Admission requirements
None
Description
This course aims to provide a general introduction to the use of corpus tools in the study of language to students with little or no prior knowledge in using electronic language corpora. In the course of the lectures and seminars, the students will be introduced to a range of possibilities available through analyzing natural language.
Methods of analysis will be presented, both on a theoretical level and in hands-on tasks in the computer room.
Students will learn how to use different types of corpora (written, spoken, multimodal, specialised, learner) and corpus analysis packages (Wordsmith and AntConc).
The analysis of patterns in language variation (according to style, register, regional varieties, etc.), will be demonstrated by using different analysis tools in corpus linguistics (word frequency lists, concordancing, keywords).
Finally, the students will be introduced to a variety of applications of corpus linguistics in applied linguistics, sociolinguistics and discourse and argumentation studies.
Course objectives
By the end of the course the students should be able to:
understand the basic concepts in corpus linguistics (CL)
describe different applications of CL
use large-scale corpora and corpus analysis packages
interpret the findings of CL analyses
formulate a hypothesis and perform individual research using CL tools
Timetable
Mode of instruction
One-hour lecture per week
One-hour seminar per week
Course Load
Total course load: 140 hrs
Hours spent on:
attending lectures and seminars: 26 hrs
studying the compulsory literature: 30
preparing the presentation: 10
completing hands-on tasks outside the classroom: 24
preparing for the written (mid-term) exam: 10
writing the paper (reading and research): 40
Assessment method
Paper (50%)
Written mid-term exam (20%)
Participation (20%)
Presentation (10%)
Blackboard
This course is supported by Blackboard. Blackboard will be used to provide students with an overview of current affairs, as well as specific information about (components of) the course. Please see:
Blackboard
Reading list
Compulsory literature:
Hunston, Susan. 2002. Corpora in Applied Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge.
Further reading:
McEnery, Tony and Andred Wilson. 2001. Corpus Linguistics: An Introduction. 2nd edn. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
O’Keeffe, Anne and Michael McCarthy. 2010. The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics. London and New York: Routledge.
Registration
Enrollment through uSis for the course and the examination or paper is mandatory.
Contact
Email: m.lukac@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
As the course will be taught in the computer lab, the maximum number of students will be 18-20.