LINGUIST List 9.1460

Tue Oct 20 1998

FYI: PDT, ELF, New linguistic program

Editor for this issue: Brett Churchill <brettlinguistlist.org>

Directory

  • Daniel Zeman, Prague Dependency Treebank
  • whalen, Endangered Language Fund Request for Proposals
  • Stanley Dubinsky, Graduate student support in Linguistics and French Literature

    Message 1: Prague Dependency Treebank

     Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 17:48:14 +0000
    From: Daniel Zeman <zemanufal.ms.mff.cuni.cz>
    Subject: Prague Dependency Treebank


    The Institute of Formal and Applied Linguistics (UFAL) at the Charles University, Prague, proudly announces that the first version of the PRAGUE DEPENDENCY TREEBANK has been made available to the research community.

    The Prague Dependency Treebank (PDT) is a morphologically and syntactically annotated corpus of Czech as a representative of inflectionally rich free-word-order languages. (E.g., all the Slavic languages such as Russian, Polish, Serbo-Croatian and many others spoken together by more than 350 million people have similar typological properties as Czech in both morphology and syntax.) The current version of PDT (0.5) contains 456705 tokens (words+punctuation) in 26610 sentences and 576 files. For keeping results of NLP applications comparable the data has been divided into a training set (19126 sentences), a development test set (3697 sentences) and a (cross-)evaluation test data set (3787 sentences).

    The Prague Dependency Treebank is - to a certain extent - modelled after the Penn Treebank but it uses the dependency syntax representation of sentences. It has three layers:

    1.morphological (uses word forms, tags, lemmas) 2.analytical, or surface syntax (uses dependencies and analytical functions of dependencies) 3.tectogrammatical, which captures linguistic meaning (contains tectogrammatical functions such as Actor, Patient, Addressee, etc.)

    The Prague Dependency Treebank is a long-term project which should end in the year 2000. At the moment (October 1998) we have at our disposal roughly half the material (at levels 1 and 2) while the level 3 is still in the specification phase and rules of transition between the representations on level 2 and level 3 are being formulated. The current version is thus preliminary and identified as "PDT version 0.5" (reflecting mostly the amount of material currently available).

    The text material contains samples from the following sources:

    1.Lidove noviny (daily newspapers), 1991, 1994, 1995 2.Mlada fronta Dnes (daily newspapers), 1992 3.Ceskomoravsky Profit (business weekly), 1994 4.Vesmir (scientific magazine), Academia Publishers, 1992, 1993

    The electronic source has been provided by the Institute of the Czech National Corpus, in a format jointly developed by the ICNK and UFAL.

    The Treebank has been supported by the following grants and projects:

    Grant Agency of the Czech Republic No. 405/96/0198 (Treebank Definition and Procedures Specification) Grant Agency of the Czech Republic No. 405/96/K214 (Tools and Level 1 Annotation) Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic Project No. VS96151 (Tools and Structural Annotation on the Level 2) National Science Foundation grant No. #IIS-9732388 (Version 0.5 Preparation for the Workshop 98)

    The documentation of PDT is linked from its main page at UFAL. Go to the UFAL home page, http://ufal.ms.mff.cuni.cz/, then click on "Projects" and "Treebank".

    The PDT Version 0.5 is freely available for research purposes providing you fill in and submit a licence agreement. The appropriate form is also linked from the PDT web page.



    - Daniel Zeman, UFAL MFF UK, Praha zemanufal.mff.cuni.cz http://www.ms.mff.cuni.cz/~zeman/

    Message 2: Endangered Language Fund Request for Proposals

     Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 17:41:58 -0400
    From: whalen <whalenlenny.haskins.yale.edu>
    Subject: Endangered Language Fund Request for Proposals


    Request for Proposals, Endangered Language Fund

    The Endangered Language Fund provides grants for language maintenance and linguistic field work. The work most likely to be funded is that which serves both the native community and the field of linguistics. Work which has immediate applicability to one group and more distant application to the other will also be considered. Publishing subventions are a low priority, although they will be considered. The language involved must be in danger of disappearing within a generation or two. Endangerment is a continuum, and the location on the continuum is one factor in our funding decisions. Eligible expenses include travel, tapes, films, consultant fees, etc. Grants are normally for one year periods, though extensions may be applied for. We expect grants in this round to be less than $2,000 in size.

    HOW TO APPLY

    There is no form, but the information requested below should be printed (on one side only) and FOUR COPIES sent to: The Endangered Language Fund Dept. of Linguistics Yale University P. O. Box 208236 New Haven, CT 06520-8236 USA

    The street address for express mail services is: The Endangered Language Fund Department of Linguistics 320 York Street Yale University New Haven, CT 06520

    Applications must be mailed in. No e-mail or fax applications will be accepted. Please note that regular mail, especially from abroad, can take up to four weeks.

    If you have any questions, please write to the same address or email to: elfhaskins.yale.edu REQUIRED INFORMATION:

    COVER PAGE:

    The first page should contain: TITLE OF THE PROJECT NAME OF LANGUAGE AND COUNTRY IN WHICH IT IS SPOKEN NAME OF PRIMARY RESEARCHER ADDRESS OF PRIMARY RESEARCHER (include phone and email if possible.) SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER (if U.S. citizen) PLACE AND DATE OF BIRTH PRESENT POSITION, EDUCATION, AND NATIVE LANGUAGE(S). PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE AND/OR PUBLICATIONS THAT ARE RELEVANT.

    Include the same information for collaborating researchers if any. This information may continue on the next page.

    DESCRIPTION:

    Beginning on a separate page, please provide a description of the project. This should normally take two pages or less, single spaced. Be detailed about the type of material that is to be collected and/or produced, and the value it will have to the native community (including relatives and descendants who do not speak the language) and to linguistic science. Give a brief description of the state of endangerment of the language in question.

    BUDGET:

    On a separate page, prepare an itemized budget that lists expected costs for the project. Estimates are acceptable, but they must be realistic. Please translate the amounts into US dollars. List other sources of support you are currently receiving or expect to receive and other applications that relate to the current one.

    LETTER OF SUPPORT:

    Two letters of support are recommended, but not required. Note that these letters, if sent separately, must arrive on or before the deadline (April 20th, 1999) in order to be considered. If more than two letters are sent, only the first two received will be read.

    LIMIT TO ONE PROPOSAL

    A researcher can be primary researcher on only one proposal.

    DEADLINE

    Applications must be received by APRIL 20th, 1999. Decisions will be delivered by the end of May, 1999.

    ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT

    Receipt of application will be made by email if an email address is given. Otherwise, the applicant must include a self-addressed post-card in order to receive the acknowledgment.

    IF A GRANT IS AWARDED

    Before receiving any funds, university-based applicants must show that they have met the requirements of their university's human subjects' committee. Tribal- or other-based applicants must provide equivalent assurance that proper protocols are being used. If a grant is made and accepted, the recipient is required to provide the Endangered Language Fund with a short formal report of the project and to provide the Fund with copies of all publications resulting from materials obtained with the assistance of the grant.

    FURTHER ENQUIRIES can be made to: The Endangered Language Fund Dept. of Linguistics Yale University P. O. Box 208236 New Haven, CT 06520-8236 USA Tel: 203-432-2450 FAX: 203-432-4087 elfhaskins.yale.edu http://www.ling.yale.edu/~elf

    Message 3: Graduate student support in Linguistics and French Literature

     Date: Mon, 19 Oct 98 14:51:45 EDT
    From: Stanley Dubinsky <DUBINSKVM.SC.EDU>
    Subject: Graduate student support in Linguistics and French Literature


    The Linguistics Program and the Department of French and Classics at the University of South Carolina are proud to announce a new cooperative endeavor for 1999-2000.

    We have coordinated the French M.A. and the Linguistics Ph.D. degrees in order to provide an integrated program in language, linguistics, and literature, and invite applications for the following two related degree programs: (1) an M.A. in French with a concentration in French Linguistics, and (2) a Ph.D. in Linguistics with a minor specialization in French Literature.

    A person completing these two degrees will be well-trained in linguistic theory, French Linguistics, and French Literature, and will have teaching experience and familiarity with CALI (computer assisted language instruction). This degree program aims to produce scholars in the area of French Language and Linguistics who would fit well in a department of foreign (or French) Language and Literature.

    Applicants for the M.A. in French should have have the equivalent of a major in French. The degree involves four graduate courses in French Literature, one graduate survey of Linguistics, three courses in French Linguistics, a comprehensive exam, and a thesis. Students in this program will be supported through teaching assistantships in French. It is anticipated that a student completing this degree will go on to pursue the Ph.D. in Linguistics as outlined below. Individuals interested in applying to the M.A. program in French should contact Professor Nancy Lane (lanengarnet.cla.sc.edu), Department of French and Classics, USC, Columbia, SC 29208. More information about the French Graduate Program is available at the following URL: http://www.cla.sc.edu/FREN/gradbn.htm

    Applicants for the Ph.D. in Linguistics should hold an M.A. (or the equivalent) in French and/or Linguistics. The degree requirements include seven core courses in linguistic theory (phonology, syntax, etc.), a four course specialization in some subdiscipline of Linguistics (e.g. historical linguistics, second language acquisition, sociolinguistics), and a four course secondary specialization in French Literature. A student in this program will be supported through a combination of teaching assistantships in French, assistantships in the Foreign Language Learning Center (language lab), and research assistantships. Individuals interested in applying to the Ph.D. program in Linguistics should contact Professor Stanley Dubinsky (dubinskysc.edu), Linguistics Program, USC, Columbia, SC 29208. More information about the Linguistics Program is available at the following URL: www.cla.sc.edu/LING/index.html

    General information for prospective students can be found at the following URL: www.sc.edu/prospective.html