ABSTRACT
The chapter is meant as a primer to corpus linguistics, from the role it plays in the understanding of language and of what is enacted through language to the building blocks that constitute the core of what is commonly referred to as corpus approaches. As such, it provides a reference list for beginners to help them navigate the main concepts and techniques discussed and applied throughout the volume and to pave the way for further in-depth study of the discipline. In addition, it serves as the basis for affirming the central role these notions and techniques play in the analysis of language while acting as a bridge between the other notions, techniques, and considerations laid out in previous and following chapters. The result of these interconnections is one of the major component of a broad view of corpus approaches, able to employ the full richness and complexity that digital textual data can offer.
