The value of online corpora for the analysis of variation and change in the Caribbean

In recent years, corpora have proven to be very powerful tools, impacting not only the field of linguistics, but other fields like Oral Literature, Folklore, History, Anthropology, Sociology, Education, Speech Recognition and Criminal Justice. However, there are still very few large-scale corpora available for research on Caribbean and other Creole settings. This paper reviews six examples that illustrate the multiple contexts in which corpora have proven to be a meaningful instrument for understanding language variation and change. The examples come from theoretical and descriptive areas and from applied areas. Particular focus will be paid to how online corpora can benefit criminal justice. Together the examples discussed here suggest many future ways in which online corpora can serve as an invaluable for furthering research on language variation in on Caribbean communities.