corpora

USAGE SUMMARY

The word 'corpora' is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to refer to a collection of written or spoken material in a particular field of study or other subject. For example, "This research draws from large corpora of spoken language to uncover regional usage patterns."

✓ Grammatically correct

Science

News & Media

Encyclopedias

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

59 human-written examples

An early paper on the subject, written in 2003 by Frank Keller and Mirella Lapata, of Edinburgh and Sheffield Universities, showed that web searches for rare two-word phrases correlated well with the frequency found in traditional corpora, as well as with human judgments of whether those phrases were natural.

The Economist

Large corpora (masses of text) are a good place to start.

The Economist

Other corpora, such as the North American News Text Corpus, are bigger, but contain only formal writing and speech.Linguists, however, are slowly coming to discover the joys of a free and searchable corpus of maybe 10 trillion words that is available to anyone with an internet connection: the world wide web.

The Economist

Search engines, unlike the tools linguists use to analyse standard corpora, do not allow searching for a particular linguistic structure, such as "[Noun phrase] far from [verb phrase]".

The Economist

Now machine-translation researchers are taking advantage of them, too.With so much of today's discourse taking place online, machine-readable corpora in dozens of languages are being accumulated at a phenomenal rate.

The Economist

By then, they will have combined the human skills of language and pattern recognition with their own unique ability to master vast corpora of knowledge.Will that mean game over for humans with robots keeping people around merely as pets?

The Economist

Now, rather than pulling out The Dictionary (which one?), lawyers are increasingly turning to large bodies of texts (corpora) to see how words are actually used by the masses, not just how Webster's defines them.

The Economist

But traditional corpora have their disadvantages too.

The Economist

No equally closed corpora exist for cuneiform and Egyptian documents.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Crocodilians and chelonians (turtles) have a penis (phallus), a median thickening in the floor of the cloaca consisting of two cylinders of spongy vascular erectile tissue, the corpora spongiosa.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

1 human-written examples

This area, however, does not become as enlarged as the other two during erection, for it contains more fibrous tissue and less space; unlike the corpora cavernosa, the corpus spongiosum has a constant blood flow during erection.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

When discussing linguistic analysis, use "corpora" to specifically refer to collections of texts used for that purpose. For example: "Researchers analyzed several large corpora to identify trends in language use."

Common error

Avoid using "corpus" when referring to multiple collections of texts; "corpora" is the correct plural form.

Linguistic Context

The term "corpora" functions primarily as a noun, referring to collections of written or spoken language data. Ludwig AI indicates its correct and usable nature in written English. These collections are essential resources for linguistic analysis and computational linguistics, providing empirical data for studying language patterns.

Expression frequency: Very common

Frequent in

Science

40%

Encyclopedias

30%

News & Media

20%

Less common in

Formal & Business

5%

Wiki

3%

Reference

2%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, "corpora" is the plural form of "corpus", referring to collections of texts used for linguistic analysis and research. Ludwig AI confirms its grammatical correctness and usability. It's primarily used in formal and scientific contexts. When writing, remember that "corpora" is a noun, and to use the correct plural form when referring to multiple collections. Common errors involve confusing it with its singular form or misapplying it in informal settings. The term appears frequently in scientific, encyclopedic, and news contexts, underlining its key role in language study.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

bodies of text

A more descriptive and less technical alternative.

text collections

Refers more generally to collections of textual data, without necessarily implying linguistic analysis.

data sets

Emphasizes the quantitative aspect of the collections, often used in statistical or computational contexts.

textual databases

Highlights the structured and searchable nature of the collections.

linguistic archives

Focuses on the preservation of language data for historical or research purposes.

language resources

Emphasizes the value of these collections for language-related tasks.

annotated texts

Specifically refers to texts that have been marked up with linguistic or semantic information.

digital libraries

Highlights the accessibility and organization of the collections in a digital format.

electronic archives

Highlights the electronic format of the stored information.

document collections

Focuses on the individual documents contained within the larger collection.

FAQs

How is "corpora" used in linguistic research?

In linguistic research, "corpora" are used to analyze patterns in language use, such as word frequency, grammatical structures, and semantic relationships. Researchers often use large "text collections" to gain insights into how language is used in different contexts.

What's the difference between a "corpus" and "corpora"?

"Corpus" is the singular form, referring to a single collection of texts, while "corpora" is the plural form, referring to multiple collections. Using the correct form depends on whether you're discussing one or more "bodies of text".

What are some examples of well-known language corpora?

Examples include the British National Corpus, the Brown Corpus, and the Penn Treebank. These "linguistic archives" are widely used for linguistic research and natural language processing.

Can I use "corpora" in non-linguistic contexts?

While "corpora" is most commonly associated with linguistics, it can also be used in other fields to refer to collections of data. However, be mindful of your audience, as the term may not be as widely understood outside of linguistic contexts. In such cases, terms like "data sets" or "textual databases" might be more appropriate.