Fatih Ünal Bozdağ
Corpus linguistics · Cognitive Linguistics · NLP
I am a linguist working at the intersection of corpus linguistics, Cognitive Linguistics and natural language processing. Most of my work asks how learners of English build and stabilise grammatical knowledge from usage, and how their first language shapes that process. I approach these questions with large learner corpora, construction-based descriptions of grammar, and probabilistic and Bayesian models.
Three threads run through my research:
- Usage-based accounts of learner grammar. Constructional transfer, formulaicity and distributional stability in L2 English — modal verbs, passives, dative constructions, tense–aspect, hedging and metadiscourse — studied with corpus data (ICLE, EFCAMDAT, TICLE) and multilevel or Bayesian models.
- Turkish from a Cognitive Grammar perspective. Aspect and progressivity, embedded locative constructions, and grammaticalisation of motion and posture verbs across Turkic languages. My book Turkish Aspect through Cognitive Grammar (Artsürem, 2026) brings this line together.
- Tools for corpus research. Reproducible Python pipelines for construction detection, metadiscourse annotation, lexical and syntactic complexity, and computational stylometry (bitig). Code and data for my studies are released where copyright allows.
I teach discourse analysis, translation technology (CAT tools), medical and legal translation, and academic writing in the English Translation and Interpretation programme.
Education
- PhD, English Language Teaching, Çukurova University, 2019. Dissertation: Error mapping and remedial intervention regarding English tense–aspect structures of Turkish EFL learners (supervisor: Cem Can).
- MA, English Language Teaching, Çukurova University, 2014. Thesis: Lexical verbs in academic writings of Turkish learners of English as a second language: A corpus-based study (supervisor: Hatice Sofu).
- BA, English Language Teaching, Çukurova University, 2011.
Selected recent work
- Bozdağ, F. Ü. (in press). Native and learner verb preferences as predictors of passive use in L2 English writing. Language and Cognition. doi · data
- Bozdağ, F. Ü. (2026). Modeling distributional stability in learner English passives: The Linguistic Clusters Framework. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 23(3). doi · pdf · code · data
- Bozdağ, F. Ü., & Mo, J. (2026). Cross-linguistic influence in upper-intermediate to advanced L2 construction learning. Lingua, 341, 104239. doi
- Bozdağ, F. Ü., Morris, G., & Mo, J. (2025). A corpus-based analysis of noun modifiers in L2 writing: The respective impact of L2 proficiency and L1 background. PLOS ONE, 20(3), e0320092. doi · pdf
- Bozdağ, F. Ü., Morris, G., & Mo, J. (2024). A Bayesian probabilistic analysis of the use of English modal verbs in L2 writing. Heliyon, 10(7), e28701. doi · pdf
Full list: Publications.