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。它是一种语言研究方法，主要由英国研究人员开创，使用计算机分析数百万甚至数十亿字的数据，以寻找不一定可观察到的使用模式。它是语言学家研究语言的一种越来越广泛的方法。这个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，而且将这些最新的语言分析技术应用于社会科学的一系列问题。 语料库语言学彻底改变了语言学，改变了语言分析的方式和语言教学的方式。除了语言学之外，它还深刻地改变了计算机与人类语言互动的方式-语料库方法是当今许多最有效的语言技术的基础，例如网络搜索和语音识别。然而，语言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。因此，该中心的明确目标是将语料库方法的好处尽可能广泛地应用于社会科学学科。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，其基础是明确展示语料库方法的好处。我们还需要培养新一代的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，以促进语料库技术在社会科学中的应用。在这样做的过程中，它将把一个英国的成功故事-语料库语言学-变成另一个：语料库通知社会科学。 如前所述，我们将通过说服来进行，而说服的最佳形式是产生新的研究成果，这种新的社会科学方法是独一无二的。因此，该中心将在ESRC的战略挑战的全方位工作，包括制定新的方法来研究仇恨言论，探索人们如何谈论气候变化，看看宗教在使新移民融入英国社会方面可以发挥的作用，并看看公司治理的变化是如何传播的。该中心将对英国社会科学的开展方式产生影响。在这样做的过程中，它将提供一系列对英国今天面临的关键社会问题的见解。

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.