Paul Baker

Corpus linguistics uses specialist software to identify linguistic patterns in large computerised collections of text - patterns which then must be interpreted and explained by human researchers. This book critically explores how corpus linguistics techniques can help analysis of language and gender by conducting a number of case studies on topics which include: directives in spoken conversations, changes in sexist and non-sexist language use over time, personal adverts, press representation of gay men, and the ways that boys and girls are constructed through language. The book thus covers both gendered usage (e.g. how do males and females use language differently, or not, from each other), and gendered representations (e.g. in what ways are males and females written or spoken about). Additionally, the book shows ways that readers can either explore their own hypotheses, or approach the corpus from a “naïve” position, letting the data drive their analysis from the outset. The book covers a range of techniques and measures including frequencies, keywords, collocations, dispersion, word sketches, downsizing and triangulation, all in an accessible style.

Queer linguistics has only recently developed as an area of study; however academic interest in this field is rapidly increasing. Despite its growing appeal, many books on ‘gay language’ focus on private conversation and small communities. As such, Public Discourses of Gay Men represents an important corrective, by investigating a variety of sources in the public domain. A broad range of material, including tabloid newspaper articles, political debates on homosexual law and erotic narratives are used in order to analyse the language surrounding homosexuality. Bringing together queer linguistics and corpus linguistics the text investigate how gay male identities are constructed in the public domain.

Is the British press prejudiced against Muslims? In what ways can prejudice be explicit or subtle? This book uses a detailed analysis of over 140 million words of newspaper articles on Muslims and Islam, combining corpus linguistics and discourse analysis methods to produce an objective picture of media attitudes. The authors analyse representations around frequently cited topics such as Muslim women who wear the veil and 'hate preachers'. The analysis is self-reflexive and multidisciplinary, incorporating research on journalistic practices, readership patterns and attitude surveys to answer questions which include: what do journalists mean when they use phrases like 'devout Muslim' and how did the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks affect press reporting? This is a stimulating and unique book for those working in fields of discourse analysis and corpus linguistics, while clear explanations of linguistic terminology make it valuable to those in the fields of politics, media studies, journalism and Islamic studies.

In the 1918 Michigan race for the U. S. Senate, auto tycoon Henry Ford faced off against a less well-known industrialist, Truman Newberry. Bent on countering Ford’s fame and endorsement from President Wilson, Newberry’s campaign spent an extravagant amount, in fact much more than the law seemed to allow. This led to his conviction under the Federal Corrupt Practices Act -but also to his eventual exoneration in the first campaign finance case to be decided by the U. S. Supreme Court. In Newberry v. United States the Court ruled that Congress had no jurisdiction to regulate primary elections, a controversial decision that allowed southern states to create whites-only primaries and stalled campaign finance reform. In the first book in eight decades on this initial test of federal campaign finance regulations, Paula Baker examines this case study of state and local campaign spending to describe how politicians found their footing in an environment created by progressive reform and invented modern campaigns. Through this seminal election, she pries apart two persistent strains in American political culture: suspicion of money in politics and suspicion of politics itself. In reexamining the story of the 1918 election, Baker takes a broad view of the history of the political reform to probe some of the foundational arguments about why money in politics sometimes seems so corrupt. She follows the controversy as it unfolded - beginning with progressive reform of politics and the remaking of campaigns - then takes readers through the shifting scenes, from Detroit to Washington, where the Ford-Newberry conflict played out. Baker reexamines the political divisions between conservatives and progressive reformers to reveal contradictions in how Progressive Era federal finance regulations worked, with efforts to weaken the power of political parties and democratise politics actually making campaigns more expensive. And although the law opened the door to partisan prosecutions for spending, Congress remained unwilling to craft legislation that actually curbed spending. While legislation in recent decades largely has aimed at contributions rather than spending and the Supreme Court has weighed whether specific limits abridge free speech, Progressive Era ideas about money and politics continue to guide campaign finance reform. Curbing Campaign Cash provides a compelling new account of a key chapter in the history of this issue.

A Cloud of Witnesses: The Drama of the Alamo is a historical book by Ramsey Yelvington that chronicles the events of the Battle of the Alamo, which took place in 1836. The book provides a detailed account of the events leading up to the battle, the battle itself, and its aftermath. The author uses primary sources to give readers a firsthand look at the conflict, including letters and diary entries from those who were present at the battle. The book also explores the political and social climate of the time, including tensions between Mexico and Texas, and the role of slavery in the conflict. The title, A Cloud of Witnesses, is a reference to the many people who witnessed the battle and its aftermath, and the book seeks to give voice to their experiences. Overall, A Cloud of Witnesses is a comprehensive and engaging account of one of the most significant events in American history. Published As A Supplement To The Texas Quarterly, V2, No. 3. This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

This title offers a clearly written and comprehensive set of definitions of key terms in discourse analysis, a core area of all linguistics and language studies courses. Unlike many other areas of linguistics, Discourse analysis is a complex field to define, comprising a number of related but different theoretical and methodological frameworks. Discourse can mean many different things to different people. Students often find these multiple meanings to be confusing and this book attempts to spell out and reconcile the different approaches, to give a holistic picture of Discourse Analysis as a branch of several disciplines. As well as comprising a glossary of key terms, the book provides clear, illustrative examples, a section on key thinkers and their ideas, and key texts for further reading. This book is essential reading for students on linguistics, language studies and media and cultural studies courses who are engaging in discourse analysis. "The Key Terms" series offers undergraduate students clear, concise and accessible introductions to core topics. Each book includes a comprehensive overview of the key terms, concepts, thinkers and texts in the area covered and ends with a guide to further resources.

This title offers a clearly written and comprehensive set of definitions of key terms in discourse analysis, a core area of all linguistics and language studies courses. Unlike many other areas of linguistics, Discourse analysis is a complex field to define, comprising a number of related but different theoretical and methodological frameworks. Discourse can mean many different things to different people. Students often find these multiple meanings to be confusing and this book attempts to spell out and reconcile the different approaches, to give a holistic picture of Discourse Analysis as a branch of several disciplines. As well as comprising a glossary of key terms, the book provides clear, illustrative examples, a section on key thinkers and their ideas, and key texts for further reading. This book is essential reading for students on linguistics, language studies and media and cultural studies courses who are engaging in discourse analysis. The Key Terms series offers undergraduate students clear, concise and accessible introductions to core topics. Each book includes a comprehensive overview of the key terms, concepts, thinkers and texts in the area covered and ends with a guide to further resources.

This textbook introduces students to the ways in which techniques from corpus linguistics can be used to aid sociolinguistic research. Corpus linguistics shares with variationist sociolinguistics a quantitative approach to the study of variation or differences between populations. It may also complement qualitative traditions of enquiry such as interactional sociolinguistics. This text covers a range of different topics within sociolinguistics: *Analysing demographic variation *Comparing language use across different cultures *Examining language change over time *Studying transcripts of spoken interactions *Identifying attitudes or discourses. Written for undergraduate and postgraduate students of sociolinguistics, or corpus linguists who wish to use corpora to study social phenomena, this textbook examines how corpora can be drawn on to investigate synchronic variation, diachronic change and the construction of discourses. It refers to several classic corpus-based studies as well as the author's own research. Original analyses of a number of corpora including the British National Corpus, the Survey of English Dialects and the Brown family of corpora are complemented by a new corpus of written British English collected around 2006 for the purposes of writing the book. Techniques of analysis like concordancing, keywords and collocations are discussed, along with corpus annotation and statistical procedures such as chi-squared tests and clustering. Paul Baker takes a critical approach to using corpora in sociolinguistics, outlining the limitations of the approach as well as its advantages.

This textbook introduces students to the ways in which techniques from corpus linguistics can be used to aid sociolinguistic research. Corpus linguistics shares with variationist sociolinguistics a quantitative approach to the study of variation or differences between populations. It may also complement qualitative traditions of enquiry such as interactional sociolinguistics. This text covers a range of different topics within sociolinguistics: *Analysing demographic variation *Comparing language use across different cultures *Examining language change over time *Studying transcripts of spoken interactions *Identifying attitudes or discourses. Written for undergraduate and postgraduate students of sociolinguistics, or corpus linguists who wish to use corpora to study social phenomena, this textbook examines how corpora can be drawn on to investigate synchronic variation, diachronic change and the construction of discourses. It refers to several classic corpus-based studies as well as the author's own research. Original analyses of a number of corpora including the British National Corpus, the Survey of English Dialects and the Brown family of corpora are complemented by a new corpus of written British English collected around 2006 for the purposes of writing the book. Techniques of analysis like concordancing, keywords and collocations are discussed, along with corpus annotation and statistical procedures such as chi-squared tests and clustering. Paul Baker takes a critical approach to using corpora in sociolinguistics, outlining the limitations of the approach as well as its advantages.

"Sexed Texts" explores the complex role that language plays in the construction of sexuality and gender, two concepts that are often discussed separately, although in practice are closely intertwined. The book draws on a range of theoretical perspectives and published research including performativity theory, feminism, queer studies, psychoanalytical theory, Marxism, social constructionism and essentialism. Illustrative examples are taken from written, spoken, internet, non-verbal, visual, media-scripted and naturally occurring texts. Some of the questions addressed in the book include: how do people construct their own and other's gendered or sexual identities through the use of language? What is the relationship between language and desire? In what ways do language practices help to reflect and shape different gendered/sexed discourses as 'normal', problematic or contested? Taking a broadly deconstructionist perspective, the book progresses from examining what are seen as preferable or acceptable ways to express gender and sexuality, moving towards more 'tolerated' identities, practices and desires, and finally arriving at marginalized and tabooed forms. The book locates sexuality and gender as socially constructed, and therefore examines language use in terms of socio-historical factors, linking changing conceptualisations of identity, discourse and desire to theories surrounding regulation, globalisation, new technologies, marketisation and consumerism.

"Sexed Texts" explores the complex role that language plays in the construction of sexuality and gender, two concepts that are often discussed separately, although in practice are closely intertwined. The book draws on a range of theoretical perspectives and published research including performativity theory, feminism, queer studies, psychoanalytical theory, Marxism, social constructionism and essentialism. Illustrative examples are taken from written, spoken, internet, non-verbal, visual, media-scripted and naturally occurring texts. Some of the questions addressed in the book include: how do people construct their own and other's gendered or sexual identities through the use of language? What is the relationship between language and desire? In what ways do language practices help to reflect and shape different gendered/sexed discourses as 'normal', problematic or contested? Taking a broadly deconstructionist perspective, the book progresses from examining what are seen as preferable or acceptable ways to express gender and sexuality, moving towards more 'tolerated' identities, practices and desires, and finally arriving at marginalized and tabooed forms. The book locates sexuality and gender as socially constructed, and therefore examines language use in terms of socio-historical factors, linking changing conceptualisations of identity, discourse and desire to theories surrounding regulation, globalisation, new technologies, marketisation and consumerism.

This alphabetic guide provides definitions and discussion of key terms used in corpus linguistics. Corpus data is being used in a growing number of English and Linguistics departments which have no record of past research with corpus data. This is the first comprehensive glossary of the many specialist terms in corpus linguistics and will be useful for corpus linguists and non corpus linguists alike. Clearly written, by a team of experienced academics in the field, the glossary provides full coverage of both traditional and contemporary terminology. Entries are focused around the following broad groupings: * Important corpora * Key technical terms in the field * Key linguistic terms relevant to corpus-based research * Key statistical measures used in corpus linguistics * Key computer programme/retrieval systems used in the construction and exploitation of corpora * Standards applied within the field of corpus linguistics.