Table of Contents
List of figures vii
List of tables viii
1 Introduction 1
Sociolinguistics: variation and change 2
Corpus linguistics: definition and a few myths 5
Types of corpora 12
Corpus annotation 15
Corpus processes 19
Outline of the book 28
2 Corpora and sociolinguistic variation 31
Introduction 31
Demographic variation 31
Variation across registers 44
Spoken corpora and phonetic/prosodic variation 49
Conclusion 56
3 Diachronic variation 57
Introduction 57
Meet the Brown family - small but well balanced 59
Language change = cultural change? 68
Historical corpora 75
Conclusion 79
4 Synchronic variation 81
Introduction 81
Global varieties of English 81
Comparing cultures 85
The British lag? 89
Measuring similarity 91
Comparing spoken and computer-mediated varieties 96
Conclusion 100
5 Corpora and interpersonal communication 102
Introduction 102
Transcription 103
Prosodic analysis 105
Typicality in the analysis of interpersonal communication 108
Collocations and frames 113
Discourse markers 116
Conclusion 120
6 Uncovering discourses 121
Introduction 121
Frequency as an indicator of markedness 125
Collocations: unpacking ideological assumptions 127
Concordances and prosodies 132
Keywords: finding a point of entry 133
Points of concern 141
Conclusion 143
7 Conclusion 146
Introduction 146
Construction and access 147
Annotation 149
Analysis 150
Interpretation and explanation 152
New directions 154
References 157
Appendix 169
Notes 179
Index 183
