Tony McEnery and Vaclav Brezina. Fundamental principles of corpus linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. 313 pp. ISBN 978-1-1071-1062-5

Abstract

To date, only a few studies have been carried out on how to position the corpus linguistic approach within the study of language and within scientific approaches in general. Among the notable exceptions, McEnery and Brezina’s introduction (p. 1–2) mentions Leech (1992), Stubbs (2001) and Teubert (2005). There is thus a considerable gap to be filled by the present volume. The focus is not, however, to contrast the authors’ stance with that of previous linguistic studies, but instead to take renewed look at corpus linguistics through Karl Popper’s work on the philosophy of science, as this “provokes new ways of looking at old problems and practices” (p. 2). Across the chapters, McEnery and Brezina formulate 48 principles of corpus linguistics, some of which are partly modified in the course of the discussion. These principles constitute the theoretical foundations of corpus linguistics – three of the central ones are given below: