Limitations of the research

Abstract

The survey offered in this book contains some rather broad brush strokes, particularly in the first few chapters focusing upon the frequency of occurrence of word forms within grammatical categories and how this is represented in dictionaries. In part because grammar labels in dictionaries mostly apply to headwords and not to sub-entries and are therefore rather general by nature, I have not as a rule discussed how more specific factors can affect the frequency rate of word forms within grammatical categories. The more important of these factors are listed in Section 8.1. The factors listed connect directly with those initial chapters but clearly have implications for all the investigations conducted in this book. Section 8.2 outlines the principal technical difficulties encountered when adopting the British Web 2007 and the Italian Web 2006 in Sketch Engine, whereas Section 8.3 returns briefly to the issue of the interpretation of grammatical categories tackled in Chapter 4.