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Broadening the Spectrum of Corpus Linguistics: New approaches to variability and change
Edited by Susanne Flach and Martin Hilpert
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 105] 2022
► pp. 40–67

Diachronic learner corpus research

Examining learner language through the lens of time

| Université catholique de Louvain

This paper argues for a diachronic approach to the study of learner language and provides a first exploration of the evolution of English as a foreign language over the last twenty-five years, relying on a corpus resource specifically designed for the short-term diachronic analysis of learner English. The paper describes some of the challenges involved in creating such a resource and shows how these challenges have been responded to. It then investigates a number of linguistic features, some of them taken from short-term diachronic research on native English, and highlights certain changes, underlining that these may be the consequence of natural linguistic evolution, but also of other factors characterizing the acquisition of a foreign language.

Keywords: diachronic linguistics, learner corpus research, Americanization, colloquialization, verbal features, spelling
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The evolution of diachronic linguistics
  • 3.A learner corpus for diachronic analysis: ICLE-FR+25
  • 4.Diachronic analysis of learner English
    • 4.1Keyword analysis
    • 4.2Americanization
    • 4.3Colloquialization
    • 4.4Verbal features
    • 4.5Spelling
  • 5.Accounting for the observed changes
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 November 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.105.02gil
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