Text classification in the BNC using corpus and statistical methods
The main part of this thesis sets out to develop a system of categories within a text typology. Although there exist many different approaches to the classification of text into categories, this research fills a gap in the literature, as most work on text classification is based on features external to the text such as the text's purpose, the aim of discourse, and the medium of communication. Text categories that have been set up based on some external features are not linguistically defined. In consequence, texts that belong to the same type are not necessarily similar in their linguistic forms. Even Biber's (1988) linguistically-oriented work was based on externally defined ~registers. Further, establishing text categories based on text-external features favours theoretical and qualitative approaches of text classification. These approaches can be seen as top-down approaches where external features are defined functionally in advance, and subsequently patterns of linguistic features are described in relation to each function. In such a case, the process of linking texts with a particular type is not done in a systematic way. In this thesis, I show how a text typology based on similarities in linguistic form
Mohamed, Ghada
Text classification in the BNC using corpus and statistical methods. The main part of this thesis sets out to develop a system of categories within a text typology. Although there exist many different approaches to the classification of text into categories, this research fills a gap in the literature, as most work on text classification is based on features external to the text such as the text's purpose, the aim of discourse, and the medium of communication. Text categories that have been set up based on some external features are not linguistically defined. In consequence, texts that belong to the same type are not necessarily similar in their linguistic forms. Even Biber's (1988) linguistically-oriented work was based on externally defined ~registers. Further, establishing text categories based on text-external features favours theoretical and qualitative approaches of text classification. These approaches can be seen as top-down approaches where external features are defined functionally in advance, and subsequently patterns of linguistic features are described in relation to each function. In such a case, the process of linking texts with a particular type is not done in a systematic way. In this thesis, I show how a text typology based on similarities in linguistic form
text classification bnc use corpus statistical_method main_part set develop system category within text typology although exist many_different approach classification text category fill_gap literature work text classification base feature external text text purpose aim discourse medium communication text category set base external feature linguistically define consequence texts belong type necessarily similar linguistic_form even linguistically oriented work base externally defined establish text category base text external feature favour theoretical qualitative approach text classification approach see top_down approach external feature define functionally advance subsequently pattern linguistic_feature describe relation function case process link text particular_type systematic_way show text typology base similarity linguistic_form