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In:Broadening the Spectrum of Corpus Linguistics: New approaches to variability and change
Edited by Susanne Flach and Martin Hilpert
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 105] 2022
► pp. 41–68

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Diachronic learner corpus research

Examining learner language through the lens of time

 | Université catholique de Louvain
Published online: 10 November 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.105.02gil
Abstract
This paper argues for a diachronic approach to the study of learner language and provides a first exploration of the evolution of English as a foreign language over the last twenty-five years, relying on a corpus resource specifically designed for the short-term diachronic analysis of learner English. The paper describes some of the challenges involved in creating such a resource and shows how these challenges have been responded to. It then investigates a number of linguistic features, some of them taken from short-term diachronic research on native English, and highlights certain changes, underlining that these may be the consequence of natural linguistic evolution, but also of other factors characterizing the acquisition of a foreign language.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The evolution of diachronic linguistics
  • 3.A learner corpus for diachronic analysis: ICLE-FR+25
  • 4.Diachronic analysis of learner English
    • 4.1Keyword analysis
    • 4.2Americanization
    • 4.3Colloquialization
    • 4.4Verbal features
    • 4.5Spelling
  • 5.Accounting for the observed changes
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (26)
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Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Gilquin, Gaëtanelle
2024. Lexical use in spoken New Englishes and Learner Englishes. In Constraints on Language Variation and Change in Complex Multilingual Contact Settings [Contact Language Library, 60], ► pp. 120 ff. DOI logo
Gilquin, Gaëtanelle
2025. Transfer of collostructions: the case of causative constructions. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 21:3 ► pp. 665 ff. DOI logo

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