Linguistic research methods lecture 10 Plan

example, vowels, consonants, and parts of speech; and of these 

units’ combinations, for example, sequences of n letters.

Statistical linguistics may be more broadly understood as the use 

of statistical methods for verifying linguistic hypotheses that may also be qualitative in nature.

Conceptual analyses

Conceptual analysis is a means of clarifying or explicating and giving definition, dimension, and meaning to ordinary and obscure expressions (i.e., cultural, natural, or spiritual things, image, text, sound, etc.).

Conceptual analysis in practice also concerns distinguishing terms, analyzing the understandings they refer to, and representing this. Concepts comprise some of the most fundamental entities or phenomena associated with a discipline (Cocchiarella, 1996, p. 8).

In a sense, therefore, concepts can be understood to relate to Plato’s ‘Forms’ or Aristotle’s ‘Universals’ (an abstract idea or mental image). A concept is a theoretical term which refers to a property or construct which suggests the role it plays in a theory, or in relation to other concepts: it is the idea which is represented by a term or word. A concept cannot have meaning or representation outside thought, but it must be expressed in language, and to this extent, concepts are constructed. Concepts themselves create a framework for understanding, making sense or meaning of the world, and they are articulated in an ontology.

In a sense, therefore, concepts can be understood to relate to Plato’s ‘Forms’ or Aristotle’s ‘Universals’ (an abstract idea or mental image). A concept is a theoretical term which refers to a property or construct which suggests the role it plays in a theory, or in relation to other concepts: it is the idea which is represented by a term or word. A concept cannot have meaning or representation outside thought, but it must be expressed in language, and to this extent, concepts are constructed. Concepts themselves create a framework for understanding, making sense or meaning of the world, and they are articulated in an ontology.