Wiktionary talk:Corpora

Corpuses/corpora

@The Editor's Apprentice: I think corpuses should be changed to corpora; see corpus: “Of the plurals, corpora is the only common one”; and Google Ngram Viewer. J3133 (talk) 14:25, 28 March 2023 (UTC)

@J3133 Yeah, I have conflicting feelings about corpora vs corpuses. I agree that corpora is by far the more common plural form. But I'll note that since the term is linguistics jargon, almost all of the uses that we are pulling from for analysis are from specialist who are more familiar with Latin-style conjugations. We don't have a corpus (no pun intended) of layperson uses to compare to and see the lay public's preferred plural.

With that said, in my conversations about linguistics with lay people, who are invariably unfamiliar with corpus' linguistic meaning, corpora as a term has frequently been a stumbling block because of its the Latin-style conjugation. The conjugation is just one more thing they have to learn while I am introducing them to a whole new field they hadn't realized existed. For that reason, I've adopted corpuses as my usual form since it is immediately understood as corpus' plural given its standard English inflection. Since the vast majority of Wiktionary's editors are hobbyists or lay people, I figure it would be beneficial to write for them the same way I would write for a lay public and ease their participation. Honestly, had I started this page myself instead of co-opting Dan Polansky's creation, the page would have been at Wiktionary:Corpuses and only mentioned the corpora plural in the lede. But I don't think a change to that scheme will be happening any time soon.

In the mean time, as you've probably noticed, I've been using a mix of corpora and corpuses on the page. I consider this something of a compromise, but let me know your thoughts. Take care. —The Editor's Apprentice (talk) 19:40, 28 March 2023 (UTC)

@The Editor's Apprentice: The problem is that corpuses is rare and not even mentioned in some dictionaries. J3133 (talk) 21:08, 28 March 2023 (UTC)

@J3133 I guess I don't see rareness and lack of documentation in-and-of-themselves as a problem unless a word's use makes navigation more difficult for readers and users of the page. Without that it seems to just be prescriptivism. —The Editor's Apprentice (talk) 01:54, 3 April 2023 (UTC)

@The Editor's Apprentice: We are not here to change language: intentionally using a form that almost no one uses is not a neutral point of view. J3133 (talk) 07:47, 3 April 2023 (UTC)

@J3133 Fair enough. I'll support a change to using corpora across the page. Do you think it's okay to still mention the form corpuses in the lede? —The Editor's Apprentice (talk) 17:33, 4 April 2023 (UTC)

@The Editor's Apprentice: I suppose there is no problem with mentioning it. J3133 (talk) 06:14, 5 April 2023 (UTC)

@J3133  Done, see Special:Diff/72614708. —The Editor's Apprentice (talk) 02:36, 7 April 2023 (UTC)