Advanced Studies in English: Corpus Linguistics

Cross listed with LINGST 4001-02

Ever wondered how linguists can discover patterns across millions of words, or how AI systems like chatbots “learn” about language? In this course, you’ll explore corpus linguistics, the study of language through large collections of real-world texts, called “corpora”. We’ll examine how corpora are built and used, and you’ll gain hands-on experience uncovering patterns in vocabulary, grammar, and meaning through specialized computer tools. Along the way, you’ll see how different approaches to corpus analysis shed light on how language varies across venues such as social media, journalism, and academic writing; how it reflects social factors such as identity and group membership; how dictionaries and language teaching materials are created; and how language changes over time. While there are no prerequisites for this course, it is recommended that students have completed at least one Linguistics course.