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When writing a grant proposal today, I explained that my research will require "gathering a 'corpus' of textual data, much like the data used to train AI systems like ChatGPT." Something about this cracks me up. Corpus linguistics has had it greatest moment — it is literally changing the world — but people don't even know what it is. They just know the know the name of Elon Musk's app. (2023-10-19 ↗)

Didn't have it in me to attend #DH2023 but loving all the posts and wishing I was there! (2023-07-12 ↗)

huge thanks to @TedUnderwood and others for organizing this special issue! (2023-06-13 ↗)

In the current special issue of NLH, my essay "Why Distant Reading Works" argues that quantitative approaches to cultural history suggest a radically different perspective on textuality. I try to think through a question that has bothered me for years: How is it possible that simply counting words can tell us anything meaningful and true about the past? To get at the answer, I dip my toes in relevance theory (a topic in linguistics) and I argue that language is sutured to actuality in ways that literary theory fails to account for. Blog: https://literarymathematics.org/2023/06/13/why-distant-reading-works/ Open-access version: https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:56213 Official published version: https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.2022.a898323 (2023-06-13 ↗)

Just finished teaching Antony and Cleopatra; now moving onto Much Ado About Nothing. When class met today I couldn’t resist bringing chocolates. Happy Valentines, y’all! (2023-02-14 ↗)