[Corpora-List] Corpus vs Intuition

[Thierry Fontenelle]

Dear Mai,



I guess the following paper will interest you (the title itself says it all):



Fillmore, C. (1992). ' "Corpus linguistics" or "Computer-aided armchair linguistics" ', in Svartvik, J. (ed.), Directions in Corpus Linguistics, Proceedings of Nobel Symposium 82, Stockholm, August 1991. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 35-66.



Fillmore taps corpora because he is interested in finding out about lexical and structural features of a language which he would most certainly miss, were he exclusively relying upon his own intuition and speculations. I find the demonstration fascinating.



Fillmore's paper is reprinted in the recently published Reader<http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199292349&view=00&promo=websocdgfs&salepage=%2Fsale%2Fwebsocdgfs%2F>, which includes a number of other papers that show why corpora are crucial:



Fontenelle, T. (ed) Practical Lexicography: A Reader, Oxford University Press, 2008.



See also Atkins & Rundell's "Oxford Guide to Practical Lexicography<http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199277711>" (OUP, 2008), which provides all the evidence you need to explain the advantages of corpus-based work.



I hope it helps,



Best wishes,



Thierry



Thierry Fontenelle

Microsoft Natural Language Group

thierryf at microsoft.com<mailto:thierryf at microsoft.com>





-----Original Message-----
From: corpora-bounces at uib.no [mailto:corpora-bounces at uib.no] On Behalf Of Mai Zaki
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 2:00 AM
To: corpora at uib.no
Subject: [Corpora-List] Corpus vs Intuition



Dear colleagues,



My question may be a bit basic but I would appreciate your feedback.

My own research is corpus-based and I am working in the field of lexical semantics/pragmatics where the majority of the literature is based on made-up examples and testing of native speakers' intuitions. So, I still get stuck in my discussions with others trying to convince them that corpus work and real life examples add a different angle to any research. The usual objections are that it's not about numbers and percentages, and that patterns of use are questionable because of the issue of how representative they are.

I want to include in my own work a part about the advantages of corpus-based work as opposed to arm-chair linguistics, and I would appreciate if you could guide me to any references on this topic as well as your own ideas.



Thank you.



Mai Zaki

Middlesex University



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