LINGUIST List 8.1233

Thu Aug 28 1997

FYI: Thanks, LDC Collection

Editor for this issue: Martin Jacobsen <martylinguistlist.org>

Directory

  • PETEROlonelyplanet.com.au>, Many thanks
  • LDC Office, New Collection from the Linguistic Data Consortium

    Message 1: Many thanks

     Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 17:31:10 +0000
    From: PETEROlonelyplanet.com.au> <PETEROlonelyplanet.com.au>
    Subject: Many thanks


    Dear Linguists,

    The response for my call for help on the 20th August with languages for the Lonely Planet guide to South India was fantastic.There were too many interested parties to reply to directly so I would like to sincerely thank everyone who answered our call for help. I am considering all the replies that I have received and will notify the relevant people.

    Thanks again,

    Peter D'Onghia Lonely Planet Language Products

    Message 2: New Collection from the Linguistic Data Consortium

     Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 18:40:25 EDT
    From: LDC Office <ldcunagi.cis.upenn.edu>
    Subject: New Collection from the Linguistic Data Consortium


    Announcing a NEW RELEASE from the LINGUISTIC DATA CONSORTIUM

    CALLFRIEND Collection in 12 Languages and 3 Dialect Comparisons

    The CALLFRIEND project supports the development of language identification technology. Calls were collected in the following languages: American English, Canadian French, Egyptian Arabic, Farsi, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, Tamil, and Vietnamese. Two major dialect groups were collected for English, Mandarin, and Spanish. The dialect comparison groups include: southern vs. non-southern American English, Caribbean Spanish vs. non-Caribbean Spanish, and Mainland Mandarin (China) vs. Mandarin as spoken in Taiwan.

    Each CALLFRIEND language consists of 60 unscripted telephone conversations, lasting between 5 and 30 minutes. The corpora also include documentation describing speaker information (sex, age, education, callee telephone number) and call information (channel quality, number of speakers).

    For each conversation, both the caller and callee are native speakers of the designated language. All calls are domestic and were placed inside the continental United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, or the Dominican Republic.

    Institutions that have membership in the LDC for either the 1996 or 1997 Membership Year will be able to receive the CALLFRIEND materials at no additional charge, in the same manner as all other speech corpora published by the LDC.

    Nonmembers can purchase CALLFRIEND materials for research purposes only. The cost of the CALLFRIEND collection is $600 per language or per dialect. If you would like to order any of these corpora, please email your request to ldcunagi.cis.upenn.edu. If you need additional information before placing your order, or would like to inquire about membership in the LDC, please send email or call (215) 898-0464.

    Further information about the LDC and its available corpora can be accessed on the Linguistic Data Consortium WWW Home Page at URL http://www.ldc.upenn.edu/. Information is also available via ftp at ftp.cis.upenn.edu under pub/ldc; for ftp access, please use "anonymous" as your login name, and give your email address when asked for password.

    LDC96S46 CALLFRIEND American English-Non-Southern Dialect LDC96S47 CALLFRIEND American English-Southern Dialect LDC96S48 CALLFRIEND Canadian French LDC96S49 CALLFRIEND Egyptian Arabic LDC96S50 CALLFRIEND Farsi LDC96S51 CALLFRIEND German LDC96S52 CALLFRIEND Hindi LDC96S53 CALLFRIEND Japanese LDC96S54 CALLFRIEND Korean LDC96S55 CALLFRIEND Mandarin Chinese-Mainland Dialect LDC96S56 CALLFRIEND Mandarin Chinese-Taiwan Dialect LDC96S57 CALLFRIEND Spanish-Caribbean Dialect LDC96S58 CALLFRIEND Spanish-Non-Caribbean Dialect LDC96S59 CALLFRIEND Tamil LDC96S60 CALLFRIEND Vietnamese