Overcoming Challenges in Corpus Construction: The Spoken British National Corpus 2014 [Hardcover]

This volume offers a critical examination of the construction of the Spoken British National Corpus 2014 (Spoken BNC2014) and points the way forward toward a more informed understanding of corpus linguistic methodology more broadly. The book begins by situating the creation of this second corpus, a compilation of new, publicly-accessible Spoken British English from the 2010s, within the context of the first, created in 1994, talking through the need to balance backward capability and optimal practice for todays users. Chapters subsequently use the Spoken BNC2014 as a focal point around which to discuss the various considerations taken into account in corpus construction, including design, data collection, transcription, and annotation. The volume concludes by reflecting on the successes and limitations of the project, as well as the broader utility of the corpus in linguistic research, both in current examples and future possibilities. This exciting new contribution to the literature on linguistic methodology is a valuable resource for students and researchers in corpus linguistics, applied linguistics, and English language teaching.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Part I BEFORE CORPUS CONSTRUCTION: THEORY AND DESIGN

Chapter 2: Why a new Spoken BNC and why now?

Chapter 3: Theoretical challenges in corpus design

Part II DURING CORPUS CONSTRUCTION: THEORY MEETS PRACTICE

Chapter 4: Challenges in data collection

Chapter 5: Challenges in transcription, part I  conventions

Chapter 6: Challenges in transcription, part II  who said what?

Chapter 7: Challenges in corpus processing and dissemination

Part III AFTER CORPUS CONSTRUCTION: EVALUATING THE CORPUS