Here are few options, although there are probably hundreds more. Also,
you might find the site at [http://tiny.cc/corpora] useful -- it
bookmarks a lot of corpus analysis tools. --- Bill Spruiell
(1) Have each student pick two to five words from a list you provide --
and include a bunch of words on the list that are commonly the focus of
usage debates (e.g. "comprise"). Have each student look at what 2-3
dictionaries say about the words, then do a keyword-in-context search
through the corpus. The student then compares what the dictionary
describes as the word's usage with the actual usage in the corpus.
(2) An arguably more interesting version of (1) involves having students
work in small groups and investigate sets of semantically-related, but
charged, words as part of a kind of social or political analysis. One of
the corpus studies I've read, for example, looked at the distribution
patterns of "job" vs. "occupation" vs. "career" with intriguing results.
(3) Make a list of general constructions that can be "Corpus-searched"
without too many headaches -- for example, prepositional phrases with
"among" and "between" (the second you use "to," you're getting
infinitives in the mix, etc., so it's a headache). Divide the students
into small groups, assign each group one of those constructions, and ask
the students to see if they can make any observations about the
distribution patterns, and possible reasons for those (how often does a
between-phrase come at the beginning, vs. at the end?). If the corpus
comprises samples from different genres, they can also see if the
distribution patterns seem genre-related.
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Katz, Seth
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2009 2:23 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: corpus project ideas
I would like to hear about these project ideas too--please post them to
the list!
Dr. Seth Katz
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Bradley University
Peoria, IL
Faculty Advisor
Bradley University Hillel
Bradley Fencing Club
________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of R.
Michael Medley (ck)
Sent: Fri 8/21/2009 12:55 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: corpus project ideas
For an undergraduate Introduction to Linguistics class, I provide
students
several options for short research projects. An option that I would
like
to add this year is using a linguistic corpus such as Mark Davies'
Corpus
of Contemporary American English. The result of the students'
investigation will be a short 3-5 page paper, so I am not looking for a
long involved process.
Since I am one never to enjoy re-inventing the wheel, I'd appreciate
hearing ideas that any of you might have for structuring such a project
and aiming students in fruitful directions. If I use your idea, I will
give credit in the assignment description.
Just a reminder, these are first- and second-year college students who
have probably never had a linguistics course before, but they're
motivated
& intelligent and catch on pretty quickly. Thanks.
R. Michael Medley, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Eastern Mennonite University
1200 Park Road Harrisonburg, VA 22802
Ph: 540-432-4051 Fax: 540-432-4444
************************************
"Understanding and shared meaning, when it occurs, is a small miracle,
brought about by the leap of faith that we call 'communication across
cultures.'" --Claire Kramsch
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