The 5^th Asia Pacific Corpus Linguistics Conference was successfully held from October 25^th to 27^th at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The conference was hosted by The Asia Pacific Corpus Linguistics Association and Corpus Linguistics Society of China, and organized by the Center for Corpora and Data Science Research and the School of Foreign Languages at SJTU. The conference aims to discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by corpus linguistics research in the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, as well as the future development trend.

This conference attracted hundreds of corpus linguistics experts and scholars worldwide to have in-depth discussions around the conference theme of “New Data, New Theories”. Through keynote speeches, sub-forums, and poster presentations, the conference shared the latest research results and insights of researchers.

The 25th kicked off with two brilliant workshops. In the morning, Prof. Su Hang from Sichuan University of Foreign Languages, Dr. Zhang Lei from Anhui University of Finance and Economics, and Dr. Lin Ling from Shanghai Jiaotong University discussed in depth the theoretical and methodological issues of local grammar research. In the afternoon, Prof. Vaclav Brezina from UK-Lancaster University introduced the techniques of using LancsBox, a corpus analysis tool, and data-driven learning practices. The workshop was richly organized, with a high level of participation from the participants and a lively atmosphere.

On the morning of the 26^th, the main conference officially started. At the opening ceremony, Prof. Shang Biwu, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages, delivered a welcome speech, emphasizing in particular that the School of Foreign Languages has deep deposits in the field of corpus linguistics research, stressing the importance of disciplinary intersections and academic exchanges.

Afterward, Prof. Liang Maocheng from Behang University, president of the Corpus Linguistics Committee of the Chinese Society for Comparative Studies of English and Chinese, delivered a speech. He pointed out that at present, corpus linguistics is facing the challenges of big data information mining technology and artificial intelligence technology, and the research needs the innovation of theory and technology, this conference is an important platform to promote the progress of corpus linguistics research and promote international cooperation.

After the opening ceremony, the conference entered into the keynote speech session. There were four keynote speeches on the morning of the 26^th. First, Prof. Martin Hilpert from Neuchâtel, Switzerland, gave a speech entitled “Investigating Connectivity Change in the Constructional Network”. In his presentation, he focused on a new corpus-based approach to investigate diachronic change in constructional profiles. Focusing on assimilation and differentiation between constructions and specifically the development of comparative adjectives such as sweeter and easier, he compared how sequential connectivity affects the elements of the category and how these changes unfold at the level of the constructional network.

The second keynote speaker was Prof. Naixing Wei from the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The title of his presentation was “Towards a Data-Explanation-Interpretation Approach to Confrontation Discourse Studies”. Firstly, he systematically reviewed the crucial concepts of contradiction in pure philosophy, dialectical philosophy, and language philosophy behind confrontation discourse. Secondly, he proposed a methodological approach of data-explanation-interpretation to analyze confrontation discourse and pointed out that corpus methods and computational means can be used for data construction and interpretation, but all kinds of interpretations need to be completed within the framework of humanities.

The third keynote presentation was given by Prof. Michael Barlow from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His presentation was entitled “Trends in Corpus Linguistics”. He pointed out that we have entered the era of Large Language Models and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and it is necessary to review how some theoretical and technological trends during the last decades have influenced the use of corpora in different types of language research. He categorizes corpus applications into three phases, pre-digital, Digital Phrase I, and Digital Phrase II, and uses this to project the challenges and opportunities that the era of general AGI brings to corpus linguistics.

The final keynote speech on the morning of the 26^th was given by Prof. Vaclav Brezina from Lancaster University, UK. His presentation was entitled “Corpus Linguistics at a Crossroads: Data, Contexts and Frequencies”. He pointed out that despite the challenges posed by large language models (LLMs) and generative artificial intelligence (AI), corpus linguistics still has distinctive disciplinary characteristics, mainly in collecting representative language samples, understanding words in contexts, and providing information about frequencies of words and phrases. Then, he introduced in detail two important corpus research projects he has carried out at the University of Lancaster.

In the afternoon of the 26^th, the conference simultaneously opened ten sessions for paper presentations, the topics of which included: Corpus Linguistics Research, The Use of New Technologies in Corpus, Digital Humanities, Corpus-based Studies of Chinese Language, Corpus-based Research of Academic Language, Learner Corpus Research, Corpus-based Translation Studies, Corpus-based Contrastive Studies, Corpus-based Language Research, Corpus-based Discourse Analysis, and so on. The academic speeches in the sub-sessions were colorful, and the participants constantly collided with the sparks of academic thoughts in the warm discussions.

The keynote speeches on the morning of the 27^th were very informative. First of all, Prof. Li Wenwen from Zhejiang Gongshang University gave a unique keynote speech entitled “The Open-mindedness Policy in the Evolution of Corpus Linguistics Approaches”. He pointed out that in corpus linguistics terminology research, researchers are always imprisoned by their ontological perspectives, research orientations, preconceived categories, and the data sources they choose to use. He emphasized the importance of trusting the text, continuing to maintain an open-mindedness to linguistic facts, and subjecting any theories or assumptions to scrutiny, and that any theory has to be verified and revised to better explain linguistic facts and data.

Next, Prof. Dagmar Divjak from the University of Birmingham, UK, gave a keynote speech entitled “True to the Data, True to Cognition: Scaling up Corpus Linguistics Analyses with Computational Models of Learning”. In her presentation, she first pointed out that corpus data does not resolve all the problems faced by usage-based linguists and by cognitive linguists in particular, and then suggested that corpus data may need to be understood and analyzed radically differently to get at the wealth of cognitive information corpora (might) contain. Using a case study of tense/aspect combinations in English, she illustrated how the corpus linguistic conviction that linguistic analyses should stay close to the raw data can be combined with the cognitive linguistic requirement for the cognitive reality of the analysis.

To provide a better communication platform for the participants, the conference poster session was also organized. A total of 25 studies were selected for poster presentation, and participants exchanged views with poster presenters on cutting-edge ideas.

The last keynote speech of the conference was given by Prof. Fengchao Zhen from Shanghai Jiaotong University. The title of his presentation was “Does Semantic Prosody Need a Local Grammar”. Firstly, he reviewed the development of semantic prosody according to the time dimension and pointed out some existing problems, and then he focused on John Sinclair’s ideas and analytical paths about local grammar, trying to integrate semantic prosody into the framework of local grammar depiction of compound lexical items.

The meeting came to a successful conclusion with the summary report by Prof. Michael Barlow. Scholars at the conference have expressed that they are looking forward to the next meeting, and in the future, we will see more discoveries and breakthroughs based on the results of this conference. This academic event not only provided a valuable learning and communication platform for the participants but also injected new vitality and impetus into the field of corpus linguistics research at home and abroad.

Let’s look forward to the next Asia-Pacific Conference on Corpus Linguistics!