BNC lab instructions

Access: corpora.lancs.ac.uk/bnclab

This document provides simple instructions on how to use the BNClab.

(1) Site navigation ........................................................................................................................................... 1

(2) Searches ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
(3) Analysis panels .......................................................................................................................................... 7

(1) Site navigation

The panel view is the starting place for any search.

Resources – teaching materials and further information – are available throughout.

As the corpus is searched and items become available, individual panels will be coloured in.
Depending on the item (or items) you are searching for, this might take a little time.

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As the BNClab searches for your term(s), you will see updated counts and can follow the process
via the progress bar underneath the search bar.

Counts are provided in raw numbers (actual counts) and normalized numbers (per million words).

Concordance view

Your search item will be displayed in the centre of the concordance lines. Surrounding your search
item is the context in which the term(s) occurred, both by the speaker themselves and the people
they talked with. This allows you to fully investigate how the linguistic item is used in spoken
English.

You can adjust how much of the context you see on the sliding bar just above your results.

Each term occurrence automatically comes with its context as well as an index number. This allows
you to keep track of specific examples. You can also filter and order the contexts on the left and
right side of your search term.

If you want to know more about the speaker, you can check the relevant boxes for social
information.
You can save your concordance table as a .csv file, allowing you to work on the data output
offline.

To return to the other panel options, simply click the ‘back’ button.

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 (2) Searches

Our search function operates on three levels:

 lexical term search

 part-of-speech search
 semantic search

For complex searches, these can be combined.

Lexical term search:

You can search for single words or phrases by directly inputting the term in the search bar.

 ‘walk’ will return every instance of the word walk.

Part-of-speech search:

There are two ways to use the part-of-speech search.

1. Type-in the whole word class (e.g. NOUN, VERB, ADVERB, …)
2. Input tag for POS (e.g. N*, V*, …)

(see full list of tags at the end of the document)

NOUN

VERB

ADJECTIVE

ADVERB

PREPOSITION

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 ARTICLE

PRONOUN

INTERJECTION

CONJUNCTION

Semantic search:

In order to receive output for a specific semantic context, you can search for broad areas and
categories.

PEOPLE

MALE

FEMALE

SUPERNATURAL

EMOTION

TIME

PLANET

COLOUR

BODY

FOOD

TECHNOLOGY

MEDIA

Combined searches:
These searches will be most useful for complex structures. You can limit the output of data to
particular contexts by combining the search options.

In order to specify the part of speech for the lexical item you are searching for, simply indicate
the POS after your search item.

 ‘walk VERB’ will return all instances of walk when used as a verb.

You can also use parentheses to indicate the individual search items:

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  ‘(walk VERB)’ will, just like the search above, return all instances of walk as a verb.

Each pair of parentheses indicates one search item.

By using parentheses, you can search for multiword expressions in complex contexts:
 ‘(walk) (VERB)’ will return all instances of walk followed by a verb.

 ‘(walk VERB) (PREPOSITION)’ will return all instances of walk as a verb, followed by a
preposition.

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You can search for more than one item by using OR in between search inputs.
 ‘(walk VERB) OR (run VERB)’ will return all instances of the words walk and run as verbs

You will get the same output by omitting the parentheses:

 ‘walk VERB OR run VERB’

You can combine parentheses, simple search, and OR functions for complex searches:

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  PRONOUN (run VERB) the (NOUN) OR PRONOUN (walk VERB) the (NOUN) returns all
instances of pronoun + verb run or verb walk + the + any noun

(3) Analysis panels

Gender:
Age:

Region:

Social Class:
Summary:

(4) Appendix: UCREL CLAWS6 Tagset

APPGE possessive pronoun, pre-nominal (e.g. my, your, our)

AT article (e.g. the, no)

AT1 singular article (e.g. a, an, every)

BCL before-clause marker (e.g. in order (that),in order (to))

CC coordinating conjunction (e.g. and, or)

CCB adversative coordinating conjunction ( but)
CS subordinating conjunction (e.g. if, because, unless, so, for)

CSA as (as conjunction)

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CSN than (as conjunction)

CST that (as conjunction)

CSW whether (as conjunction)

DA after-determiner or post-determiner capable of pronominal function (e.g. such, former,
same)

DA1 singular after-determiner (e.g. little, much)

DA2 plural after-determiner (e.g. few, several, many)

DAR comparative after-determiner (e.g. more, less, fewer)

DAT superlative after-determiner (e.g. most, least, fewest)

DB before determiner or pre-determiner capable of pronominal function (all, half)

DB2 plural before-determiner ( both)

DD determiner (capable of pronominal function) (e.g any, some)

DD1 singular determiner (e.g. this, that, another)

DD2 plural determiner ( these,those)

DDQ wh-determiner (which, what)

DDQGE wh-determiner, genitive (whose)

DDQV wh-ever determiner, (whichever, whatever)

EX existential there

FO formula

FU unclassified word
FW foreign word

GE germanic genitive marker - (' or's)

IF for (as preposition)

II general preposition

IO of (as preposition)

IW with, without (as prepositions)

JJ general adjective

JJR general comparative adjective (e.g. older, better, stronger)

JJT general superlative adjective (e.g. oldest, best, strongest)

JK catenative adjective (able in be able to, willing in be willing to)
MC cardinal number,neutral for number (two, three..)

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MC1 singular cardinal number (one)

MC2 plural cardinal number (e.g. sixes, sevens)

MCGE genitive cardinal number, neutral for number (two's, 100's)

MCMC hyphenated number (40-50, 1770-1827)

MD ordinal number (e.g. first, second, next, last)

MF fraction,neutral for number (e.g. quarters, two-thirds)

ND1 singular noun of direction (e.g. north, southeast)

NN common noun, neutral for number (e.g. sheep, cod, headquarters)

NN1 singular common noun (e.g. book, girl)

NN2 plural common noun (e.g. books, girls)

NNA following noun of title (e.g. M.A.)

NNB preceding noun of title (e.g. Mr., Prof.)

NNL1 singular locative noun (e.g. Island, Street)

NNL2 plural locative noun (e.g. Islands, Streets)

NNO numeral noun, neutral for number (e.g. dozen, hundred)

NNO2 numeral noun, plural (e.g. hundreds, thousands)

NNT1 temporal noun, singular (e.g. day, week, year)

NNT2 temporal noun, plural (e.g. days, weeks, years)

NNU unit of measurement, neutral for number (e.g. in, cc)

NNU1 singular unit of measurement (e.g. inch, centimetre)

NNU2 plural unit of measurement (e.g. ins., feet)

NP proper noun, neutral for number (e.g. IBM, Andes)

NP1 singular proper noun (e.g. London, Jane, Frederick)

NP2 plural proper noun (e.g. Browns, Reagans, Koreas)

NPD1 singular weekday noun (e.g. Sunday)

NPD2 plural weekday noun (e.g. Sundays)

NPM1 singular month noun (e.g. October)

NPM2 plural month noun (e.g. Octobers)

PN indefinite pronoun, neutral for number (none)
PN1 indefinite pronoun, singular (e.g. anyone, everything, nobody, one)

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PNQO objective wh-pronoun (whom)

PNQS subjective wh-pronoun (who)

PNQV wh-ever pronoun (whoever)

PNX1 reflexive indefinite pronoun (oneself)

PPGE nominal possessive personal pronoun (e.g. mine, yours)

PPH1 3rd person sing. neuter personal pronoun (it)

PPHO1 3rd person sing. objective personal pronoun (him, her)

PPHO2 3rd person plural objective personal pronoun (them)

PPHS1 3rd person sing. subjective personal pronoun (he, she)

PPHS2 3rd person plural subjective personal pronoun (they)

PPIO1 1st person sing. objective personal pronoun (me)

PPIO2 1st person plural objective personal pronoun (us)

PPIS1 1st person sing. subjective personal pronoun (I)

PPIS2 1st person plural subjective personal pronoun (we)

PPX1 singular reflexive personal pronoun (e.g. yourself, itself)

PPX2 plural reflexive personal pronoun (e.g. yourselves, themselves)

PPY 2nd person personal pronoun (you)

RA adverb, after nominal head (e.g. else, galore)

REX adverb introducing appositional constructions (namely, e.g.)

RG degree adverb (very, so, too)

RGQ wh- degree adverb (how)

RGQV wh-ever degree adverb (however)

RGR comparative degree adverb (more, less)

RGT superlative degree adverb (most, least)

RL locative adverb (e.g. alongside, forward)

RP prep. adverb, particle (e.g about, in)

RPK prep. adv., catenative (about in be about to)

RR general adverb
RRQ wh- general adverb (where, when, why, how)
RRQV wh-ever general adverb (wherever, whenever)

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RRR comparative general adverb (e.g. better, longer)

RRT superlative general adverb (e.g. best, longest)

RT quasi-nominal adverb of time (e.g. now, tomorrow)

TO infinitive marker (to)

UH interjection (e.g. oh, yes, um)

VB0 be, base form (finite i.e. imperative, subjunctive)

VBDR were

VBDZ was

VBG being
VBI be, infinitive (To be or not... It will be ..)

VBM am

VBN been

VBR are
VBZ is

VD0 do, base form (finite)

VDD did
VDG doing

VDI do, infinitive (I may do... To do...)

VDN done
VDZ does

VH0 have, base form (finite)

VHD had (past tense)

VHG having

VHI have, infinitive

VHN had (past participle)

VHZ has

VM modal auxiliary (can, will, would, etc.)

VMK modal catenative (ought, used)

VV0 base form of lexical verb (e.g. give, work)
VVD past tense of lexical verb (e.g. gave, worked)

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VVG -ing participle of lexical verb (e.g. giving, working)

VVGK -ing participle catenative (going in be going to)

VVI infinitive (e.g. to give... It will work...)

VVN past participle of lexical verb (e.g. given, worked)

VVNK past participle catenative (e.g. bound in be bound to)

VVZ -s form of lexical verb (e.g. gives, works)

XX not, n't

YEX punctuation tag - exclamation mark

YQUO punctuation tag - quotes

YBL punctuation tag - left bracket

YBR punctuation tag - right bracket

YCOM punctuation tag - comma

YDSH punctuation tag - dash

YSTP punctuation tag - full-stop

YLIP punctuation tag - ellipsis

YCOL punctuation tag - colon

YSCOL punctuation tag - semicolon

YQUE punctuation tag - question mark

ZZ1 singular letter of the alphabet (e.g. A,b)

ZZ2 plural letter of the alphabet (e.g. A's, b's)

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