LANGUAGE OF AIRCRAFT DOCUMENTATION: USING A MULTILINGUAL CORPUS IN COLLABORATIVE WORK IN LEXICOGRAPHY AND PEDAGOGY

Abstract

This paper describes collaborative work by two higher education institutions in Brazil and China that joined forces to build a corpus with a view to investigating the language of aircraft maintenance documentation for teaching and lexicography purposes. The corpus consists of three languages, including English, with Chinese and Portuguese still under construction. The paper opens with an overview of language-related studies in the aircraft maintenance field, drawing attention to this specific niche and its demands. It discusses trials already performed with the English and Chinese sub-corpora, challenges faced, and the importance of task-sharing in multidisciplinary teams. It emphasizes the need to combine linguistics and professional expertise not only to develop materials for the aviation industry but also to assist the development of trainees who can experience a professional setting during their education. The corpus will be used in (among others) preparing pedagogical material for teaching not only aircraft maintenance personnel but also pilots and air traffic controllers. The corpus will also serve as a lexicographic resource for designing a visual dictionary with collocates and constructing trilingual glossaries.