Google's Ngram Viewer

[Vadim Besprozvanny]

Exactly, this is one of many limitations one may encounter while using the
Google n-gram viewer. Number of words in published sources tells nothing
about the geographic, demographic, sociocultural localization of the words.


Adding to that a simple premise that vocabulary requires context (actually
a hierarchy of contexts) Even faceted search would instill a bit more
usability to the n-gram viewer. Otherwise I feel really puzzled about the
possibility to utilize this tool without falling into common linguistic
traps. 

_VB



On Wed, 29 Dec 2010 16:20:05 -0500, Richard Robin <rrobin at GWU.EDU> wrote:
> Keep in mind that the n-gram viewer only finds words in published books
and
> scientific journals — so far. That means that a word had to become
fairly
> well established in the language before it would make it into what is
> surely
> the most conservative of written media. (Certainly periodicals are
quicker
> on the uptake.) Take the word гей, which I remember hearing in the
early
> 1990s in Leningrad. But the Google n-gram viewer shows it in the borrowed
> English meaning only starting in mid-decade of the 2000s. (Previous cites
> are for the last name Гей and an animal call.) For гей, that’s a
> 10-15 year
> gap. Натурал is another example. Its Google n-gram career in the
> meaning of
> ‘straight’ appears to start in 1995, 10 years after I first heard the
> term
>  — again in Leningrad.
> 
> -Rich Robin
> 
> On Wed, Dec 29, 2010 at 12:04 PM, Vadim Besprozvanny
> <vbesproz at umich.edu>wrote:
> 
>> It would be useful to get a data showing to what extent the books
>> available
>> to Google represent the real picture. VB
>>
>> On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 18:05:52 +0100, "R. M. Cleminson"
>> <rmcleminson at POST.SK
>> >
>> wrote:
>> > Unfortunately the tool does not take account of orthographical reform.
>> The
>> > boom in срам after 1917 is matched by a corresponding decline in
>> > срамъ.
>> >
>> > ----- Originálna správa -----
>> > Odosielateľ: "Anne Fisher" <anne.o.fisher at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Komu: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
>> > Dátum: sobota, december 18, 2010 11:19:29
>> > Predmet: Re: [SEELANGS] Google's Ngram Viewer
>> >
>> > This is fascinating. Thank you, Steve. Interesting that срам
>> > (sram),
>> > according to this, seems to have boomed in popularity in the post-1917
>> > years... and oddly enough, шлюха (shliukha) - excuse me - seems
to
>> > have been
>> > in 100% of the books around 1995? Any statisticians out there who can
>> give
>> > the background to these figures (i.e. how much we can rely on the
>> > graphs'
>> > alluring visuals)?
>> >
>> > On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 6:26 AM, Steve Marder <asured at verizon.net>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> >> A new Google initiative may be of interest to some SEELANGS followers
>> and
>> >> researchers:
>> >>
>> >> In theory:
>> >>
>> >> http://tinyurl.com/2wjc6p7
>> >>
>> >> http://tinyurl.com/2dod469
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> In practice:
>> >>
>> >> http://tinyurl.com/2avgdt2
>> >>
>> >> Slavic is represented by Russian.
>> >>
>> >>
>>
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