New desktop and web-based parallel concordance tools for corpus linguists
Laurence Anthony
Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Japan.
Abstract
Parallel corpus tools have been mostly used, to date, by translators looking for accurate and natural sounding equivalents of target words and phrases. However, with the increasing interest in Data-Driven Learning (DDL), learner corpora, and multilingual corpora analyses, it can be anticipated that parallel corpora and the tools needed to analyze them will play an increasingly important role in corpus linguistics research. One of the main challenges in carrying out a parallel corpus study is finding a suitable tool. Currently, there are few desktop tools. Those that are available are commercial tools with complex interfaces that have not been developed for over ten years. Web-based tools, on the other hand, are corpora-specific and thus have limited applications.
In this talk, I will introduce two corpus tools that I hope will enable corpus linguists to investigate parallel corpora more easily than in the past. The first tool, AntPConc, is a freeware, multiplatform desktop parallel concordancer. It is simple to setup and can be used with corpora comprising two, three or more different language datasets. The second tool, AntWebCorpusFramework (AntWCF), is a freeware, web-based tool that allows parallel corpora to be hosted on a server and accessed through a regular browser. A use of the AntWebCorpusFramework in the hosting of the ENEJE (English Native Edited Japanese Essays) Parallel Corpus will be demonstrated. Participants are encouraged to try the software and offer suggestions.
Biography
Laurence Anthony is Professor of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Japan. He has a BSc degree (Mathematical Physics) from the University of Manchester, UK, and MA (TESL/TEFL) and PhD (Applied Linguistics) degrees from the University of Birmingham, UK. He is a former director and current technical English program coordinator at the Center for English Language Education (CELESE), Waseda University. His main interests are in corpus linguistics tools development and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) program design and teaching methodologies. He received the National Prize of the Japan Association for English Corpus Studies (JAECS) in 2012 for his work in corpus software tools design.