ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS)

语料库语言学是英国的一个成功案例。这是一种研究语言的方法，很大程度上是由英国研究人员首创的，它利用计算机分析数百万甚至数十亿个词的数据，以寻找在其他情况下未必能观察到的用法模式。它现在是语言学家研究语言的一种越来越广泛的方法。这项建议是为了建立一个ESRC研究中心，不仅致力于语料库语言学，而且致力于将这些最新的语言分析技术应用于社会科学中的一系列问题。语料库语言学使语言学发生了革命性的变化，改变了分析语言和教授语言的方式。除了语言学，它还深刻地改变了计算机与人类语言接触的方式--语料库方法是当今许多最有效的语言技术的背后，例如网络搜索和语音识别。然而，对语言的分析并不是语言学家的专利，而是贯穿所有社会科学的一条主线。为此，该中心的明确目标是将语料库方法的好处尽可能广泛地惠及社会科学学科。到目前为止，社会科学还没有从语言研究方法的这种变化中明显受益。我们会改变这一点。这显然是一个长期目标，因为做法不会在一夜之间改变；需要一段时间的说服期，以明确证明语料库办法的好处为基础。我们还需要培训新一代社会科学研究人员使用这些技术。因此，在ESRC最初五年投资的基础上，该中心将工作15年，以促进社会科学中采用语料库技术。通过这样做，它将把英国的一个成功故事--语料库语言学--转变为另一个：语料库信息社会科学。如上所述，我们将通过说服来进行，而最好的说服形式是产生这种社会科学的新方法独一无二的有利条件的新研究成果。因此，该中心将在ESRC的所有战略挑战中开展工作，包括开发研究仇恨言论的新方法，探索人们如何谈论气候变化，研究宗教在使新移民融入英国社会方面所起的作用，以及研究公司治理方面的变化是如何传达的。该中心将对英国社会科学的开展方式产生影响。通过这样做，它将为英国今天面临的一系列关键社会问题提供一系列见解。

Corpus linguistics is a UK success story. It is an approach to the study of language, pioneered in large part by UK researchers, that uses computers to permit the analysis of millions, or even billions, of words of data to look for patterns of usage that are not necessarily observable otherwise. It is now an increasingly widely used approach to the study of language by linguists. This proposal is for the establishment of an ESRC research centre dedicated not simply to corpus linguistics, but to bringing these latest techniques in linguistic analysis to bear on a range of questions in the social sciences. Corpus linguistics has revolutionised linguistics, changing the way language is analysed and how languages are taught. Beyond linguistics, it has profoundly altered how computers can engage with human language - corpus methods lie behind many of the most effective language technologies today, such as web searching and voice recognition. Yet the analysis of language is not the sole preserve of linguists but, rather, is a thread that runs through all of the social sciences. For that reason, this Centre's express goal is to bring the benefits of the corpus approach to as wide a range of social science disciplines as possible. The social sciences have not, so far, benefitted notably from this change in approach to the study of language. We will change that. This is obviously a long-term objective, as practices will not change overnight; a period of persuasion, based on a clear demonstration of the benefits of the corpus approach, is needed. We also need to train a new generation of social sciences researchers to use these techniques. So, building on an initial five year investment by the ESRC, the Centre will work for 15 years to facilitate the uptake of corpus techniques in the social sciences. In doing so, it will turn one UK success story - corpus linguistics - into another: corpus informed social sciences. As noted, we will proceed by persuasion, and the best form of persuasion is to produce new research findings of the kind that this new approach to social science is uniquely well-placed to make. Accordingly this Centre will work across the full range of the ESRC's strategic challenges, including developing new approaches to the study of hate speech, exploring how people talk about climate change, looking at the role religion can play in enabling new migrants to the UK to integrate into UK society, and looking at how changes in corporate governance are communicated. This Centre will make a difference to how social science is undertaken in the UK. In doing so, it will provide a series of insights into key social questions facing the UK today.