Towards a corpus-based research methodology for investigating lexical patterning in translated texts

Abstract

The primary objective of this article is to propose a corpus-based research methodology for comparing collocational patterning in translated and non-translated language. The analysis is based on a comparable corpus of Brazilian Portuguese which consists of two separate sub-corpora: one made up of translated Brazilian Portuguese and another consisting of non-translated Brazilian Portuguese. Both subcorpora are designed according to the same criteria and specifications, and are of similar size. The main issue under investigation is whether collocational patterns tend to be less diverse (i.e., are reduced in range) in the translated texts compared to the non-translated texts. Diversity is analysed in quantitative as well as qualitative terms.