Corpus Linguistics and 17th-Century Prostitution
Computational Linguistics and History
Professor Anthony McEnery author Dr Helen Baker author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:28th Jun '18
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
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This insightful book explores the application of corpus linguistics to historical research, specifically examining prostitution in 17th-century England.
This open-access book, funded by Knowledge Unlatched, delves into the intersection of corpus linguistics and historical inquiry. Corpus Linguistics and 17th-Century Prostitution highlights how both disciplines share a common ground through the analysis of extensive textual data. The authors, McEnery and Baker, illustrate the potential of corpus linguistics as a valuable method in historiography, humanities, and social sciences, paving the way for innovative research approaches.
Focusing specifically on the topic of prostitution in 17th-century England, the book demonstrates how corpus methods can enhance social research. By utilizing sources such as the newsbook Mercurius Fumigosis and the Early English Books Online Corpus, the authors provide a comprehensive examination of the sex trade during this period. Their analysis not only illuminates the social dynamics of the time but also deepens our understanding of the historical position of women.
Through a rigorous application of corpus linguistic methodologies, Corpus Linguistics and 17th-Century Prostitution offers a fresh perspective on historical narratives. It showcases the potential for linguistic analysis to contribute meaningfully to social sciences and humanities, revealing insights that challenge conventional historical interpretations and enrich our comprehension of the past.
This book impressively proves: (historical) corpus linguistics and historical science can no longer work in splendid isolation. I am fascinated by this informed, critical and data-driven investigation of prostitution in multifaceted public discourses of eventful 17th-century Britain, with its intelligent, respectful and mutually beneficial integration of the respective methods, tools, concepts and knowledge from both disciplines. This book will serve as a model of interdisciplinary research where, for example, quantification and learned statistical testing of linguistic findings on semantic and lexical change are seen as indispensable, but never sufficient to replace contextualisation. Reinhart Koselleck would have loved to read how his concept of the history of ideas is enhanced by modern, state-of-the-art of interdisciplinary studies of big historical language data like EEBO really looked at on the inside. -- Beatrix Busse, Professor of English Linguistics, Heidelberg University, Germany
This fascinating book provides a welcome guide to the use of big data (EEBO) for interdisciplinary study. It applies corpus linguistic methods for historical pragmatic and sociolinguistic research questions on attitudes and culture. It successfully combines the quantitative approach with qualitative contextual assessment, something that until recently seemed almost impossible. -- Irma Taavitsainen, Professor emerita, University of Helsinki, Finland
ISBN: 9781350075283
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 386g
272 pages