Description: 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.
Brief description: Karin Aijmer is Professor Emerita in English Linguistics in the Department of Languages and Literatures at Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden.
Review Quotes: 'Corpus Pragmatics: A Handbook is a must-read for researchers interested in the area of corpus pragmatics as well as for scholars with interests in related areas of language use that could benefit from corpus-based approaches. It provides an excellent overview of the field of corpus pragmatics as a whole, and it offers a collection of articles that are interesting, informative, and well written.' Lamont D. Antieau, The Linguist List (linguistlist.org)