My #JustStartProject -Some Toddling Steps in learning the Corpus Linguistic approaches

Syera Sobia Malik
Nov 1 · 3 min read

Being a student of Linguistics, it's natural to go through different dimensions of this vast subject and master a few of them during an Mphil degree; however, learning the computational approaches to analyze language data was a real nightmare for me. This is the knowledge I have been unable to acquire in the past year despite all my efforts. I also tried to read some literature about it but couldn’t understand. Besides, I was lacking somehow in using computer software for other academic purposes too and a little afraid of learning it. Nevertheless, I always used to think that this technical knowledge is very important to acquire if a language student wants to excel in the field of quantitative research.

Recently, when Amal insisted us to take an initiative towards a #JustStartProject, I decided to work on this deficiency and to take some bold steps in learning this skill. Luckily there is another research project in which I’m indulged and where I have to analyse the online data of newspapers, acquiring this knowledge has become a necessity for me. So I kept all my fears aside and started to plan the tasks and important steps towards the journey of learning this skill which sounds so much alien to me so far.

First, I requested the HOD of my Institution to please arrange an introductory workshop for the students of my batch (many of them were also yearning to learn it for months), for which he promised. Secondly, I joined a group PACL (Pakistan Association of computational Linguistics) on Facebook, so that I may get the updates regarding all the activities and news related to this field. Thirdly, I sent a request to a competent person of this field -Dr Tahseen Zahra, to attend her seminar on this subject in Islamabad, which she accepted. fourthly, I started to read online published research papers, in which Corpus Linguistics approaches were employed. And last but not the least I got several books issued (in this area of study) from the library of my university so that I might be able to get myself familiar with the basic terminologies and processes used in this skill, before the onset of these workshops & seminars.

Learning something new is not an easy process, especially if we are unfamiliar with and alien to the subject/skill we wish for. Developing any niche, we are not attuned with, takes courage to start, time to learn and process, and patience to get mastery over it.

However, despite all the challenges and hurdles on my way to learn and then to master this area of study, I’m hopeful for my growth and success someday in future.


Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade