Lexicology and Corpus Linguistics (Hardcover, Illustrated Ed)

This text offers an introduction to words and corpus linguistics. From this foundation it explores the much wider issues that are inevitably raised but somehow marginalized in lexicology (the study of words) and corpus linguistics: how are individual words integrated into language? What are the real benefits of studying the large quantities of text now available in corpora? How do we best conceptualise meaning itself?;The book begins with a survey of lexicology by Halliday. He reviews basic issues in defining and understanding the word as a unit of language, but also includes brief accounts of lexicology in India, China and the Islamic world. Halliday introduces the notion of "corpus" and opens the way for a rethinking of the nature of words and language. The central section of the book, by Teubert and Yallop, expands a number of traditional issues in the study of words and their meanings, from common misconceptions about the "real meaning" of words to the relationship between language and reality and the problems raised by comparing different languages. This section both problematizes the issues and develops a functional and social perspective on meaning.; In the third and final se