ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the gradual methodological shift through the lens of four studies that illustrate corpus techniques that have contributed to a better understanding of the linguistic structure of World Englishes (WE): E. W. Schneider, R. Xiao, B. Szmrecsanyi and B. Kortmann and S. Th. Gries, T. Bernaisch, and B. Heller. It deals with Schneider, which sets an important methodological precedent for corpus-based quantitative explorations of nativisation processes in WE using a traditional form-based frequentist approach. The chapter shows how multidimensional analysis offers a valuable way of expanding form-based methods by accounting for linguistic contexts of use as well as genre variation to enhance descriptive accounts of WE. It describes how the statistical approach of cluster analysis can help address typological issues across foreign- and second-language varieties. The chapter explores the power of logistic regression modelling to capture patterns of evolution in Singapore English.
