1. Introduction to Corpus Linguistics: Applications Lexicography
John Corbett and Wendy Anderson

2. This session How has corpus linguistics changed lexicography?
How do lexicographers make use of corpus tools?
What makes up a dictionary definition today?

3. Before corpora…

5. Basic elements of a dictionary definition
Term to be defined
Part of speech
Pronunciation
Forms
Etymology
Definition
Citations
kow-tow n.
/kaʊˈtaʊ/ /kəʊˈtaʊ/
Also kow-too, ko-too, -tou, ka-tou
Chinese k῾o-t῾ou, < k῾o knock + t῾ou the head
a. The Chinese custom of touching the ground with the forehead in the act of prostrating oneself, as an expression of extreme respect, submission, or worship
1804    J. Barrow Trav. China v. 213…

6. Different dictionaries for different readers
What do different readers want from a dictionary?
What do language learners need from a learners’ dictionary?
What can corpora tell us that was not evident before?

7. The corpus revolution…
Collins COBUILD dictionary published in 1987
Corpus of 20 million words
The first dictionary to use computer-
based analysis throughout its
production.

8. How corpora have changed dictionaries
From Hunston (2002: 96):
More information about different senses
An emphasis on frequency
An emphasis on collocation and phraseology
An emphasis on ‘authenticity’ (…controversial)

9. More information about senses
Know, v.
Longman 1987: 20 senses
COBUILD 1995: 30+ senses
Longman 1995: 40+ senses
OED online: 39 main senses (not including phrasal verbs with ‘know’)

10. More information about frequency

11. More information about frequency

12. More information about frequency
Which form of ‘record’ should appear first in a dictionary –
the noun or the verb?

13. If frequency is your criterion…
‘Record’ is currently (ie in early 2017) tagged as appearing almost 10 times more frequently as a noun than as a verb in COCA.
Raw frequency in COCA as a noun: 65686
Raw frequency in COCA as a verb:

14. More info about phrases/collocation
‘kowtow’ in the BNC

15. More info about phrases and collocations

16. Emphasis on ‘authenticity’

17. But is ‘authentic’ best…?
“Most citations are unsuitable for a learner dictionary because they are too complex grammatically, contain unnecessary difficult words or idioms, or make culture-dependent allusions or references to specific contexts.” - Baugh, S., A. Harley, and S. Jellis (1996: 43) ‘The role of corpora in compiling the Cambridge International Dictionary of English’ International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 1. pp 39-59

18. Emphasis on ‘authenticity’

19. Take-home messages
Learner dictionaries have been revolutionised by corpus studies
They now incorporate information about
Different senses of a word
Frequencies
‘Typical’ meanings (from frequencies and collocations) as well as ‘central’ meanings, often from etymologies.
Phraseology (ie grammatical combinations)
Citations draw on ‘authentic’ corpus examples though these are sometimes simplified for learners’ use.