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APPLIED LINGUISTICS
1 AN OVERVIEW OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS
1.1 What is applied linguistics?
Applied linguistics : A branch (rama) of linguistics where the primary concern (asunto) is the application of linguistic theories, methods and findings to the elucidation (aclaración) of language problems which have arisen in other areas of experience like psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, language education, etc. As a conclusion applied linguistics is a branch of linguistics used to achieve some purpose or solve some problem in the real world. The most well-developed branch of applied linguistics is the teaching and learning of foreign languages and first language acquisitions, sometimes the term is used as if this were the only field involved, this is a narrow scope of applied linguistics. However we can use a broad scope of applied linguistics in others fields like forensic linguistic, clinical linguistic pragmatic, language studies and other studies. Applied linguistics study our language uses above all institutions, workplace, law court. laboratories, etc.
TWO TRADITIONS IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
- APPLIED LINGUISTICS beyond language in an attempt to explain and solve real problems. For example, forensic linguistic is the application of linguistic knowledge, methods and insights(entendimiento) to the forensic context of law, language, crime investigation, trial, and judicial procedure Applied linguistics also studies a language problem an aphasia (pérdida de lenguaje), or a speech impediment, such as a speech therapist studies) with a view to correcting it.
- LINGUISTICS “APPLIED” concerned not to solve language problems “in the real world” but to explicate and test theories about language in itself and language problems in so far as (en tanto que) they provide evidence for better language description or for teaching a linguistic theory .L-A uses language data to develop our linguistic knowledge about language. For example Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning, we could say that pragmatic can be focused on the form of writing because if you send an email to a teacher or a friend our writing form is going to be different. For this reason pragmatics studies how the transmission of meaning depends not only on structural and linguistic knowledge (e.g., grammar, lexicon, etc.) of the speaker and listener, but also on the context of the utterance (habla), intent of the speaker, and other features like cultural knowledge, place, time, status between persons Linguistic applied can also study the evolution of words based on social, status and historical changes. For example the word besides have had a historical evolution because this word is more and more using in conversations.
APPLIED LINGUISTICS VS. THEORETICAL LINGUISTICS
We distinguish linguistics and applied linguistics in terms of difference of orientation:
- While linguistics is primarily concerned with language in itself and with language problems in so far as they provide evidence for better language description or for teaching a linguistic theory. Linguistic applied is more orientated to theory.
- Applied linguistics is interested in language problems for what they reveal about the role of language in people’s daily life and whether intervention is either possible or desirable (deseable). Applied linguistics is more orientated to practice using the necessary theory
In some case it’s difficult to find differences between applied linguistics and linguistics applied.
Tradition in Applied Linguistic
- American tradition : there is a tradition which link applied linguistics and linguistics applied - Australian tradition: applied linguistics is used to study other languages different from English
- British tradition : a delivered attempt to separate applied linguistics and linguistics applied. Applied linguistics is associated with language teaching in the middle of 20 century.
1.2. The scope of applied linguistics
- Critical Discourse analysis: an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse focused on knowing how language is affected by power of relationships (social and political domination), this study also makes questions about ideology influence languages. E.g.: a political trying to persuade someone using critical discourse analysis.
- Rhetoric: study which researches oral language influence in others. Rhetoric influence is studied in political discourse. For example the different states in the way a person use language. You aren’t going to talk your boss in the same way as a friend.
- (^) Ethnography : the study of social aspects of language (anthropology, sociolinguistics, habitat, etc)
- Ethnomethodology: Ethnomethodology's research interest is the study of the everyday methods that people use for the production of social order
Language policy and planning: interventions into language practices
- Language Policy is what a government does either officially through legislation, court decisions or policy to determine how languages are used,
- Sociolinguistics: is the descriptive study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society.
- Ecolinguistics: it is a new branch of linguistics, which investigates the role of language in the development and possible solutions of ecological and environmental problems.
Language learning, language education
- First language acquisition : language acquisition usually refers to first-language acquisition, language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate.
- Second language acquisition is learning and acquisition of a second language once the mother tongue or first language acquisition is established. Second language acquisition or SLA is the process of learning other languages in addition to the native language. For instance, a child who speaks Hindi as the mother tongue starts learning English when he starts going to school. English is learned by the process of second language acquisition. In fact, a young child can learn a second language faster than an adult can learn the same language. Language acquisition means acquiring the language with little or no formal training or learning.
- Language use: how social factor influence the way we use language.
An overview of applied linguistics
1. FIRST HALF OF THE CENTURY
- The Grammar-translation method -Audiolingualism (The ‘Army method’) ß influenced by behaviourism ( the way environment affects one person) In behaviourism students learn grammatical rules and then apply those rules by translating sentences between the target language and their native language. -The Direct method is a method which from using the learners' native language and uses only the target language.
- **The Reading method
- 1950s and 1960s (these methods are associated with second language teaching)**
- Chomsky’s approach to language vs. Behaviourism In Chomsky’s view there are Cognitive/innate rules vs. habit formation; competence (aptitude) vs. performance (realización), ‘Universal Grammar’ Chomsky (1959) maintained that children are born with a capacity to acquire common grammar, called “universal grammar”. In this way, children can be exposure to some grammar rules and they can have the ability to apply theses rules to others sentences. For example pro-drop vs. non-drop language ( Spanish doesn’t need a subject but in English is obligatory. 3. 1970s
-Hymes’ notion of ‘communicative competence’ Communicative competence is a term in linguistics which refers to a language user's grammatical knowledge of syntax, morphology, phonology.
- Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Grammar (language as a means of functioning in society) Three types of function: ideational (telling people facts or experiences), interpersonal (maintaining personal relationships with people) and textual.
- Towards a more communicative type of pedagogy Council of Europe Project based on ‘needs analyses, notions and functions. Notional- functional syllabus and his six broad categories of language function such as imparting and seeking factual information, expressing and finding out attitudes, socializing and communications repair 4. 1980s and 1990s
- Krashen’s ‘Monitor Theory’ (focus on ‘comprehensible input’) a second language was mainly unconsciously acquired through exposure to 'comprehensible input' (meaning and function) rather than being learnt through explicit exercises (formal). -Communicative language teaching (CLT ) (focus on learner’s message and fluency rather than grammar)
-‘Immersion’ programmes -Advance of technology : Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL): Corpus linguistics Applied Linguistics which uses large collections of both spoken and written natural texts that are stored on computers
2. Applied linguistics and first language acquisition
The behaviourist perspective 1957 Verbal Behaviour: grammar system of rules, children learn something imitating parents (little by little they learn and create the language used by parents or adults 1 Drawbacks (inconvenientes ) of behaviourism : every children learn a native language if they are exposure to L1 language but it’s different in second language or three language because one person learn more than others. For this reason Language is regarded as a collection of “habits”. Thus, language learning is based on imitation, memorization and drilling. We learn language by habit forming, repetition… For them, language is a matter of habit.
Behaviourism : opposing between innatism because with behaviourism we learn a language imitating other persons. Innatism is a philosophical doctrine that holds that the mind is born with ideas/ knowledge, and therefore that not all knowledge is obtained from experience and the senses as early empiricists such as John Locke claimed. We have this quality since children.
The logical problem of L
- New words creation. In this example Randall has created the verb doc from the noun doctor but this verb doesn’t exist. : E.g.: (Randall (3,0) had a little bump on his hand and his mother said that they’d have to take him to the doctor.) Randall Why? So he can doc my little bump?
Conclusion
The behaviourist explanations for language acquisition offer a reasonable way of understanding how children learn some of the regular and routine aspects of language. However, their acquisition of the more complex grammatical structures of the language requires a different sort of explanation” The term Behaviourism was created by Skinner
The innatist approach: Noam Chomsky
In innatist, Language is regarded as a rule-governed system. Learning a language involves internalising the rule. This is cognitive habit, which is very important. Innatist emerged in 1959, three years after the book Verbal Behavior published by Skinner, Chomsky criticised this method because behaviourist can’t completely explain language acquisition because he says large part of human learning capacity are not going to be learned from experiences but by means of our innate abilities, built into the human brain from birth.
Language acquisition device (LAD)
The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a type of mechanism in which the brain is supposed to function as a congenital (inato) device in language acquisition. First proposed by Noam Chomsky, the LAD concept is an instinctive mental capacity which enables (habilita) an infant to acquire and produce language.
There are combinations between innatist and environment. E.g.: chimpanzees
Innatist characteristics: Universal Grammar Principles are the universal elements that are the same in all languages; in Universal Grammar we have notions (principles and parameters), universal elements which are the same in all language. E.g.: Spanish has a subject although this subject doesn’t appear. Parameters are like ‘switches’ (interruptores)which can be set to either on or off, child’s mechanism involves switches (on/off): pro-drop/ non-propdrop (whether the child has dropped the subject or not)
Kinds of evidence which have been used to support Chomsky’s innatist position:
(a) Virtually all children successfully learn their native language at a time in life when they would not be expected to learn anything else so complicated. (b) Children successfully master the basic structure of their native language or dialect in a variety of conditions Children achieve different levels of vocabulary, creativity, social grace, and so on, but virtually all achieve mastery of the structure of the language spoken around them. (c) Thelanguage children are exposed to do not contain examples of all the information which they eventually know. (d) Animals –even primates receiving intensive training from humans—cannot learn to manipulate a symbol system as complicated as the natural language of a three- or four year-old human child.
The interactionist perspective / developmental perspective
The interactionist perspective: is a theory that focuses on the analysis of the patterns of communication, interpretation and adjustment (cambios) between individuals, how individuals interact with each other and within society through the meanings of symbols . This approach is sometimes called interactionist or social constructivist
E.g.: ‘Motherese’ or caretaker talk (1) When Peter says, ‘Dump truck! Dump truck! Fall! Facx dzll!’ Lois responds, ‘Yes, the dump truck fell down.’
‘Motherese’ or caretaker talk: associated with mother figure, parents or adults produce this type of speech to children. Characteristics: lower rage, higher pitch, intonation variety, sentences patterns used are shorter and simple (frequent repetition, the uses of parables in which adults explain something trying to do understand the meaning to the child, etc), the kind of topics tend to be limited (now and here), adults use the notion of recast in which the adult repeat what child has said in a correct grammatical way.
There is a notion of communicative competence (Hymes). For Hyme, communicative competence can be defined in terms of 4 components, as the ability to use language accurately (exactamente), appropriately and flexibly. .
- Grammatical Competence: the accurate use of morphology and syntax. Children can master this competence at a very young age.
- Sociolinguistics Competence: the ability to adjust out utterances to the social context. More important these social principles.
- Discourse Competence: the ability to interpret the larger context and how to construct longer stretches of discourse, so that different parts make a coherent whole.
- Strategic Competence: the ability to organize a message effectively and to compensate, via strategies, for any difficulty in communication. It is essential in L2 learning.
Syntax
- Question formation: 1 st^ stage: ‘wh-’ forms added to the sentence: where mum? rising intonation: sit chair? 2 nd^ stage: more ‘wh-’ forms: what, why. rising intonation: see my doggie?
3 rd^ stage:
- inversion subject-verb but not always in ‘wh-’ forms: can I have a piece? how that open?
- combined with no inversion: why kitty can’t eat? what did you do?
- Negatives: pre-verbal negation: no fall, no sit here. introduction of: don’t and can’t. ’no’ and ’not’ begin to be placed in front of the verb rather than at the beginning of the sentence: he no bite you. incorporation of other auxiliaries forms such as: didn’t and won’t. Later, the form is added.
Semantic development Overextension : children use limited vocabulary to refer to a large number of unrelated objects. The most common pattern is for the child to overextend the meaning of a word on the basis of similarities of shape, sound and size- E.g.: kitty are as rabbits, any small and furry animal
Underextension : children use the word with a narrower meaning than it has in the adult language. It’s not so common as overextension. An example of this is the use of the word “dog” only to refer to the family animal, not to the rest of the animals. Mismatch : children use certain terms wrongly, but there is no apparent basis for the wrong use. For example he uses the word “tractor” to refer to telephone.
2.4. The critical period hypothesis in L1 acquisition: natural experiments (Victor, strong version, and Genie, weak version)
The critical period hypothesis states that the first few years of life is the crucial time in which an individual can acquire a first language if presented with adequate stimulus. If language input doesn't occur until after this time, the individual will never achieve a full command of language—especially grammatical systems. Some researchers says that the period to acquire first language is from birth to the age of puberty /13 years)
- Note: Input changes which are inserted into a system and which activate/modify a process
The critical period hypothesis was first proposed by the neurologist Wilder Penfield and popularised by Eric Lenneberg in 1967 Lenneberg states that there are maturational constraints on the time a first language can be acquired. First language acquisition relies on neuroplasticity. If language acquisition does not occur by puberty, some aspects of language can be learnt but full mastery cannot be achieved. [2]^ This was called the "critical period hypothesis." An interesting example of this is the case of Genie. A thirteen-year-old victim of lifelong child abuse, Genie had been kept strapped to a potty chair and wearing diapers. She appeared to be entirely without language. Her father had judged her retarded at birth and had chosen to isolate her, and so she had remained until her discovery. It was an ideal opportunity to test the theory that a nurturing environment could somehow make up for a total lack of language past the age of 12. She was unable to acquire language completely, although the degree to which she acquired language is disputed.[3]
3 Applied linguistics and foreign language (FL) (INCOMPLETE) 3.1 Linguistics theories of FL / L2 acquisition
Foreign language and second language Learning a foreign language sets involve learning a language which isn’t spoken in a surrounding city. Second language acquisition: learning a language which is spoken in a surrounding city.
Acquisition and language
When we speak about third, fourth language we also use the term second language because the mechanism which are used to learn a L2 are similar for others language. Acquisition: gradual development in a language using this language in natural communicative situation with others speakers who know the language. E.g.: immerse is a native learning program. Learning: a more process of accumulating knowledge of the features of a language (vocabulary, grammar) typically in an institutional setting. E.g.: mathematics is always learned but not acquired.
3.1. Linguistic theories
Activities associated with language acquisition: the young child acquire a language when there is a period with constantly interaction using the language with native speakers. People who are exposure to second language don’t tend to develop the same progress as others; language learning will never give the same results as a person who uses acquisition.
The monitor is responsible for correcting the language we produce. It is focused on form. You have to be exposed to data, but also you need to be aware of the form you learn. If not, it doesn’t work. Krashen (1994) explains that in order to use a monitor well, 3 factors must be met: Time: not available in normal conversation (or unplanned linguistic exchanges) Focus on form: awarenes of form, correctness. Knowledge of the rules only partially known (not internalised). If you correct yourself it means that you know the rules.
Comprehensible Input Hypothesis Humans acquire language in only one way-by understanding messages or by receiving “comprehensible input”. The learner improves and progresses along the natural order when he/she receives second language input that is one step beyond his/ her current stage of linguistic competence, that is language which is slightly beyond his/her knowledge. There are 3 key elements to this hypothesis: a. Language is acquired, not learned, b. There is usually a silent period and the learner abandons silent period and simple utterances and starts using them in the correct way. c. The input should not deliberately contain grammatically programmed structures.
‘Acquired’ language vs. Language that has been ‘learned’ Children acquire language through a subconscious process during which they are unaware of grammatical rules but Language learning, on the other hand, is not communicative, it is the result of direct instruction in the rules of language. Research has shown, however, that knowing grammar rules does not necessarily result in good speaking or writing. A student who has memorized the rules of the language may be able to succeed on a standardized test of English language but may not be able to speak or write correctly. In language learning students should avoid affecting inhibitions because if you can not speak when you have to be competitive, you will never get the right acquisition of a language.
‘Foreigner talk’: is the reduced and simplified version of a language that native speakers use to talk other speakers for whom the language is not a native one, especially speakers who do not know the language at all.
Evaluation and summary of the model (the input model has been criticised because it’s difficult to prove) This theory has influential in strengthening focus on communicative language teaching (20 th^ century): the function of language should be more emphasized rather than the form of the language. Function vs. form: function (‘asking for things’, make request, practice pronunciation), form (give a class in which you explain grammar) This communicative approach is focused on function and a very popular model in North America. Critique to Krashen’s Input Hypothesis
There are different critiques: a. Difficult to verify empirically b. Input preferences also affect acquisition Learners are active participants in choosing the target models they prefer (affective filter). Your preference is going to help you acquire it F 0A E high motivation. c. Difficulty in determining what is comprehensible input and what is not d. Too much reliance on (dependencia) input in detriment of output
The Output Hypothesis: Swain
Notion of ‘comprehensible input’ in the input hypothesis (Monitor model): Comprehensible input is important but not sufficient for language learning. It was developed by Merrill Swain, the comprehensible output (CO) hypothesis states that learning takes place when encountering a gap (grieta) in the linguistic knowledge of the L2. By noticing this gap the learner becomes aware of it and might be able to modify his output so that he learns something new about the language Swain claims that under some conditions, CO facilitates second language learning in ways that differ from and enhance (mejora) input due to the mental processes connected with the production of language. When the student improves his level this is called the notion of scaffold and the learner leave the scaffold when he learn the language
Social Constructivist models:
- Long’s Interaction Hypothesis This is a development of the Monitor Model (Krashen) Conditions that enable comprehensible input to be made available (Most likely to occur in situations of social interaction) Interactional modifications which take place in conversations between native speakers and non-native speakers modified interaction (Long1985) (2) Some examples of conversational modifications: 1 Comprehension checks (for example, ‘The bus leaves at 6:30. Do you understand?’) 2 Clarification requests (e.g., ‘Could you say that again?’) 3 Self-repetition or paraphrase (e.g., ‘She got lost on her way home from school. She was walking home from school. She got lost.’) Evaluation of the theory: none researcher has provided this yet (there is not scientific argument). - Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) The ‘scaffolding hypothesis’ Social interaction as the most important stimulus for all learning. Two central concepts:
- ‘scaffolding’: the way in which, with support from others, learners can reach levels of achievement which they would be unable to reach independently. This scaffolding is a system providing during the learner learning. Different stages: when students have an advanced level, scaffolding disappears (metaphor scaffolding)
- the ‘zone of proximal development’: the domain of performance that a learner cannot yet achieve independently but is capable of achieving with the help of scaffolding and finally without help.
- promotes European citizenship F 0A E being European entalis speaking foreign languages (FLs). Linguistic:
- increases exposure to foreign languages input: more quantity (Krashen 1985, comprehensible input) + more quality? (Long 1991). One doesn’t presuppose the other. It’s the teachers task.
- language is the means to learn, not the object of learning. It is also to communicate ideas
- incidental language learning not intentional
- promotes more quantity of output (more chances of production) and quality (?). Children have more opportunities to speak other languages.
- authenticity of: a. contents: new, useful and meaningful b. materials: not using textbooks for FLs c. skills + strategies d. interaction F 0A E modified/negotiated input (Long
- natural language acquisition (Krashen 1985): resembles more L1 acquisition than L2 learning (unconscious, unplanned). Students get involved and learn quickly. For example, a girl that is studying History in English knows that she is learning History. Even thou she sees her English grades are better, she doesn’t realize she is learning it during History class. Educational
- cross-curricular approach (combination of different subjects) to language learning
- learning process becomes important and central per se (en sí mismo)
- motivation is intrinsic F 0A E KEY FACTOR
- learning in a CLIL context demans higher concentration and favours creative thinking
- learning is achieved by “deduction not instruction” (Wolff 2006). Children have to work out several rules
- deeper thinking and more retention of content: “Cover less but uncover more” (Walqui 2006). Discovering language, but we might have less facts. 3. Results (with empirical evidence) L1 literacy (reading and writing) is not affected by a CLIL approach. If anything, there are more positive than negative effects (Bialystok 2004, Van de Craen 2007). If a children starts to learn English when he/she is 3 years old, this will not affect on the learning of his/ her mother tongue. BUT caution must be taken with migrant worker’s children. Higher levels of motivation, self-esteen among teachers,
students + all stakeholders involved. Language outcomes: (Dalton-Puffer 2007) +++ IMPROVEMENT Vocabulary Morphology Receptive skills (listening/reading) Creativity (making up words), risk-taking, fluency, quatity
F 0 B E F 0 B E F 0 B E Syntax (complexity) Writing (discourse skills - cohesion, coherence) Informal/non-technical language Pronunciation ¿Pragmatics?
Content outcomes: CLIL students possess same content knowledge as peers )colegas.
4. Discourse Analysis and Applied Linguistics
4.1. What is Discourse?
The traditional concern of linguistic analysis has been the construction of sentences, but lately there has been an increasing interest in analysing the way sentences work in sequences to produce coherent stretches (fragments) of language, known as discourse. Discourse is everywhere and this study s a general term for a number of approaches to analyzing written, vocal, or sign language use or any significant semiotic events.
Discourse analysis has some other definitions
-A branch concerned with the relationship between language and the contexts in which it operates (McCarthy, 1991). Some examples:
- Discourse analysis is the discipline devoted to the investigation of the relationship between form and function in verbal communication (Rekema, 1993). With one sentence, there are different interpretations, which are seen by the speaker.
- Discourse analysis is the study of language of communication-spoken or written (Schiffrin, 1994).
Discourse analysis is much closed to applied linguistics by context.
Some people think there are differences between discourse analysis and discourse text but for many people there aren’t distinction. If we divide discourse analysis and discourse text we’ll find discourse text is focused on the analysis of a combination of sentences without meaning and context (isolated units of syntax, semantic or morphology). E.g.: John fell from the tree. The whole process of this analysis is the syntactic function and we are going to be concentrated in units.
- Context is the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular
Coherence : contributes to the unity of a piece of discourse such that individual sentences or utterances hang together and relate to each other. The flowers were lovely. He liked the tulips best. In order to understand a text, we need, also, knowledge “outside” the text, not just the meaning of it. In order to be coherent, there needs to be coherent communication. Non linguistics elements (use of knowledge, factors outside the language as age, personally and other factors in a extra linguistic situation such as factors around us, location, surrounding settings or time can affect language) are more related to coherence.
Macro functions of language
Two main functions of language:
a) Transactional function (ideational, descriptive) is used by humans to send messages with content through language, to send, that is when we inform of something or telling facts -purely informative ( when we make some expressions or something like this) b) Interactional (interpersonal, social expressive) is establish and maintain various sorts of social relationships through language.
Sometimes these functions are involved in both cases but usually one is more predominant than other.
Form versus function
Form: declarative associated with a kind of sentences which form statements. E.g.: I have to study. Function: Yes (common responsive), I’m sorry: acknowledgement (reconocimiento), evaluative function. E.g.: too bad
Types of function: related to speech acts, that is the function or intention that you have to say something (decision to speak):
- Invitation, evaluative function (negative value, pity), acknowledgement, apology, refusal of something.
An important topic in pragmatics is speech acts.
In terms of form: a. active sentence, b. passive sentence In terms of function: New information versus given information, the way we express new information is different from given or familiar information. New information coincides with the subject. E.g.: Su. + P. + OD
In language we tent to prefer given before new. In new information there is a kind of information which tends to be called the focus. Focus determines which part of the sentence contributes new or non-derivable information, an element which is going to be emphasised. Focus is related to information structure.
Corpus Linguistics Corpus linguistics is a large and principled collection of texts stored in electronic format This corpus uses large collections of both spoken and written natural texts that are stored on computers. One of the major contributions of corpus linguistics is in the area of exploring patterns of language use.
Differences between a Corpus and a Text Archieve/Data Corpus. Designed for linguistics analysis. It is systematic, planned and structured compilation of texts. Text Archieve/Data .A text repository (collection), often huge and opportunistically collected (for some particular reason) and normally not structured (Project Gutenberg). www.gutenberg.org F 0A E not a Corpus
Corpus linguistics provides an extremely powerful tool for the analysis of natural language and can provide tremendous insights as to how language use varies in different situations.
Difference between present-day vs. earlier corpora in terms of use of computers
"Early corpus linguistics" is a term we use here to describe linguistics before the advent of Chomsky. Field linguists, for example Boas (1940) who studied American-Indian languages, and later linguists of the structuralist tradition all used a corpus-based methodology. The Brown Corpus was the first computer-readable general corpus of texts prepared for linguistic research on modern English The British National Corpus (BNC) is a 100 million word collection of samples of written and spoken language from a wide range of sources, designed to represent a wide cross-section of current British English, both spoken and written.
Relevant Corpora
CORPUS NUMBER OF WORDS
The Survey of English Usage (SEU) Spoken and written British English
1 million
The Brown Corpus Written American English
1 million
British National Corpus (BNC) Spoken and written British English
10 million
