Research

My research centres on the Setswana language, with a particular emphasis on lexicography — the theory and practice of dictionary-making. I explore how language corpora can be used to select dictionary entries and to analyse meaning through concordance lines and concgrams, ensuring that dictionary content reflects authentic usage.

Genre & Text Type Analysis

A core strand of my work investigates how to determine that certain words belong to a specific genre or text type. By examining patterns of lexical distribution across different registers, I aim to build more accurate and representative linguistic resources.

Statistical Analysis of Language

I apply statistical methods to corpus data to uncover patterns in word frequency, collocation, and distribution. This quantitative approach strengthens both lexicographic description and broader linguistic analysis.

Corpus Design & Compilation

My research addresses the challenges of designing and compiling corpora for different languages, with a focus on how varying compilation strategies affect the quality of the resulting linguistic data. This includes work on Setswana as well as comparative corpus-building across African languages.

Language on the Web

I am interested in how language is used in digital environments, including chatsite data and SMS text. These informal, rapidly evolving modes of communication offer rich material for studying lexical innovation and language change in real time.

Student Supervision

I welcome inquiries from prospective Masters and PhD students whose research interests align with any of the areas above — particularly lexicography, corpus linguistics, genre analysis, and Setswana language studies.