---
title: "Corpus Pattern Analysis — Hanks 2004"
description: "Hanks proposes Corpus Pattern Analysis (CPA), a method that maps meaning onto words by their typical syntagmatic… 13 references, cited by 26 papers here."
authors: ["Patrick Hanks"]
year: 2004
venue: "Proceedings of the XI EURALEX International Congress (Lorient), vol. 1, 2004"
source: "https://euralex.org/category/publications/euralex-2004/"
licence: "EURALEX proceedings ≤2016: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0"
licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/"
summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License"
canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hanks-2004-corpus-pattern-analysis/"
---
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# Corpus Pattern Analysis

**Authors:** [Patrick Hanks](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/patrick-hanks/) · **Year:** 2004 · **Venue:** Proceedings of the XI EURALEX International Congress (EURALEX 2004) **Link:** [euralex.org/category/publications/euralex-2004](https://euralex.org/category/publications/euralex-2004/) · **Licence:** [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) — summary only

[**111** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2596295831) OpenAlex, 2026-10-14 · [**26** citations in our library](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hanks-2004-corpus-pattern-analysis/cited-by/) of the 140,884 papers whose bibliographies we read · [Proceedings of the XI EURALEX International Congress (Lorient), vol. 1, 2004](https://openalex.org/S4306523506) · [licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

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**Authors (1)**

1. [Patrick Hanks](https://openalex.org/A5013794789) h 34 · 9,553 citations · 150 works

Citations and author metrics: OpenAlex, 2026-10-14; authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

Hanks proposes Corpus Pattern Analysis (CPA), a method that maps meaning onto words by their typical syntagmatic patterns rather than by dictionary senses. Verb patterns are written as slots (Subject, Object, Subject-Complement, Object-Complement, Adverbial, Clausal), with semantic types in double brackets, lexical items in braces, and optional parts in parentheses. A sub-valency feature such as a determiner can change the sense (an event took place versus someone took someone else's place). Meaning is given as a set of basic implicatures attached to each pattern. The paper's example is the verb "hazard": about 40% of British and nearly 80% of American direct objects are "guess", the prototype from which other uses are derived. The paper has no evaluation; the verb patterns are shown with British National Corpus frequencies, and the full method is a work in progress.

## Ideas

- I3. Prior from frequency: count the top pattern's share per verb on an open silver corpus, and use it as the default when the object is missing. Report, per verb, how often the default is right; the BNC share cannot be used to build anything (NC), only to test.

## For Mova

- I1. `world/src/frames.rs`: add a pattern table for verbs keyed by clause slots (subject, object, complement, adverbial, clausal) with a determiner sub-valency flag, and measure how many verb tokens in an open English treebank (EWT, CC BY-SA) get a pattern from the slots the `prag` frames reader already fills.
- I2. `onto/src/wsd.rs`: when a verb has more than one pattern, choose the pattern whose object slot matches the noun head (for "hazard a guess" the object decides). Measure the accuracy of the verb sense choice on EWT verb-object pairs against the most-frequent-pattern baseline.

The touch points are `world/src/frames.rs` (verb frames and event nouns), `onto/src/wsd.rs` (sense choice) and `prag` (implicatures). The chapters are [languages/en/13-verbs.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/13-verbs/) for complementation patterns and [languages/en/23-complementation.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/23-complementation/). The paper's BNC figures are NC data and are for tests only. Measure first the pattern coverage on EWT verbs before writing any pattern table.

## Cite

Cite as Patrick Hanks. 2004. Corpus Pattern Analysis. Proceedings of the XI EURALEX International Congress (Lorient), vol. 1, 2004.

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```bibtex
@inproceedings{hanks2004corpus,
  title = {{Corpus Pattern Analysis}},
  author = {Patrick Hanks},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the XI EURALEX International Congress (Lorient), vol. 1, 2004},
  year = {2004},
  url = {https://euralex.org/category/publications/euralex-2004/}
}
```

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## References

13 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

1. Atkins, B. T. S. 1993. Toolsfor computer-aided corpus lexicography: the Hectorproject. Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 41. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Atkins%2C+B%2E+T%2E+S%2E+1993%2E+Toolsfor+computer%2Daided+corpus+lexicography%3A+the+Hectorproject%2E+Acta+Linguistica+Hungarica%2C+41%2E)
2. Church, Kenneth W., and Patrick Hanks. 1989. 'Word Association Norms, Mutual mformation, and Lexicography' in Proceedings of the 27th Annual Meeting of the Associationfor Computational Linguistics; reprmted in Computational Linguistics 16:1, 1990. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Church%2C+Kenneth+W%2E%2C+and+Patrick+Hanks%2E+1989%2E+%27Word+Association+Norms%2C+Mutual+mformation%2C+and+Lexicography%27+in+Proceedings+of+the+27th+Annual+Meeting+of+the+Associationfor+Computational+Linguistics%3B+re)
3. Church, K., W. Gale, Patrick Hanks, Don Hindle, and Rosamund Moon. 1994. 'Lexical Substitutability' in B. T. S. Atkins and A. Zampolli (eds.), Computational Approaches to the Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Church%2C+K%2E%2C+W%2E+Gale%2C+Patrick+Hanks%2C+Don+Hindle%2C+and+Rosamund+Moon%2E+1994%2E+%27Lexical+Substitutability%27+in+B%2E+T%2E+S%2E+Atkins+and+A%2E+Zampolli+%28eds%2E%29%2C+Computational+Approaches+to+the+Lexicon%2E+Oxford%3A+Clarendo)
4. Fillmore, Charles J. 1975. 'An Alternative to Checklist Theories of Meaning' in Papers from the First Annual Meeting ofthe Berkeley Linguistics Society. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Fillmore%2C+Charles+J%2E+1975%2E+%27An+Alternative+to+Checklist+Theories+of+Meaning%27+in+Papers+from+the+First+Annual+Meeting+ofthe+Berkeley+Linguistics+Society%2E)
5. Halliday, Michael. 1966. 'Lexis as a Linguistic Level' in C. E. Bazell, J. C. Catford, M. A. K. Halliday, and R. H. Robins (eds.): In Memory ofJ. R. Firth. Longman. Reprinted in part in 1976 as Chapter 6 ofHalliday: System and Function in Language, ed. G. Kress. Oxford University Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Halliday%2C+Michael%2E+1966%2E+%27Lexis+as+a+Linguistic+Level%27+in+C%2E+E%2E+Bazell%2C+J%2E+C%2E+Catford%2C+M%2E+A%2E+K%2E+Halliday%2C+and+R%2E+H%2E+Robins+%28eds%2E%29%3A+In+Memory+ofJ%2E+R%2E+Firth%2E+Longman%2E+Reprinted+in+part+in+1976+as+Chapte)
6. Hanks, Patrick. 1994. 'Linguistic Norms and Pragmatic Explanations, or Why Lexicographers need Prototype Theory and Vice Versa' in F. Kiefer, G. Kiss, and J. Pajzs (eds.), Papers in Computational Lexicography: Complex '94. Research institute for Linguistics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Hanks%2C+Patrick%2E+1994%2E+%27Linguistic+Norms+and+Pragmatic+Explanations%2C+or+Why+Lexicographers+need+Prototype+Theory+and+Vice+Versa%27+in+F%2E+Kiefer%2C+G%2E+Kiss%2C+and+J%2E+Pajzs+%28eds%2E%29%2C+Papers+in+Computational+Lexi)
7. Hanks, Patrick. Forthcoming (a). 'The Syntagmatics ofMetaphor and Idioms'. To appear in International Journal ofLexicography, March 2005. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Hanks%2C+Patrick%2E+Forthcoming+%28a%29%2E+%27The+Syntagmatics+ofMetaphor+and+Idioms%27%2E+To+appear+in+International+Journal+ofLexicography%2C+March+2005%2E)
8. Hanks, Patrick. Forthcoming (b). Norms and Exploitations: Mapping Meaning onto Use. MIT Press. COMPUTATIONAL LEXlCOGRAPHYAND LEXICOLOGY Jackendoff, Ray 2002. Foundations ofLanguage. Oxford University Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Hanks%2C+Patrick%2E+Forthcoming+%28b%29%2E+Norms+and+Exploitations%3A+Mapping+Meaning+onto+Use%2E+MIT+Press%2E+COMPUTATIONAL+LEXlCOGRAPHYAND+LEXICOLOGY+Jackendoff%2C+Ray+2002%2E+Foundations+ofLanguage%2E+Oxford+University+)
9. Kilgarriff, Adam, and David Tugwell. 2001. 'WASP-Bench: an MT Lexicographers' Workstation Supporting State-oAhe-art Lexical Disambiguation' in Proceedings ofMT Summit VII, Santiago de Compostela. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Kilgarriff%2C+Adam%2C+and+David+Tugwell%2E+2001%2E+%27WASP%2DBench%3A+an+MT+Lexicographers%27+Workstation+Supporting+State%2DoAhe%2Dart+Lexical+Disambiguation%27+in+Proceedings+ofMT+Summit+VII%2C+Santiago+de+Compostela%2E)
10. Sinclair, John. 1966. 'Beginning the Study ofLexis' in C. E. Bazell, J. C. Catford, M. A. K. Halliday, and R. H. Robins (eds.): In Memory ofJ. R. Firth. Longman. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Sinclair%2C+John%2E+1966%2E+%27Beginning+the+Study+ofLexis%27+in+C%2E+E%2E+Bazell%2C+J%2E+C%2E+Catford%2C+M%2E+A%2E+K%2E+Halliday%2C+and+R%2E+H%2E+Robins+%28eds%2E%29%3A+In+Memory+ofJ%2E+R%2E+Firth%2E+Longman%2E)
11. Sinclair, John (ed.). 1987. Looking Up: an Account of the Cobuild Project in Lexical Computing. HarperCollins. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Sinclair%2C+John+%28ed%2E%29%2E+1987%2E+Looking+Up%3A+an+Account+of+the+Cobuild+Project+in+Lexical+Computing%2E+HarperCollins%2E)
12. Sinclair,John 1991: Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. OxfordUniversityPress. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Sinclair%2CJohn+1991%3A+Corpus%2C+Concordance%2C+Collocation%2E+OxfordUniversityPress%2E)
13. Sinclair, John, Patrick Hanks, et al. 1987. The Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary. HarperCollins. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Sinclair%2C+John%2C+Patrick+Hanks%2C+et+al%2E+1987%2E+The+Collins+Cobuild+English+Language+Dictionary%2E+HarperCollins%2E)