LINGUIST List 5.1418

Thu 08 Dec 1994

Qs: Lexical Data Base,Reference for Dik,IPA, Starting data bank

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Aristidis Vagelatos, Lexical Data Base
2. , Reference for Dik
3. Mike Hammond, transferring IPA between mac and DOS
4. , Qns- starting data bank

Dear all,
We are in the process of designing a Lexical Data base (or Word
Data base, or whatever..) and we want any information regarding
such a system, both from the linguistic point of view and the
computer engineering poin of view. We are thinking of make the
design in a way that it can support as much information as we can
describe regarding the "word" of a Natural Language.

We would be pleased to hear of any other related projects, or
research works (papers, etc.).

Thanks in advance,
A. Vagelatos
Computer Technology Institute
Kolokotroni 3
GR 262 21 Patras
GREECE
E-mail: vagelatcti.gr
Fax: +30 61 997783
Tel: +30 61 992061

Can anyone give me bibliographical details of Volume 2 of Dik's
'The Theory of Functional Grammar'. I have a note that says this was due
out in 1992, but can find no trace of it. As Foris was taken over, and
Dik has been ill, I wonder whether it has in fact yet appeared. Any news
on its status - published or unpublished - will be very wlecome.

Martin Ball, University of Ulster.

Hi.

(There's what might appear to be computer gibberish at the beginning
here, but persevere.)

I've found myself using RTF or "Rich Text Format" (also called
"Interchange Format") to encode papers to send over the net to
colleagues. For colleagues who also use Macintoshes, this is no problem,
as I use a very common IPA font (the SIL one). For DOS/Windows people,
there is a problem though. (At least, I think there is....) Even if such
a person can read RTF format and has various DOS versions of IPA, most
likely the mapping of ascii numbers to symbols is different and the
document will not decode into something legible.

Therefore what I'd like to ask (or propose) is the following. Does
anybody know if there is a (hopefully public domain) IPA font that has
the same mapping between Macs and DOS (and maybe even for those tex/latex
folks as well)?

Wouldn't it be nice if some organization like the LSA could make something
like this available and/or encourage some kind of standardization? It
would make electronic dissemination of linguistic research much more
convenient.

Mike Hammond

 REGARDING Qns: starting data bank
Members of another list I participate in, Language in Science Learning,
have begun discussing how it might be feasible to share data, especially
time- and labor-intensive transcripts, on-line. Several concerns and a
couple of proposals are on the table, which I paraphrase below. Would
members of Linguist be willing to add their ideas or experiences to our
collective thinking about this?
Concerns. Please feel free to tell how others have addressed similar
concerns and/or to add items, bringing to our attention issues we may not
have thought of yet.
1. Legal and ethical issues of shared data. For examples, types of
permission necessary and methods of obtaining it, pseudonyms and other
identifying data.
2. Adequate representation of context, so others can make sense of data in
valid ways.
3. Related to making sense: conventions for clarity across transcripts.

Proposals. Do people on LINGUIST have other ideas or know of other models?
1. Web pages, which would allow for multiple layers and forms of contextual
information. Could even accomodate video or audio clips (more permission
problems).
2. Adapting the CHILDES (MacWhinney and Snow) model to suit science
learning, classroom, naturalistic data.

Thanks for any help you can send me. Email: cthebergeets.org. I will post
a summary to both lists.

Christine L. Theberge
Center for Performance Assessment
Educational Testing Service
Princeton, NJ 08541