What is corpus?

A corpus is a collection of linguistic data, typically consisting of written or spoken texts that have been compiled and analyzed for the purpose of linguistic research. Corpora can be made up of a wide variety of texts, such as newspapers, academic articles, novels, transcripts of conversations, and more.

There are two main types of corpora: monolingual corpora, which consist of texts in a single language, and multilingual corpora, which contain texts in multiple languages. Corpora can also be classified based on their size, with some being small and specialized, while others are large and general-purpose.

Corpora are used by linguists and other researchers to study language in a systematic and empirical way. They provide valuable insights into the structure of language, patterns of usage, and the development of language over time. Corpora can also be used for language teaching, text analysis, and machine learning applications such as natural language processing.