Which tool is used to quantify language changes by analyzing large collections of texts?

• A. Corpora
• B. Diaries
• C. Audio recordings
• D. Lexicons

Answer: (A)

Using a corpus to quantify language change across large collections of texts. A corpus is a large, structured set of real texts that researchers analyze to measure how language is used. By looking at word frequencies, collocations, and how these patterns shift over time, you get a data-driven view of linguistic change across genres and periods. Diaries might contribute to a corpus, but they don’t in themselves provide the broad, representative sample needed for reliable trends. Lexicons list words and meanings, not usage patterns across vast text collections. Audio recordings pertain to speech and would need transcription to study text at scale, but the tool that enables this kind of large‑scale, measurable analysis is the corpus.