The discipline of corpus linguistics has revolutionized the study of language in a variety of ways. In this respect, semantic prosody is one of the rapidly evolving research streams that encapsulates the incorporation of digital technology into linguistic research and deserves more scholarly attention. The paper aims to offer new insights into the study of this theoretical concept. It presents a critical review of the existing literature, delineating the major merits and challenges of this area of inquiry, and suggests novel research avenues. This article has theoretical and practical implications for the future research agenda on semantic prosody. It underscores the importance of endowing this corpus linguistics concept with more clarity and consistency as to its labeling, conceptualization, and delimitation. The paper also proposes some new applications pertaining to the investigation of the discursive construction of human referents across different text types