Keywords
Encyclopedia
Keywords are the words that are used to reveal the internal structure of an author's reasoning. While they are used primarily for rhetoric
, they are also used in a strictly grammatical sense for structural composition, reasoning, and comprehension. Indeed, they are an essential part of any language.
There are many different types of keyword categories including: Conclusion, Continuation, Contrast, Emphasis, Evidence, Illustration and Sequence. Each category serves its own function, as do the keywords inside of a given category.
, key words can be identified as words which appear with statistically unusual frequency in a text or a corpus of texts; as such they are identified by software by comparing a word-list of the text in question with a word-list based on a larger reference corpus. A suitable term for the phenomenon is keyness
. The procedure used for example by WordSmith
in order to list key words/phrases and plot where they appear in texts. These items are very often of interest, particularly interesting are those which human readers would be unlikely to notice such as prepositions, time adverbs and pronouns.
See also: Scott, M. & Tribbe, C., 2006, Textual Patterns: keyword and corpus analysis in language education, Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
, they are also used in a strictly grammatical sense for structural composition, reasoning, and comprehension. Indeed, they are an essential part of any language.
There are many different types of keyword categories including: Conclusion, Continuation, Contrast, Emphasis, Evidence, Illustration and Sequence. Each category serves its own function, as do the keywords inside of a given category.
English Keywords
| Type | Signals | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Conclusion or Causality Causality Causality is the relationship between an event and a second event , where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first.... |
a summation of information | therefore; thus; in conclusion; believes; so; consequently; it can be seen that; can conclude that; claims that; all in all; |
| Continuation | more support for the same claim is cumming | and; also; moreover; furthermore; plus; in addition; at the same time; as well as; equally;besides; what is more; both...and; equally important; not only...but also |
| Contrast (linguistics) Contrast (linguistics) In semantics, contrast is a relationship between two discourse segments. Contrast is often overtly marked by markers such as but or however, such as in the following examples:# It's raining, but I am not taking an umbrella.... |
a comparison of similarities and differences | but; despite; yet; however; alternatively; still; although; unless; otherwise; not; though; while; nevertheless; by contrast; notwithstanding; rather; conversely; in spite of; on the other hand; contrarily |
| what is considered important | I think; above all; essentially; clearly; most of all; especially; primarily; particularly; in large measure; indeed; | |
| Evidence | an upcoming background | because; for; since; the reason is that; |
| Illustration/Exemplification | that an example is being given as support for a claim. | for example; for instance; specifically; to illustrate; such as; In the words of; To "name"; For "name"; According to "name"; as "name" says,; |
| Sequence | that there is a structure or order that has been formulated in the writing | Firstly,...,Secondly,...Thirdly,...Lastly; Next; Finally; On the one hand; Recently; |
Corpus Linguistic Key Words
In corpus linguisticsCorpus linguistics
Corpus linguistics is the study of language as expressed in samples or "real world" text. This method represents a digestive approach to deriving a set of abstract rules by which a natural language is governed or else relates to another language. Originally done by hand, corpora are now largely...
, key words can be identified as words which appear with statistically unusual frequency in a text or a corpus of texts; as such they are identified by software by comparing a word-list of the text in question with a word-list based on a larger reference corpus. A suitable term for the phenomenon is keyness
Keyness
Keyness is a term used in linguistics to describe the quality a word or phrase has of being "key" in its context. Compare this with collocation, the quality linking two words or phrases usually assumed to be within a given span of each other...
. The procedure used for example by WordSmith
WordSmith
WordSmith Tools is a collection of corpus linguistics tools for looking for patterns in a language. The software was devised by Mike Scott at the University of Liverpool and for versions 1 to 4 was sold by Oxford University Press...
in order to list key words/phrases and plot where they appear in texts. These items are very often of interest, particularly interesting are those which human readers would be unlikely to notice such as prepositions, time adverbs and pronouns.
See also: Scott, M. & Tribbe, C., 2006, Textual Patterns: keyword and corpus analysis in language education, Amsterdam: Benjamins.