Corpus Pragmatics : A Handbook

Corpus linguistics is a long-established method which uses authentic language data, stored in extensive computer corpora, as the basis for linguistic research. Moving away from the traditional intuitive approach to linguistics, which used made-up examples, corpus linguistics has made a significant contribution to all areas of the field. Until very recently, corpus linguistics has focused almost exclusively on syntax and the lexicon; however corpus-based approaches to the other subfields of linguistics are now rapidly emerging, and this is the first handbook on corpus pragmatics as a field. Bringing together a team of leading scholars from around the world, this handbook looks at how the use of corpus data has informed research into different key aspects of pragmatics, including pragmatic principles, pragmatic markers, evaluation, reference, speech acts, and conversational organisation. 'Pragmatics and corpus linguistics are two major areas of linguistics which developed with very different trajectories from the 1960s and 1970s. This volume shows that they are now on convergent paths, and that corpus pragmatics is an emerging discipline in its own right.' Geoffrey Leech, Lancaster University 'This handbook focuses on the rapidly growing area of corpus pragmatics, filling a gap in the literature. All contributions present relevant pragmatic theory, a review of the earlier literature, and an original empirical study on authentic language data demonstrating how various corpus linguistic methods can be applied to pragmatic research tasks. These studies offer fresh insights and serve as models and inspiration for future scholars.' Irma Taavitsainen, University of HelsinkiIntroduction. Corpus pragmatics: laying the foundations Christoph Ruhlemann and Karin Aijmer; Part I. Corpora and Speech Acts: 1. Speech acts: a synchronic perspective Paula Garcia McAllister; 2. Speech acts: a diachronic perspective Thomas Kohnen; 3. Speech act annotation Martin Weisser; Part II. Corpora and Pragmatic Principles: 4. Processibility Gunther Kaltenbock; 5. Relevance Gisle Andersen; 6. Politeness Giuliana Diani; Part III. Corpora and Pragmatic Markers: 7. Pragmatic markers Karin Aijmer; 8. Stance markers Bethany Gray and Douglas Biber; 9. Interjections Neal Norrick; Part IV. Corpora and Evaluation: 10. Evaluative prosody Alan Partington; 11. Tails Ivor Timmis; Part V. Corpora and Reference: 12. Deixis Christoph Ruhlemann and Matthew Brook O'Donnell; 13. Vagueness Winnie Cheng and Anne O'Keeffe; Part VI. Corpora and Turntaking: 14. Turn management and pauses Gunnel Tottie; 15. Turn management and backchannels Pam Peters and Deanna Wong; 16. Co-constructed turntaking Brian Clancy and Michael McCarthy.