Corpus Linguistics and 17th-Century Prostitution Computational Linguistics and History

Corpus linguistics has much to offer history, being as both disciplines engage so heavily in analysis of large amounts of textual material.

This book demonstrates the opportunities for exploring corpus linguistics as a method in historiography and the humanities and social sciences more generally. Focussing on the topic of prostitution in 17th-century England, it shows how corpus methods can assist in social research, and can be used to deepen our understanding and comprehension.

McEnery and Baker draw principally on two sources – the newsbook Mercurius Fumigosis and the Early English Books Online Corpus. This scholarship on prostitution and the sex trade offers insight into the social position of women in history.

Professor Anthony McEnery is a corpus linguist working at the University of Lancaster, UK

Helen Baker is Part-time Newby Research Fellow, County South, Lancaster University, UK

1. Corpus Linguistics and History
Part I: Historical Context
2. Prostitution in England
3. Attitudes to Prostitution in the Seventeenth Century
Part II: Corpus Investigation
4. Representation
5. Society
6. Words
Part III: Synthesis
7. The Corpus Insight
8. The Utility of Corpus Data in History and the Humanities
Bibliography
Index

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