English-Corpora.org

English-Corpora.org


Mark Davies created these corpora at Brigham Young University (BYU), beginning in 2004. The corpora were available online at corpus.byu.edu, and they were known as the "BYU Corpora".

During this time, people from outside of BYU used the corpora more than any other resource at BYU, and the corpora were cited more in academic publications than any other resource created at BYU (more).

From 2015-2019, however, administrators at BYU ( 1 2 3 4  5  ) carried out a number of actions that seriously threatened the corpora. Their actions may be due to the fact that the primary mission of BYU is religious in nature (rather than academic), and therefore some administrators at BYU treat it more like a religious seminary than an actual university. So in fairness to them, these people were probably unable to understand how their actions would impact professors and students at other universities throughout the world, where academic research and teaching are the primary goals.

In response to these actions by administrators at BYU, Mark Davies moved the corpora off-campus to English-Corpora.org in 2019, and then Mark left BYU in 2020.

The end result of these changes is that there is no longer any connection between the corpora and BYU. This will help to protect the corpora, and ensure their long-term availability for researchers, teachers, and students.

And finally, we would kindly request that you no longer refer to the corpora from English-Corpora.org as the "BYU Corpora" in your publications, presentations, and teaching. Thank you.