How real is the quantitative turn? Investigating statistics as the new normal in linguistics

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Sarah Buschfeld - , Dortmund University of Technology (First author)
  • Sven Leuckert - , Chair of English Linguistics (Author)
  • Claus Weihs - , Dortmund University of Technology (Author)
  • Andreas Weilinghoff - , University of Koblenz (Author)

Abstract

Statistical approaches in linguistics seem to have gained in importance in recent times, especially in the field of Corpus Linguistics. In particular, the last ten years have seen an upsurge of linguists being dedicated to statistical methods and the improvement of statistical knowledge. This has repeatedly been described as ‘the quantitative turn’ in linguistics. In the present paper, we assess how real this quantitative turn actually is and whether statistics can be considered the ‘new normal’ in (corpus) linguistics. To this end, we have analyzed the contributions to six high-impact journals ( Corpora, Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, ICAME Journal, English World-Wide, Journal of English Linguistics , and Language Variation and Change ) for a period of eleven years (January 2011 until December 2021). Our results suggest that, indeed, statistical methods seem to be on the rise in linguistic studies. However, their frequency strongly varies between the journals, and, in general, we have identified some room for improvement in the use of advanced statistical methods, in particular the discussion of true prediction.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-22
Number of pages22
JournalICAME journal : computers in English linguistics
Volume48
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

unpaywall 10.2478/icame-2024-0001
Mendeley 5f05d358-d7e7-3c30-996e-1772412fbc77