What is corpus research according to the EBBS model?

Within the EBBS model, corpus research is an analytical procedure that systematically examines large, clearly defined corpuses of texts using quantitative and qualitative tools, while maintaining a strict separation between data and interpretation. A corpus is not treated as a source of meaning or normative authority, but as a repository of observable linguistic regularities, such as frequency patterns, co-occurrence, contextual distribution, and stability of usage. Corpus research findings are descriptive and probabilistic in nature; they are used to test hypotheses, identify anomalies, and limit overinterpretation, rather than to support direct theological or normative conclusions.

In the EBBS procedure, corpus research serves as diagnostic and interpretation-constraining tools, not as sources of meaning or semantic authority. Its purpose is to map observable linguistic regularities—such as form frequency, contextual distribution, co-occurrence, and stability of usage—in a clearly defined set of texts. Obtained observations define the empirical boundaries of interpretation, indicating what is typical, marginal, or anomalous. In EBBS, corpus data support hypothesis testing, triangulation, and the detection of overinterpretation, while remaining epistemically subordinate to the original data.

They provide hard data on how a word or structure actually functions in a text: where it appears, what it co-occurs with, what syntactic roles it plays, and in what genres it is used.

 This eliminates interpretations that are linguistically impossible, yet theologically appealing. 

In this sense, a corpus acts like a medical diagnostic tool—it doesn't provide a worldview diagnosis, but rather rules out misdiagnosis.

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