Corpus Linguistics

CORPUS LINGUISTICS (LC) is the analysis of naturally occurring language on the basis of computerized corpora. Commonly, the analysis is carried out with the assistance of the computer, i.e. software or a program, and takes into consideration the wordlist, frequency, concordance, collocation and chunks (and other capabilities) of the phenomena investigated.

I have conducted a master in this promising field to analyze Modern Standard Arabic texts upon their linguistic qualities using WordSmith Tools.

Title of this thesis: ba’da and qabla in Online News: A Corpus-Based Study.

Date of Publication: 2016

Abstract: This thesis offers a corpus-based analysis and description of two of the most frequently used words in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), namely بَعْدَ /ba’da/ (after, after [that]) and قَبْلَ /qabla/ (before, ago). To this end, a corpus of 4,102,134 tokens was compiled from two prominent Arabic news websites: CNN and BBC as a purposive sample. The investigation of this study adopted the linguistic analysis as a main research method to characterize these two adverbial nouns, using WordSmith Tools as a main instrument for data analysis, based on Sinclair's model (1999) for data sampling, and Hunston’s classification (2002, p. 46) for data categorization. Three linguistic qualities were addressed in the present analysis: semantic values and cohesive functions, syntactic features, and idiomatic usages. The study identified a set of 459 occurrences for بَعْدَ /ba’da/, and classified them into three categories according to its meanings: after, after that, and idiomatic expressions. The study also identified a set of 374 instances for قَبْلَ /qabla/, and classified them also into three categories according to its meanings: before, ago, and idiomatic expressions. The study indicated that the target words play a crucial role in the organization and interpretation of the Arabic online news. The findings can create a basis for future research where a linguistic analysis of the adverbial nouns in Arabic could be carried out in order to increase knowledge of AFL learners about the adverbial use. Findings could also be used for further pedagogical purposes.

KEYWORDS: Arabic adverbial nouns, adverbial nouns of time, adverbial nouns of place, بَعْدَ /ba’da/, after, قَبْلَ /qabla/, before, corpus-based studies, corpus-based analysis, linguistic analysis, Arabic online news.

For more information about this thesis, you can follow this link.

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The Comprehensive Arabic Corpus

I have conducted another research on this area. One of other implications of this research is suggesting and designing a corpus-querying Website dealing with Arabic texts. You can browse it via this link. Alternatively, you can check its screenshots through the subpage below.