Clavier09 Josef Schmied Josef Schmied English English Language Language & & Linguistics Linguistics Chemnitz University of Technology Chemnitz University of Technology http:// http:// www.tu www.tu - - chemnitz.de chemnitz.de / / phil phil / / english english /Schmied /Schmied Using corpora as an innovative tool to Using corpora as an innovative tool to compare varieties of English around the world: compare varieties of English around the world: the International Corpus of English the International Corpus of English ICE ICE story story 2
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Josef SchmiedJosef SchmiedEnglish English LanguageLanguage & & LinguisticsLinguistics
Chemnitz University of TechnologyChemnitz University of Technologyhttp://http://www.tuwww.tu--chemnitz.dechemnitz.de//philphil//englishenglish/Schmied/Schmied
Using corpora as an innovative tool to Using corpora as an innovative tool to compare varieties of English around the world: compare varieties of English around the world:
the International Corpus of Englishthe International Corpus of EnglishICEICE
storystory2
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Motivation and structureMotivation and structure
1. The (1. The (hi)storyhi)story of ICE of ICE beginnings and concepts (ICE0)beginnings and concepts (ICE0)ICE problemsICE problems
2. The present2. The present--day status of ICEday status of ICEresourcesresourceswork in progresswork in progress
3. Case studies: modalities3. Case studies: modalities 4. The future of ICE (ICE2)4. The future of ICE (ICE2)changing communication patterns 1989 changing communication patterns 1989 --20092009new practical opportunitiesnew practical opportunitiesnew theoretical challengesnew theoretical challenges
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1. The (1. The (hi)storyhi)story of ICEof ICE
a personal account a personal account
1.1 Beginnings and concepts1.1 Beginnings and conceptsMay 1988 ICAME Birmingham:May 1988 ICAME Birmingham:SchmiedSchmied: : ““Compiling a Corpus of East African EnglishCompiling a Corpus of East African English””discussion on Brown/LOB categories?discussion on Brown/LOB categories?more sociolinguistics variable (gender, status, age, 1more sociolinguistics variable (gender, status, age, 1stst language, etc.)language, etc.)
Oct. 1988 proposal:Oct. 1988 proposal:GreenbaumGreenbaum, Sidney. , Sidney. ““A proposal for an international A proposal for an international
computerised corpus of English. computerised corpus of English. World World EnglishesEnglishes 77, 315 , 315
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1.1 ICE0 concepts 1.1 ICE0 concepts
GreenbaumGreenbaum (1988: 31):(1988: 31):(1)(1) to sample standard varieties from other countries to sample standard varieties from other countries
where English is the first language, for example where English is the first language, for example Canada and AustraliaCanada and Australia
(2)(2) to sample national varieties from countries where to sample national varieties from countries where English is an official additional language, for English is an official additional language, for instance India and Nigeria; andinstance India and Nigeria; and
(3)(3) to include spoken and manuscript English as well to include spoken and manuscript English as well as printed English.as printed English.
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1.1 Discussing the corpus design1.1 Discussing the corpus design
SchmiedSchmied (1990):(1990):““CorpusCorpus--linguistics and the linguistics and the nativizationnativization of of
EnglishEnglish””. . World World EnglishesEnglishes 99, 255, 255--268268
““corpuscorpus--compilation paradoxcompilation paradox””::A A ““nationalnational”” corpus should contain culturecorpus should contain culture--
specific specific text(type)stext(type)s, but we can only identify , but we can only identify them through corpus analysisthem through corpus analysis
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1.2 ICE problems 1.2 ICE problems
corpuscorpus--compilation:compilation:1)1) funding (e.g. ICEfunding (e.g. ICE--US, ICEUS, ICE--Nigeria)Nigeria)2)2) adaptations in corpus compilation:adaptations in corpus compilation:
technology and culturetechnology and culture3)3) copycopy--right for distributionright for distribution4)4) corpus processing: corpus processing:
annotation and parsingannotation and parsingcorpuscorpus--application:application:1)1) manuals for restriction (interpretation)manuals for restriction (interpretation)2)2) query (query (WordSmithWordSmith or or AntConcAntConc) ) –– statisticsstatistics
individual solutionsindividual solutions
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1.2.2 Adaptation1.2.2 Adaptation
representativenessrepresentativeness vs. comparabilityvs. comparability
4 characteristics of the modern corpus: 4 characteristics of the modern corpus: Sampling and Sampling and representativenessrepresentativenessFinite size Finite size MachineMachine--readable form readable form A standard reference A standard reference
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Appendix 6: List of written texts from Tanzania (word count)Appendix 6: List of written texts from Tanzania (word count)PRINTEDPRINTED
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1.2.4 Textual 1.2.4 Textual MarkupMarkup
In written texts, features of the original layout are marked, including sentence and paragraph boundaries, headings, deletions, and typographic features.
Spoken texts are transcribed orthographically, and are marked for pauses, overlapping strings, discourse phenomena such as false starts and hesitations, and speaker turns.
The markup manual is available here.
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1.2.4 1.2.4 WordclassWordclass TaggingTagging
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ICE texts are automatically tagged for wordclass by the ICE Tagger, developed by Sean Wallis at the Survey of English Usage, University College London. This assigns wordclass tags to each lexical item in the corpus. The tagset has been developed especially for ICE, and is largely based on Quirk et al (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. e.g. Each PRON(univ,sing)
of PREP(ge)these PRON(dem,plu)is V(cop,pres)the ART(def)responsibility N(com,sing)of PREP(ge)one NUM(card,sing)person N(com,sing)
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1.2.4 Syntactic Parsing1.2.4 Syntactic Parsing
Every sentence in the corpus is analysed at phrase, clause, and sentence level, and the analysis is shown in the form of a parsetree:
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2. The present2. The present--day status of ICEday status of ICE
resources:resources:1)1) WWW for ICE and IceWWW for ICE and Ice--corporacorpora2)2) corpora corpora availabeavailabe3)3) publicationspublications
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2.1 ICE 2.1 ICE webpagewebpage: Corpus : Corpus designdesign
500 files 500 files àà 2,0002,000--word texts in specific categoriesword texts in specific categories The texts in the corpus date from 1990 or later. The authors The texts in the corpus date from 1990 or later. The authors
and speakers of the texts are aged 18 or above, were and speakers of the texts are aged 18 or above, were educated through the medium of English, and were either educated through the medium of English, and were either born in the country in whose corpus they are included, or born in the country in whose corpus they are included, or moved there at an early age and received their education moved there at an early age and received their education through the medium of English in the country concerned.through the medium of English in the country concerned.
The corpus contains samples of speech and writing by both The corpus contains samples of speech and writing by both males and females, and it includes a wide range of age males and females, and it includes a wide range of age groups. The proportions, however, are not representative of groups. The proportions, however, are not representative of the proportions in the population as a whole: women are not the proportions in the population as a whole: women are not equally represented in professions such as politics and law, equally represented in professions such as politics and law, and so do not produce equal amounts of discourse in these and so do not produce equal amounts of discourse in these fields. Similarly, various age groups are not equally fields. Similarly, various age groups are not equally represented among students or academic authors.represented among students or academic authors.
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2.2 Currently available ICE corpora2.2 Currently available ICE corpora
1st Language (ENL)) Great BritainGreat Britain Ireland*Ireland* Jamaica*Jamaica* New ZealandNew Zealand
* * free as downfree as down--loadload
22ndnd Language (ESL)Language (ESL) East Africa* (East Africa* (Ke/TzKe/Tz)) Hong Kong*Hong Kong* India*India* The Philippines*The Philippines* Singapore*Singapore*
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2.3 2.3 PublicationsPublications
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3. ICE case studies: modalities3. ICE case studies: modalities
hypotheses for comparing ICE corpora: English auxiliaries are very unevenly distributed in
actual language usage epistemic use is more frequent than deontic ENL varieties: “American innovativeness, British conservativism and Australian independence from both”(Collins 2009) ESL varieties have a smaller number of modal
auxiliaries than ENL varieties: ICE-T has smaller frequencies than ICE-K generally and for epistemic usage specifically
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Modal auxiliaries in Tanzania and KenyaModal auxiliaries in Tanzania and Kenya
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Case study: Case study: Modal auxiliaries Modal auxiliaries in ICEin ICE--GB, ICEGB, ICE--Phil and ICEPhil and ICE--EA (EA (--K/K/--T)T)
hypotheses confirmed:hypotheses confirmed:English in Kenya has developed further towards a New English
variety than English in Tanzania
exceptions (like exceptions (like shallshall) can be explained:) can be explained:English in English in Tanzania is the more formal variety (informal texts are expressed more often in Kiswahili)
further analyses:further analyses: simple distinction epistemic vs. deontic
is not always detailed enough: e.g. lexeme-specific cases like habitual or historic would
n-grams / collocations, negation, etc.
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4. The future of ICE (ICE2)4. The future of ICE (ICE2)
1) a broader corpus basis:1) a broader corpus basis: diachronic corpus: cf. Brown familydiachronic corpus: cf. Brown family larger monitorlarger monitor--corpus: webcorpus: web--basedbased2) more comparative studies:2) more comparative studies: applied issues:applied issues:acknowledgment of new normsacknowledgment of new normsreplacing the native speakerreplacing the native speaker
theoretical issues:theoretical issues:dynamic model: reanalysisdynamic model: reanalysisNew English subNew English sub--categories: categories: deletersdeleters vs. preservers vs. preservers
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4.0 Changes in international communication 4.0 Changes in international communication since 1989since 1989
English as a English as a ““globalglobal”” language:language:EIL= English as an International LanguageEIL= English as an International Languageesp. European Union, Chinaesp. European Union, Chinabut but ““(secondary) education through the (secondary) education through the medium of Englishmedium of English””??
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4.1 Diachronic changes to ICE categories4.1 Diachronic changes to ICE categories
ICEICE--EA 1990 EA 1990 –– 2010:2010:replacing categories: emailreplacing categories: emailfull 1 Million words eachfull 1 Million words each
integrated in a larger monitor corpusintegrated in a larger monitor corpus
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4.1.2 Web monitor corpus: 4.1.2 Web monitor corpus: keywords approachkeywords approach
Business letters:Business letters: Dear, Yours sincerely/faithfully/truly/etc, invoice, Dear, Yours sincerely/faithfully/truly/etc, invoice, memo, fax, bank, account, financial, enquiries, thank you for, memo, fax, bank, account, financial, enquiries, thank you for, manager, secretary, order, PO Box, date, I enclose, enclosed, I manager, secretary, order, PO Box, date, I enclose, enclosed, I look look forward to, c.c.forward to, c.c.
Popular natural science: Popular natural science: popular, everyday, environment, diet, popular, everyday, environment, diet, disease, plants, animals, reptiles, medicine, health, birds, fisdisease, plants, animals, reptiles, medicine, health, birds, fish, h, whales, conservation, zoos, natural history, green issueswhales, conservation, zoos, natural history, green issues”” rainforest, rainforest, everything you need to know about...., Guide to..., made easy, everything you need to know about...., Guide to..., made easy, global warming, wildlife, botanical, ozone layer. global warming, wildlife, botanical, ozone layer.
Administrative writing: Administrative writing: policy, regulations, procedures, guide, policy, regulations, procedures, guide, benefits, grants, entitlements, Guide to..., University calendarbenefits, grants, entitlements, Guide to..., University calendar, , safety, register/registration, code of conduct, license/licensinsafety, register/registration, code of conduct, license/licensing, g, health regulations, FAQhealth regulations, FAQ
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4.1.2 4.1.2 WebcrawlerWebcrawler
CustomisableCustomisable, to exclude unwanted files, e.g. images, , to exclude unwanted files, e.g. images, sounds, movies, .exe. sounds, movies, .exe. CustomisedCustomised settings can be saved in settings can be saved in an an ““optionsoptions”” file, [file, [icelite.opticelite.opt]]
Fast:Fast: can download entire websites in a relatively short can download entire websites in a relatively short time (depending on the size of the site)time (depending on the size of the site)
StableStable: it never crashed, even when the download was : it never crashed, even when the download was aborted.aborted.
Can be run Can be run ‘‘in the backgroundin the background’’, and won, and won’’t interfere with t interfere with other processes.other processes.
Can be run overnight, and will safely switch off your PC.Can be run overnight, and will safely switch off your PC. Inserts Inserts time & datetime & date accessedaccessed in each downloaded file. in each downloaded file. courtesy Nelson, Gerry 2009 ICEcourtesy Nelson, Gerry 2009 ICE--lightlight
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4.1.2 Workflow for Monitor Corpus4.1.2 Workflow for Monitor Corpus
Use Google Advanced Search to identify major English-language sites in each domain
Use HTTrack to download sites
Select texts, and record details in a spreadsheet
Targeted search to fill gaps, using Keywords
Use Google Advanced Search to identify major English-language sites in each domain
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4.2.1 Applied issues4.2.1 Applied issues
Comparative studies and a comparative Comparative studies and a comparative database help decide questions of usage database help decide questions of usage and normand norm
Quantitative comparisons allow more Quantitative comparisons allow more gradient usage decisions than native gradient usage decisions than native speakersspeakers
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4.2.2 Theoretical issues: 4.2.2 Theoretical issues: dynamic model dynamic model -- new categorisation?new categorisation?
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4.2.2 Theoretical issues: 4.2.2 Theoretical issues: deletersdeleters vs. preservers?vs. preservers?
MesthrieMesthrie/Bhatt 2008:90/Bhatt 2008:90““One such broad dichotomy involves varieties One such broad dichotomy involves varieties that favour deletion of elements and those that favour deletion of elements and those that disfavour it. In this regard the that disfavour it. In this regard the differences between differences between SgpSgp Eng (especially Eng (especially amongst those with Chinese substrates) and amongst those with Chinese substrates) and African varieties are striking.African varieties are striking.””
(91): (91): Come what may (come).Come what may (come).He made me (to) do it.He made me (to) do it.As you know (that) I am from the As you know (that) I am from the CiskeiCiskei..
EAsiaEAsia vs. Africa?vs. Africa?ICEICE--Phil/Phil/--SgpSgp vs. ICEvs. ICE--EA/EA/--ZA/ZA/--NigNig
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5. Conclusion5. Conclusion
ICEICE--corpora are a good basis for empirical corpora are a good basis for empirical ““nationalnational”” and comparative corpus work and comparative corpus work ““EastEast--AfricanismAfricanism”” (marked <ea>):(marked <ea>): in grammar (modality), in grammar (modality), lexicon (lexicon (matatumatatu )) morphology/morphology/idiomaticityidiomaticity ((grass rootsgrass roots) ) etc.etc.
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ICEICE--EA/ESL EA/ESL idioms are less fixed/more flexibleidioms are less fixed/more flexible
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Kenya Tanzania written spoken written spoken grassroots 4 3 1 16 10 6 20 grass roots 12 11 1 9 3 6 21 grass root 1 1 2
16 25 41
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Current issuesCurrent issues
Can results of corpus-linguistic analyses of “real usage” help to decide choices of norm and standards on a national and international basis?YES Can “objective” corpus-linguistic resources replace “subjective” native speaker intuition as a neutral international standard?YES Can corpus analyses add the cognitive dimension to variety formation?YES
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ReferencesReferences
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GreenbaumGreenbaum, S. (1988). , S. (1988). ““A proposal for an international computerised A proposal for an international computerised corpus of English". World corpus of English". World EnglishesEnglishes 7 , 315 7 , 315
MeshrieMeshrie, R., R.M. , R., R.M. BhattBhatt (2008). (2008). World World EnglishesEnglishes: The study of new : The study of new language varieties. Cambridge: CUP language varieties. Cambridge: CUP
SchmiedSchmied, J. (1990). , J. (1990). ““CorpusCorpus--linguistics and the linguistics and the nativizationnativization of Englishof English””. . World World EnglishesEnglishes 9, 2559, 255--268268
Schneider, E. (2006). Postcolonial English. Varieties around theSchneider, E. (2006). Postcolonial English. Varieties around the world. world. New York: Cambridge Press.New York: Cambridge Press.
ICES ICES -- International Corpus of English Studies International Corpus of English Studies VolVol 1, No 1 (2009). 1, No 1 (2009). UniversitUniversitäätsverlagtsverlag derder TechnischenTechnischen UniversitUniversitäätt Chemnitz, Chemnitz, https://www.bibliothek.tuhttps://www.bibliothek.tu--chemnitz.de/ojschemnitz.de/ojs//
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UsingUsing corporacorpora as an innovative as an innovative tooltool to to comparecomparevarietiesvarieties of English of English aroundaround thethe worldworld: : thethe ICE ICE storystoryThis contribution presents the story of the International CorpusThis contribution presents the story of the International Corpus of English (ICE) from the of English (ICE) from the earliest discussions in 1989 to the current project applicationsearliest discussions in 1989 to the current project applications and the big issues of the and the big issues of the future. future. The ICE teams in the past have always worked independently, so tThe ICE teams in the past have always worked independently, so that some corpora were hat some corpora were finished early, others were processed with the help of finished early, others were processed with the help of taggerstaggers and parsers, others were and parsers, others were given up and restarted several times. Although modern computing given up and restarted several times. Although modern computing facilities and facilities and processing tools (like processing tools (like AntConcAntConc) have made simple data analyses relatively easy for ) have made simple data analyses relatively easy for everyone, the most challenging innovations are possible in corpueveryone, the most challenging innovations are possible in corpus collection. Nowadays, s collection. Nowadays, the WWW can facilitate some data collection and offers new optiothe WWW can facilitate some data collection and offers new options for multimedia ns for multimedia corpora. This will make future corpus corpora. This will make future corpus compliationcompliation and exploitation a real challenge. and exploitation a real challenge. The big issues in applying ICE corpora in theory and practice arThe big issues in applying ICE corpora in theory and practice are, for instance:e, for instance: Can results of corpusCan results of corpus--linguistic analyses of linguistic analyses of ““real usagereal usage”” help to decide choices of norm help to decide choices of norm
and standards on a national and international basis?and standards on a national and international basis? Can corpora justify national varieties of English all around tCan corpora justify national varieties of English all around the world?he world? Can corpusCan corpus--linguistic resources replace the native speaker as a neutral intlinguistic resources replace the native speaker as a neutral international ernational
standard?standard? Can corpus analyses add the cognitive dimension to variety forCan corpus analyses add the cognitive dimension to variety formation?mation?This contribution will illustrate that the International Corpus This contribution will illustrate that the International Corpus of English can, despite some of English can, despite some shortshort--comings, be used as a very innovative tool in exploring geographcomings, be used as a very innovative tool in exploring geographic varieties for ic varieties for researchers of every level.researchers of every level.
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