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If I am totally foreign to a language, are there corpus analysis methodologies and theories that I can employ to figure out the meaning of a word in a corpus based on that language?

If yes, do point me to the appropriate resources - monologues, journal articles, linguists, that describe these methodologies and the rational/theories behind them.

If no, does that mean all corpus analyses related to meaning (by this, I usually mean figuring out the meaning of a single lexeme - the kind of business that a lexicographer engages in) must be corroborated by the researcher's prior knowledge of the language or lexeme, and hence lexicography can only be done by a person who is proficient in it?

forgodsakehold
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  • See also this answer: https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/34083/could-the-ancient-egyptian-hieroglyphs-have-been-deciphered-without-the-rosetta/34102#34102 – Sir Cornflakes May 15 '20 at 15:41
  • The fact that there are attested words, even in languages with significant corpora, whose meanings we don’t know would imply that the answer is at least sometimes no. – Janus Bahs Jacquet May 21 '20 at 21:28

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