Corpus Linguistics for Vocabulary: A Guide for Research. Paweł Szudarski

Abstract

Corpus linguistics is considered as one of the most dynamic and fast developing branches in the field of linguistic studies. This is a fact that corpus techniques have been ‘an indispensable component of the methodological toolbox’ (McEnery and Hardie, 2012, p. 226). As one of the books in the series of Routledge Corpus Linguistics Guides, Corpus Linguistic for Vocabulary: A Guide for Research, by Paweł Szudarski, is a practical introduction to corpus linguistics, whose aim is to introduce a host of corpus tools and procedures for investigating words, phraseology, and patterns within the naturally occurring English language, and particularly highlight the usefulness of corpus for vocabulary studies. By corpus tools freely available, this book provides a detailed guide on how corpus can be applied to explore the English vocabulary-related research questions and topics such as the frequency of English words and the choice of English words in teaching, the difference of spoken vocabulary and written vocabulary, the difference of the academic vocabulary and general vocabulary, the contribution of vocabulary to the structure of discourse, and the pragmatic functions of words. This book is written as a practical guide for English learners, language educators, and language researchers with little experience in corpus analysis. The intended readership may also include anyone who is academically interested in corpus linguistics, especially in the corpus-related English vocabulary studies.