Corpus Research in Malaysia: A Bibliographic Analysis

Abstract

The literature on corpus-related research in Malaysia suggests that studies that have been done include a spectrum of issues on the Malay language as well as those on the use of the English language. However, to date, there has been no attempt to analyse the development of corpus research in Malaysia. To fill this gap and to better understand the state of corpus research in Malaysia, a bibliographic analysis of corpus-related studies in Malaysia was carried out. In an attempt to use published research as data for the bibliographic analysis, the Google Scholar search system was used to source for corpus-related studies in Malaysia. The bibliographic analysis, based on published studies between 1996 and 2012, suggests that there is an upward trend in the use of the corpus method in language research in Malaysia. And a thematic analysis of the studies shows that corpus research in Malaysia, thus far, have focused on five main areas of research : (1) English language use in Malaysia, (2) Malaysian English learner language, (3) Malaysian textbook content, (4) Malay language description and lexicography, and (5) corpora development. Based on research issues and number of studies, corpus research in English and in Malay differs to some extent in terms of research concerns. As well, studies on English outnumber those on Malay despite the fact that corpus research on the latter began much earlier.