This paper reports the extension of the key words method for the comparison of corpora. Using automatic tagging software that assigns part-of-speech and semantic field (domain) tags, a method is described which permits the extraction of key domains by applying the keyness calculation to tag frequency lists. The combination of the key words and key domains methods is shown to allow macroscopic analysis (the study of the characteristics of whole texts or varieties of language) to inform the microscopic level (focussing on the use of a particular linguistic feature) and thereby suggesting those linguistic features which should be investigated further. The resulting 'data-driven' approach presented here combines elements of both the 'corpus-based' and 'corpus-driven' paradigms in corpus linguistics. A web-based tool, Wmatrix, implementing the proposed method is applied in a case study: the comparison of UK 2001 general election manifestos of the Labour and Liberal Democratic parties.

This paper describes a method of comparing corpora which uses frequency profiling. The method can be used to discover key words in the corpora which differentiate one corpus from another. Using annotated corpora, it can be applied to discover key grammatical or word-sense categories. This can be used as a quick way in to find the differences between the corpora and is shown to have applications in the study of social differentiation in the use of English vocabulary, profiling of learner English and document analysis in the software engineering process.

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ObjectiveTo compare the frequencies with which patients with cancer and health professionals use Violence and Journey metaphors when writing online; and to investigate the use of these metaphors by patients with cancer, in view of critiques of war-related metaphors for cancer and the adoption of the notion of the ‘cancer journey’ in UK policy documents.DesignComputer-assisted quantitative and qualitative study of two data sets totalling 753 302 words.SettingA UK-based online forum for patients with cancer (500 134 words) and a UK-based website for health professionals (253 168 words).Participants56 patients with cancer writing online between 2007 and 2012; and 307 health professionals writing online between 2008 and 2013.ResultsPatients with cancer use both Violence metaphors and Journey metaphors approximately 1.5 times per 1000 words to describe their illness experience. In similar online writing, health professionals use each type of metaphor significantly less frequently. Patients’ Violence metaphors can express and reinforce negative feelings, but they can also be used in empowering ways. Journey metaphors can express and reinforce positive feelings, but can also be used in disempowering ways.ConclusionsViolence metaphors are not by default negative and Journey metaphors are not by default a positive means of conceptualising cancer. A blanket rejection of Violence metaphors and an uncritical promotion of Journey metaphors would deprive patients of the positive functions of the former and ignore the potential pitfalls of the latter. Instead, greater awareness of the function (empowering or disempowering) of patients’ metaphor use can lead to more effective communication about the experience of cancer.

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The dynamic changes in the composition, dry weight, and mineral nutrient status of heath following fire have been investigated. The overall growth (dry weightltime) curve for the aerial organs of the heath is essentially exponential. Soil moisture is conserved by burning and, provided climatic conditions are favourable, regeneration of all species is rapid. Annual species are rare and are found only in the first year after a fire. Many species are fire-resistant and regenerate rapidly from buriedperennating buds; the others reproduce in great numbers from seeds. The number of propagules varies with the age and composition of the parent stand. The initial regrowth, dominated by Xanthorrhoea australis, produces annually over 500 kg dry weight per acre. Two or three years after a fire the regrowth of Casuarina pusilla and a wealth of undershrubs form alarge part of the stand. Growth is much slower with only 240 kg dry weight produced annually per acre. During this period many species or the understorey reach their peak and die; the major species are reduced in number. This decrease in numbers may be through natural senescence of the species, but is certainly hastened by competition for water and, to a lesser extent, light. It continues throughout the development of the heath. After about 10 years, the numerous seedlings of Banksia ornnta dominate the stand, probably owing to reduced competition from the understorey plants. A dry weight of 180 kg per acre is produced annually over the next 5 years. After this time (15 years) there is a continuous fall in the annual growth rate to 160 kg per acre towards the 50-year period. Of 36 species recorded after a fire only 20 persisted after 25 years, five of these 20 contributing less than 1 kg dry weight per acre. Only ten of these species persist after 50 years and most of these are greatly depleted in numbers. Almost 15,000 kg dry weight per acre were found in the 50-year stand dominated by massive plants of B. ornata and X. australis. Apart from the first 10 years when the underground organs contribute considerable food reserves to the regenerating aerial organs, the evidence suggests that these organs increase in dry weight per acre almost as much as those above ground. Nutrients from this very infertile soil, the Makin sand, steadily aocumulate in the underground organs, often at the expense of the aerial organs. Translocation of many nutrients (P, N, K, Ca, Cu, Zn, and Mn) to aerial organs may be greatly reduced, that of some elements almost to zero. This must contribute greatly to the decreasing growth rate of the aerial organs. As Casuarina and Phyllota spp. contain greater concentrations of nutrients than the other species their requirements are presumably greater. They are eliminated early under nutritional stress. Gradually only those species survive in which the concentration of nutrient elements is low, namely Banksia spp. and Xanthorrhoea. However, as over 50 per cent. of the nutrients in the aerial organs of these species are bound in fruits and dead leaves, even these species must suffer nutrient stress and degradation of the stand must inevitably occur, to be followed by regeneration on the release of the nutrients. The frequency of fire is such that the heath does not mature. Regular firing is essential to maintain many elements of the flora. Changes in the nutrient levels of soil and litter are also indicated.

In this article, we undertake selective quantitative analyses of the demographi-cally-sampled spoken English component of the British National Corpus (for brevity, referred to here as the ''Conversational Corpus"). This is a subcorpus of c. 4.5 million words, in which speakers and respondents (see I below) are identified by such factors as gender, age, social group, and geographical region. Using a corpus analysis tool developed at Lancaster, we undertake a comparison of the vocabulary of speakers, highlighting those differences which are marked by a very high X2 value of difference between different sectors of the corpus according to gender, age, and social group. A fourth variable, that of geographical region of the United Kingdom, is not investigated in this article, although it remains a promising subject for future research. (As background we also briefly examine differences between spoken and written material in the British National Corpus [BNC].) This study is illustrative of the potentiality of the Conversational Corpus for future corpus-based research on social differentiation in the use of language. There are evident limitations, including (a) the reliance on vocabulary frequency lists and (b) the simplicity of the transcription system employed for the spoken part of the BNC The conclusion of the article considers future advances in the research paradigm illustrated here.

This study combines quantitative semi-automated corpus methods with manual qualitative analysis to investigate the use of Violence metaphors for cancer and end of life in a 1,500,000-word corpus of data from three stakeholder groups in healthcare: patients, family carers and healthcare professionals. Violence metaphors in general, especially military metaphors, are conventionally used to talk about illness, particularly cancer. However, they have also been criticized for their potentially negative implications. The use of innovative methodology enables us to undertake a more rigorous and systematic investigation of Violence metaphors than has previously been possible. Our findings show that patients, carers and professionals use a much wider set of Violence-related metaphors than noted in previous studies, and that metaphor use varies between interview and online forum genres and amongst different stakeholder groups. Our study has implications for the computer-assisted study of metaphor, metaphor theory and analysis more generally, and communication in healthcare settings.