Language change can be traced using gigantic text archives
Friday, June 26, 2009 - 12:49
in Paleontology & Archaeology
(PhysOrg.com) -- Historical collections that include everything ever written in a dozen American and British newspapers since they started are now available electronically. Donald MacQueen from Uppsala University, Sweden, has carried out the first comprehensive study that makes use of this resource in order to track changes in language usage, a method that makes it possible to attain an entirely new degree of precision in dating.