Which term describes the number of occurrences of a language item within a text corpus?

Which term describes the number of occurrences of a language item within a text corpus?

• A. Frequency
• B. Density
• C. Prevalence
• D. Incidence

Answer: (A)

Frequency is the term for how many times a language item appears in a text corpus. It represents the raw tally of occurrences, which is exactly what this question asks for. If you were to standardize by text size, you’d get a density measure (occurrences per unit of text), but the question focuses on the simple count. Prevalence deals with how widespread the item is across texts or speakers, and incidence refers to the rate of new occurrences over time or within a population. So frequency best fits the idea of counting how often the item shows up in the corpus.

Frequency is the term for how many times a language item appears in a text corpus. It represents the raw tally of occurrences, which is exactly what this question asks for. If you were to standardize by text size, you’d get a density measure (occurrences per unit of text), but the question focuses on the simple count. Prevalence deals with how widespread the item is across texts or speakers, and incidence refers to the rate of new occurrences over time or within a population. So frequency best fits the idea of counting how often the item shows up in the corpus.