[Corpora-List] Linguistics, corpus linguistics, and diglossia

[Angus B. Grieve-Smith]

On 12/16/2010 2:04 AM, Damir C'avar wrote:
> I think this is rather right in the sense of: using existing corpora 
> for the generation of colloquial language dictionaries. Creating 
> corpora from data collected via transcripts of questionnaires, 
> recordings, interviews etc. to get some quantities out of it might be 
> helpful. But, qualitative data is what counts most in common such 
> compilations, corpora are less relevant here, fieldwork is crucial, in 
> particular in what Mike mentions, a diglossic situation. Corpora might 
> be helpful as organizations of the collected data for extraction of 
> further details, but they do not seem to be at the core of such an 
> endeavor.
     I don't get this.  Why are corpora "less relevant" in a diglossic 
situation?  Why aren't qualitative data just as important in other 
situations?

     If we're going to have different procedures for making 
dictionaries, it's important to come up with a more rigorous set of 
criteria for when a language community is diglossic.  Why do people say 
that France is diglossic but the United States is not?  Is France as 
diglossic as German-speaking Switzerland?  Where is the line - or at 
least, where do various language communities like Croatia and the 
western Punjab fit on the continuum?

     And if France is indeed diglossic, does that mean that the /Trésor 
de la langue française/ was a misguided endeavor because a corpus was at 
its heart?

     I don't mean to discount the value of qualitative data; if 
anything, I think they're relevant in a wider range of situations than 
they're typically used in.

-- 
				-Angus B. Grieve-Smith
				grvsmth at panix.com

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