A Corpus-based Study On Lexical Changes In The SOLAS Convention

The SOLAS Convention, or the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, has aroused wide public attention since1914when came into force. With the development of modern technology and the increasing number of disasters at sea, many new versions of the SOLAS Convention are introduced in different time periods, among which SOLAS1974is the most typical and popular one. The relatively new version is SOLAS2009. This thesis intends to compare SOLAS1914, SOLAS1974and SOLAS2009, and the experimental results are obtained by both qualitative and quantitative research approach, aiming to discover the changing trend and causes for it of the SOLAS Convention over almost one century.Quantitative and qualitative research indicate that the word density, average word length and word frequency distribution do shift over the95years. The word density becomes bigger and bigger, which exposes that the SOLAS Convention includes more information, more and more independent from a few high frequency words. Average word length becomes longer and longer, demonstrating that the convention contains more content and information. The word frequency distribution, too, shifts. From the changing trend, we can discover that it emphasizes more in human factor, increases the requirement of technology, adds more management chapters and strengthens the implement of the convention.In the newer versions of The SOLAS Convention, more words concerning technological management and shipping safety come up. The reason is that with the development of science and information technology and also the improvement of the whole world shipping safety level, the shift of the SOLAS Convention will thus keep up with the development of modern maritime transportation industry accordingly.