You are here

  1. Home
  2. Laura Patterson

Laura Patterson

Using corpus linguistics to cross disciplinary boundaries

The study of corpus linguistics – the systematic, computationally-aided analysis of large bodies of texts – was traditionally restricted to those scholars who were interested in uncovering patterns in the underlying structure of languages. Such analyses, which involve millions (sometimes billions) of words of data, can also shed light on the meaning of words, the use of language by different sociocultural groups, and the nuances of language learning, with more recent work acknowledging the contribution that corpus analysis can make to understanding wider social issues.

However, corpus linguistics tools are not restricted to linguistic scholarly endeavour. As more and more textual data is generated (or becomes available) electronically, researchers across disciplines are keen to tap into these vast resources. As such, there is a growing trend for using corpora across an increasing number of disciplines including history, geography, sociology, law, economics, medicine and health, education, and many more. This session will demonstrate different corpus tools and how they can be used interdisciplinary to provide a robust and novel way to investigate large datasets. In particular, it draws on a case study where corpus linguistics provided the backbone for the geographical analysis of UK poverty.

Are you already an OU student?

Go to StudentHome

Request your prospectus

Request a prospectus icon

Explore our qualifications and courses by requesting one of our prospectuses today.

Request prospectus