Data-Intensive Investigations of English: (Studies in English Language)

In this collection of innovative and original articles, an international team of scholars demonstrate the newest technological trends and data-intensive technologies in the empirical study of English linguistics. Through a range of in-depth case studies, it advocates for the use of advanced technologies and digital tools to enable study in this ever-evolving field. To achieve optimal coherence across the volume, each chapter answers a core question: 'How can data-intensive and computational methods help scholars answer research questions that are solidly grounded in the theoretical foundations of English linguistics?' Digitalization is expected to accelerate, and this development will continue to impact research in the humanities. This volume fills in a clear gap and will drive empirical linguistic research forward, by introducing a variety of innovative techniques and tools that not only offer new answers to old questions in English linguistics but also open up exciting new research questions in the field.

Table of Contents:
1. Data-intensive approaches to English linguistics Mikko Laitinen, Paula Rautionaho and Irene Taipale; 2. What big data tells us about American English phonetics William A. Kretzschmar, Michael Olsen, Rachel Olsen and Katherine Ireland; 3. Do you reckon? Creating and testing a corpus of spoken southern American English from the digital archive of Southern speech (1970–1983) Keiko Bridwell and Katherine Ireland; 4. 'Scots for the masses'?: Utilising a novel data-analysis facility to statistically explore late modern Scots in the digitised chapbooks collection Sarah van Eyndhoven, Lisa Gotthard and Rosa Filgueira; 5. Combining collocation measures and distributional semantics to detect idioms Gerold Schneider; 6. Using data-intensive methods for unlocking expressiveness in word-formation: the case of English name blending Sabine Arndt-Lappe, Natalia Beliaeva and Audrey Martin; 7. Modals of future time reference across native and non-native Englishes: a variationist analysis Paula Rautionaho and Lea Meriläinen; 8. Bayesian multivariate analysis of complement selection: subject-control complements of the verb Fear Juho Ruohonen and Juhani Rudanko; 9. Statistical modelling of syntactic complexity of English academic texts: syntactic predictors of rhetorical sections Maryam Nasseri; 10. Implications of the replication crisis: some suggestions to improve reproducibility and transparency in data-intensive corpus linguistics Martin Schweinberger.

About the Author :
Mikko Laitinen is Professor of English at the University of Eastern Finland. He is an elected member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters and one of the leaders in the national research infrastructure for digital humanities, FIN-CLARIAH. His research focuses on language change in digital social networks, and he is the principal investigator of 'Weak-Tie Hypothesis in Complex Digital Networks' (COMET), a project funded by the Research Council of Finland. Paula Rautionaho is Senior Researcher at the School of Humanities, University of Eastern Finland. Her research focuses on grammatical alternations in World Englishes and recent British English. She has coedited two volumes in John Benjamin's Studies in Corpus Linguistics series and Routledge's Studies in Sociolinguistics series.

Review :
'This timely volume zooms in on recent developments in data-intensive digital tools and methods, and showcases how new approaches can help answer research questions that are firmly grounded in linguistic theory. The editors propose several key benchmarks of data-intensive approaches in the field and outline avenues for multi- and interdisciplinary collaborative research, also drawing attention to the pitfalls and challenges in the ongoing digital transformation of English linguistics. This book is indispensable reading for anyone interested in the future of English-language research.' Marcus Callies, University of Bremen 'The advent of big data and digital technologies has promised a revolution in the ways in which we do research in fields that have traditionally been dominated by theory and interpretation. In this book, Mikko Laitinen and Paula Rautionaho have astutely marshaled a compelling set of studies that demonstrate how data-intensive investigations in English linguistics offer us new vistas for collecting, processing, and analyzing large amounts of data. The results not only generate exciting new insights but enable us to ask new questions that previously remained out of the realm of possibility.' Michael Haugh, The University of Queensland 'This volume brings together cutting-edge research showing how the analysis of language data at scale is transforming our understanding of the English language. These studies are especially timely given the growth of digital communication and AI, which are rapidly expanding the possibilities for empirical research and methodological innovation in linguistics.' Jack Grieve, University of Birmingham 'This volume offers a timely and compelling account of how data-intensive methods are reshaping English linguistics, combining innovative computational approaches with deep engagement with theoretical and methodological considerations. It will be of great value not only to specialists in English linguistics, but also to scholars across the language sciences who want to know more about how digital tools can enhance both the empirical breadth and the conceptual depth of linguistics research.' Barbara McGillivray, Senior Lecturer in Digital and Computational Humanities, King's College London