project in order to identify the best word and lexical expression candidates that may have become lost or obsolete in the course of the last three centuries, from the Late Modern era to Present-day English (1700–2000). After describing the techniques used to process big uni- and trigram data, this chapter offers a selective analysis of the results and proposes ways the methodology may be of help to corpus linguists as well as historical lexicographers.
Abstract
This paper explores a new methodology for extracting forms that were once common but are now obsolete, from large corpora. It proceeds from the relatively under-researched problem of lexical mortality, or obsolescence in general, to the formulation of two closely related procedures for querying the n-gram data of the Google Books project in order to identify the best word and lexical expression candidates that may have become lost or obsolete in the course of the last three centuries, from the Late Modern era to Present-day English (1700–2000). After describing the techniques used to process big uni- and trigram data, this chapter offers a selective analysis of the results and proposes ways the methodology may be of help to corpus linguists as well as historical lexicographers.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Chapter 1. Present applications and future directions in pattern-driven approaches to corpus linguistics 1
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Part I. Methodological explorations
- Chapter 2. From lexical bundles to surprisal and language models 15
- Chapter 3. Fine-tuning lexical bundles 57
- Chapter 4. Lexical obsolescence and loss in English: 1700–2000 81
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Part II. Patterns in utilitarian texts
- Chapter 5. Constance and variability 107
- Chapter 6. Between corpus-based and corpus-driven approaches to textual recurrence 131
- Chapter 7. Lexical bundles in Early Modern and Present-day English Acts of Parliament 159
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Part III. Patterns in online texts
- Chapter 8. Lexical bundles in Wikipedia articles and related texts 189
- Chapter 9. Join us for this 213
- Chapter 10. I don’t want to and don’t get me wrong 251
- Chapter 11. Blogging around the world 277
- Index 311
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Chapter 1. Present applications and future directions in pattern-driven approaches to corpus linguistics 1
-
Part I. Methodological explorations
- Chapter 2. From lexical bundles to surprisal and language models 15
- Chapter 3. Fine-tuning lexical bundles 57
- Chapter 4. Lexical obsolescence and loss in English: 1700–2000 81
-
Part II. Patterns in utilitarian texts
- Chapter 5. Constance and variability 107
- Chapter 6. Between corpus-based and corpus-driven approaches to textual recurrence 131
- Chapter 7. Lexical bundles in Early Modern and Present-day English Acts of Parliament 159
-
Part III. Patterns in online texts
- Chapter 8. Lexical bundles in Wikipedia articles and related texts 189
- Chapter 9. Join us for this 213
- Chapter 10. I don’t want to and don’t get me wrong 251
- Chapter 11. Blogging around the world 277
- Index 311
