This talk will report findings from two case studies where different corpora have been used to investigate the use of stance adverbs in spoken communication. All the corpora discussed were collected using the same design criteria. The focus on this discussion is on the range of inferences from the data available (Gray, 2017) and ultimately on the nature of learner corpus research (LCR), both ontologically and epistemologically.
The first case study will probe into the use native speaker corpora (Aguado-Jiménez et al, 2012), while the second will focus on the analyses of different English L2 (learner) corpora (Pérez-Paredes & Bueno, 2019). I will discuss the implications of using triangulation techniques (Baker & Egbert, 2016; Flick, 2018) in LCR and how researchers may benefit from increased criticality in their research designs.
Keywords: corpus linguistics, stance adverbs, data triangulation, research validity
References
Aguado-Jiménez, P., Pérez-Paredes, P. & Sánchez, P. 2012. Exploring the use of multidimensional analysis of learner language to promote register awareness, System 40(1), 90-103.
Baker. P. & Egbert, J. (eds). 2016. Triangulating methodological approaches in corpus linguistic research. London: Routledge.
Flick, U. 2018. Doing triangulation and mixed methods. London: Sage.
Gray, D. 2017. Doing research in the real world. 4th Edition. London: Sage.
Marchi, A. & Taylor, C. 2009. If on a winter's night two researchers...: a challenge to assumptions of soundness of interpretation. Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines: CADAAD,3(1), 1-20.
Pérez-Paredes, P. & Bueno, C. 2019. A corpus-driven analysis of certainty stance adverbs: obviously, really and actually in spoken native and learner English. Journal of Pragmatics, 140,22-3