Corpora and Complexity in English Language Research

Allison Burkette is Professor of Linguistics and Associate Dean for Graduate Education at the University of Kentucky. She is also the editor of the Linguistic Atlas Project, the oldest and most expansive survey of American English to date. Her research areas include language variation and change, American English dialects, and language and material culture.Becky Childs is Professor of Linguistics in the Department of English and Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Letters at James Madison University.Susan Tamasi is Teaching Professor and Director of the Linguistics Program at Emory University. Her research focuses on language variation and change as well as attitudes toward English dialects. She also studies communication as a fundamental part of healthcare.

• Introduction Allison Burkette, Becky Childs, and Susan Tamasi, Part I: Linguistic Atlas Studies, 1. Semanto-Pragmatics Meets the LAP: Attitudes in Action Dennis R. Preston, 2. The Geographical and Social Distribution of ain't in the Linguistic Atlas Project Lamont Antieau, 3. Word Lore: The Case of Shakerag Claiborne Rice, 4. Linguistic Atlas Project Fieldworker Comments and Their Connection to the Material World Allison Burkette, Part II: Corpus Linguistics, 5. 'Looking for the Smoking Gun': Kretzschmar's Take on Forensic Corpus Analysis Marianne Mason, 6. Keep Calm and Vape On: Representations of E-Cigarettes in US and UK Press Katherine A. Ireland, 7. Complexity in American Editorial Discourse: Collocation and Discourse Michael Olsen, 8. "To the Curious in Fish Sauce": Shopping Lists, Family Quarrels and Lexical Sociolinguistics Laura Wright, Part III: Complexity, 9. Dialect Boundaries from a Complex Systems Perspective Edgar W. Schneider, 10. Evidence-of and Evidence-for: A Methodological Reflection Michael Adams, 11. Complexity Theory and Linguistic Perceptions: Evidence From Polish and American Dialects Paulina Bounds, 12. Fresh Perspectives on Sociolinguistic Prosody: A Complex Systems Approach to f0 Analysis in Semi-Spontaneous Speech Rachel Miller Olsen, 13. Lessons from the Linguistic Atlas Project in the Documentation of Language Variation in Kriolu Marlyse Baptista, 14. Language Variation in Early 20th-Century Rural Utah Joseph A. Stanley and Hallie Davidson, Index