Corpus Linguistics for Oral History

Corpus Linguistics for Oral History takes a step-by-step approach to presenting how corpus linguistics tools and techniques can be applied to oral history archives. Bridging the gap between the two areas, this book:

• establishes a framework to pursue this type of research and guides the reader through tasks that will ensure practical application
• shows how oral narratives can facilitate historical linguistics, including historical sociolinguistics and historical pragmatics
• illustrates how the techniques of corpus linguistics can help social historians to analyse oral narratives in new and fruitful ways
• takes readers through each step of the process, from initial close readings of data to constructing a corpus that adheres to parameters of representativeness, through to the application of various corpus linguistics techniques
• includes an appendix of resources and examples of extracts from a global range of historical texts throughout, introducing the reader to a range of freely accessible, digitized archives

This book is key reading for students and researchers working in History and Corpus Linguistics. History students will find a new perspective on approaching primary historical sources, while linguistics students will find insights into an avenue of data worthy of multiple levels of linguistic analysis.