korpusrecherche

Korpusrecherche refers to the method of investigating language through the analysis of large collections of text and speech data, known as corpora. These corpora are carefully compiled to represent a particular language variety, such as spoken German, contemporary written English, or historical French texts. The primary goal of korpusrecherche is to uncover patterns, frequencies, and usages of words, phrases, grammatical structures, and other linguistic phenomena as they actually occur in real-world communication.

Researchers use specialized software tools to query these corpora, allowing them to search for specific words or sequences of words, identify collocations (words that frequently appear together), and examine the contexts in which linguistic elements are used. This empirical approach contrasts with traditional linguistic methods that often rely on introspection or intuition. Korpusrecherche is employed across various linguistic disciplines, including lexicography, grammar studies, dialectology, computational linguistics, and language acquisition research. It provides objective evidence for linguistic theories and helps in the creation of dictionaries, grammars, and language learning materials.