Tracking the Emergence of New Words Across Time and Space

Synopsis

Podcast. Dr Jack Grieve, Lecturer in Forensic Linguistics at Aston University, asserts that very little is known about how new words spread in language. New words are regularly identified by lexicographers, linguists, and the news media, but until recently we have not had access to sufficiently large geo-coded and time-stamped datasets that would allow for the detailed analysis of the geographical diffusion of lexical items in real time. However, with the rise of social media and smart phones, it is now possible to compile very large corpora that meet these requirements, allowing for new words to be identified and mapped across time and space and for the first time. In this presentation, Grieve identifies numerous newly emerging words based on a multi-billion word corpus of American tweets from 2013-2014 and maps their geographical spread across the United States.

Series

Institute of Historical Research Podcasts

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of release

2015

Year of production

2015

Subjects

English language and literature; Media studies

Keywords

social history; Linguistics; Lexicography

Online availability

URI

http://www.history.ac.uk/podcasts/digital-history/tracking-emergence-new-words-across-time-and-space

Price

free

Delivery

Streamed/Download

Credits

Contributor

Jack Grieve

Distributor

Name

Institute of Historical Research

Web

http://www.history.ac.uk/ External site opens in new window

Address

University of London
Senate House
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HU

Notes

The Institute of Historical Research is one of nine member Institutes of the School of Advanced Study, part of the University of London.