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<p class=MsoPlainText>I'm sorry, Mark. I think you may have misunderstood the
thrust of my post. I certainly didn't mean to lecture, and I am not working on
any "Ultimate True Theory of English<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Dialectology". When you questioned the need for a
parallel corpus, I wondered if you might have some insight into how to get some
of the benefits of parallel corpora without actually having parallel corpora.
That is not a straw man; I think that is a worthwhile pursuit and probably
tractable given the right approach and the right tools. It would lead to
powerful insights and powerful tools in lexicology, dialectology, translation,
second language acquisition, and much more. I would genuinely love to know if
anyone has been able to achieve <b>parallel corpus</b> results with <b>comparable
corpus</b> analysis techniques. (I must confess, Mark, that I am not on the
nominating committee for the Nobel Prize in Corpus Linguistics, so that offer
was made in jest. <span style='font-family:Wingdings'>J</span><span
style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> )<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>I’m glad that you don’t make typos. I used to think that
I didn’t either, until I started using Word’s new contextual speller. Some
still get past me, for sure, but definitely fewer than before.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Later, my friend. I’ve got to get back to my toys. <span
style='font-family:Wingdings'>J</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Merle<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>-----Original Message-----<br>
From: owner-corpora@lists.uib.no [mailto:owner-corpora@lists.uib.no] On Behalf
Of Mark P. Line<br>
Sent: Thursday, November 9, 2006 11:23 AM<br>
To: Merle Tenney<br>
Cc: CORPORA@UIB.NO<br>
Subject: Re: [Corpora-List] Parallel corpora and word alignment, WAS: American
and British English spelling converter<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Merle Tenney wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>> Ramesh Krishnamurthy wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>>> ...and there is no obvious parallel corpus of
Br-Am Eng to consult...<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>>> Do you know of one by any chance...<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>>> And Mark P. Line responded:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>>>Why would it have to be a *parallel* corpus?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>> [Merle's lecture snipped]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>> Mark, if you can figure out a way to combine the
quality and quantity of<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>> data from a very large corpus with the alignment and
equivalence power of<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>> a parallel corpus without actually having a parallel
corpus, I will<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>> personally nominate you for the Nobel Prize in
Corpus Linguistics.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>I was speaking in the context of the mostly anecdotal
claims being made on<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>the parent thread, as to what it would take in the way of
corpus<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>examination to support or defeat them. I thought this was
the context in<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>which Ramesh was speaking, and I'm pretty sure it was the
context of the<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>initial Oxfordian question of why nobody on this thread
had been making<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>use of corpora.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>I was not speaking in the context of the Ultimate True
Theory of English<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Dialectology, which would seem to be a strawman of your
device.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>So in case the fault was mine and I was unclear in my
question to Ramesh,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>please allow me to rephrase it: "Why would you need
a *parallel* corpus to<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>make or refute claims of the kind we've been seeing on
the parent thread?"<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>As nearly as I could tell, you didn't actually address
that question in<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>your lecture.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>> PS and Shameless Microsoft Plug: In the last
paragraph, I accidentally<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>> typed "figure out a why to combine" and I
got the blue squiggle from Word<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>> 2007, which was released to manufacturing on Monday
of this week. It<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>> suggested way, and of course I took the suggestion.
I am amazed at the<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>> number of mistakes that the contextual speller has
caught in my writing<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>> since I started using it. I recommend the new
version of Word and Office<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>> for this feature alone.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Thanks, but I think that would entail my switching to a
toy operating<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>system as well as spending money on another piece of
software, and I don't<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>make enough typographical mistakes to warrant such a
drastic measure.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>-- Mark<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Mark P. Line<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Polymathix<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>San Antonio, TX<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
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