Mastering BBC Voices : control and early deployment of a large lexical dataset
This thesis documents the acquisition, ordering and deployment of lexical material collected for the BBC Voices project, which was conducted during 2004 - 2005. It seeks to present a record of the way in which extensive raw data, generated through an interactive website, were first organised in order to create a coherent and usable database and then applied to initial lexical studies. The work is constructed in two parts. The first part describes the way in which the BBC Voices lexical data were liberated from the encoded format in which they had been collected from respondents, subsequently systematised and finally transferred to a viable database for analysis. Theoretical issues pertaining to the use of the lexical items are identified and discussed in Part 1 and applied in Part 2. The second part of this thesis takes as its focus two studies, using samples of the data in different contexts in order to illustrate their value, accessibility and relevance to linguistic research. The first study is an application to metaphor use in the UK, and the other is geographically based, assessing issues of language stability. The two parts together constitute a synthesis of the formulation and application of a large
Thompson, Ann Georgina
Mastering BBC Voices : control and early deployment of a large lexical dataset. This thesis documents the acquisition, ordering and deployment of lexical material collected for the BBC Voices project, which was conducted during 2004 - 2005. It seeks to present a record of the way in which extensive raw data, generated through an interactive website, were first organised in order to create a coherent and usable database and then applied to initial lexical studies. The work is constructed in two parts. The first part describes the way in which the BBC Voices lexical data were liberated from the encoded format in which they had been collected from respondents, subsequently systematised and finally transferred to a viable database for analysis. Theoretical issues pertaining to the use of the lexical items are identified and discussed in Part 1 and applied in Part 2. The second part of this thesis takes as its focus two studies, using samples of the data in different contexts in order to illustrate their value, accessibility and relevance to linguistic research. The first study is an application to metaphor use in the UK, and the other is geographically based, assessing issues of language stability. The two parts together constitute a synthesis of the formulation and application of a large
bbc voices control early deployment large lexical dataset document acquisition order deployment lexical material_collect bbc voices project conduct seek present record way extensive raw data_generate interactive website first organise order_create coherent usable database apply initial lexical study work construct two_part first_part describe way bbc voices lexical data liberate format collect respondent subsequently finally transfer viable database analysis theoretical_issue pertain use lexical_item identify discussed part apply part second_part take focus_two study use sample data different contexts order_illustrate value accessibility relevance linguistic research first study application metaphor use geographically base assess issue language stability two_part together constitute synthesis formulation application large