Professor Vaclav Brezina
Professor in Corpus LinguisticsResearch Overview
My main research interests are corpus linguistics, statistics, and the application of corpus methods in the study of speech and writing, learner language, collocations, phraseology and vocabulary. I am also interested in corpus design and corpus tools development. I welcome PhD proposals that focus on one or more of these areas.
Current Research
At present, I am working on the development of the Written British National Corpus and the Trinity Lancaster Corpus of spoken L2 English. I also focus on methodological innovation in corpus linguistics and English vocabulary.
Research Grants
British National Corpus (BNC) as a sociolinguistic dataset: Exploring individual and social variation
This project is funded by an ESRC Secondary data initiative (SDAI) grant EP/P001559/1. The aim of the project is to investigate sociolinguistic variation in the British National Corpus and implement the results of the research in educational practice.
Qualifications
MA in English Linguistics & Philosophy (Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic)
PhD in Linguistics (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
PhD Supervision Interests
I welcome PhD proposals that are related to my research interests. At present, I am in particular interested in supervising projects on the following topics: 1) Comparison of multiple corpora using statistical techniques and visualisation 2) Phraseology (e.g. collocations) in spoken and written learner corpora 3) Corpus-based sociolinguistics and development of new statistical methods 4) Investigation of different linguistic features in the new Trinity Lancaster Corpus of spoken L2 English
Selected Publications
A Frequency Dictionary of British English: Core Vocabulary and Exercises for Learners
Brezina, V., Gablasova, D. 30/11/2023 London : Routledge. 352 p. ISBN: 9781032272696, 9781032272719. Electronic ISBN: 9781003292043.
Book
Fundamental Principles of Corpus Linguistics
McEnery, A., Brezina, V. 22/09/2022 Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9781107624689. Electronic ISBN: 9781107110625.
Book
Statistics in Corpus Linguistics: A Practical Guide
Brezina, V. 09/2018 Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. 296 p. ISBN: 9781107565241. Electronic ISBN: 9781316410899.
Book
Corpus Linguistics, learner corpora and SLA: employing technology to analyze language use
McEnery, A., Brezina, V., Gablasova, D., Banerjee, J.V. 1/03/2019 In: Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. 39, p. 74-92. 19 p.
Journal article
Collocations in corpus-based language learning research: identifying, comparing and interpreting the evidence
Gablasova, D., Brezina, V., McEnery, A.M. 06/2017 In: Language Learning. 67, Suppl. 1, p. 155-179. 25 p.
Journal article
Collocation Graphs and Networks: Selected Applications
Brezina, V. 22/08/2018 In: Lexical Collocation Analysis. Cham : Springer p. 59-83. 25 p.
Chapter (peer-reviewed)
Collocation networks: exploring associations in discourse
Brezina, V. 10/06/2016 In: Triangulating methodological approaches in corpus linguistic research. London : Routledge p. 90-107. 18 p.
Chapter (peer-reviewed)
Exploring learner language through corpora: comparing and interpreting corpus frequency information
Gablasova, D., Brezina, V., McEnery, A.M. 06/2017 In: Language Learning. 67, Suppl. 1, p. 130-154. 25 p.
Journal article
Morphological complexity in written L2 texts
Brezina, V., Pallotti, G. 01/2019 In: Second Language Research. 35, 1, p. 99-119. 21 p.
Journal article
Epistemic stance in spoken L2 English: the effect of task and speaker style
Gablasova, D., Brezina, V., McEnery, T., Boyd, E. 1/10/2017 In: Applied Linguistics. 38, 5, p. 613–637. 25 p.
Journal article
Collocations in context: a new perspective on collocation networks
Brezina, V., McEnery, T., Wattam, S. 2015 In: International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. 20, 2, p. 139-173. 35 p.
Journal article
Significant or random?: a critical review of sociolinguistic generalisations based on large corpora
Brezina, V., Meyerhoff, M. 2014 In: International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. 19, 1, p. 1-28. 28 p.
Journal article
Is there a core general vocabulary?: introducing the New General Service List
Brezina, V., Gablasova, D. 28/02/2015 In: Applied Linguistics. 36, 1, p. 1-22. 22 p.
Journal article
All Publications
Linguistic demands of EMI in Higher Education: A corpus-based analysis of reading and writing in EMI university settings in China, Italy and Thailand
01/09/2022 → 28/02/2025
Research
Trinity-Lancaster Corpus
31/03/2022 → 30/09/2025
Research
Questioning Vaccination Discourse (Quo VaDis): A corpus-based study
01/03/2021 → 30/06/2024
Research
Strategic Knowledge Exchange between ESRC CASS Centre and Trinity College, London
01/04/2019 → 31/12/2021
Research
Construction and Corpus-Based Analysis of the British Council-Lancaster University APTIS Corpus
01/09/2018 → 30/06/2024
Research
Linguistic challenges of the transition from primary to secondary school
01/09/2018 → 30/04/2021
Research
CASS ESRC Transition Funding
01/04/2018 → 31/01/2024
Research
British National Corpus (BNC) as a sociolinguistic dataset: Exploring individual and social variation
01/01/2017 → 31/07/2018
Research
The corpus based approach to the acquisition of Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language
01/11/2013 → 31/10/2016
Research
- ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science