Linguists (NOT Grammarians)

temima @ 06:54 am: suggestions on CL/NLP tools or applications?
What I want to do is automatically make a list of names with themed meanings and three-word strings from different themed word lists. I would like lemma and part of speech considered. I would like this done automatically. I would like phrases to be be part of word lists and taken apart when needed. I would like to build word lists from synonyms if one word is not found within that theme.

I try to look for tools to make this easier. They are often for one format, one purpose, only available online, and cannot communicate with others. There are permutation applications, but the user would have to provide their own word lists, and cannot get them from a link. Not even getting into cost and if the application is worth it.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can use? If I need to clarify anything, let me know.

isfugl @ 10:17 pm: Associative experiment
Dear friends!
Can I have some minutes of your precious attention, please?
I'm carrying out poetry associative experiment and extremely need help of all English native speakers.
It won't take you much time but I would highly appreciate your responses and contribution in my research!
Please, either post your results in below or be welcome to send them on my e-mail berloga1983@gmail.com.
( questions )

viko @ 12:02 pm: an example of a new interesting idea
Have you visited any conferences/listened to any talks recently where a new idea caught your interest? I am expecially interested in an example of a new idea in computational linguistics

eslteachertim @ 08:39 pm: Idealist v Variationist
Here's a quick one for you to consider:

Look at this quotation from Chomsky:

"Linguistic theory is concerned with an ideal speaker-listener in a completely homogeneous speech community"

Chomsky, N. (1965) “Aspects of the theory of syntax” MIT Press

Variationist theories on the other hand, believe that variation has to be present at all stages of description. How useful are the idealised and variationist models when it comes to teaching English to speakers of other languages?

For the first time in weeks I think I'm starting to get my head around what this question is asking, but I thought I'd throw it open to the public and gauge my answer in relation to the answers this post gets.

;0)

daniil_ognok @ 10:49 am: Написание корейских имен собственных
Друзья, прошу помочь в написании крейского имени с помощью кириллицы.
Почитал об этом в Интернете. Систем великое множество, сами корейцы часто транслитерируют свои имена с помощью латинского алфавита, не придерживаясь никаких правил. И все-таки, как быть с именем, которое транслитерировали вот так:

Woo Kyung, Kim

А также, название корпорации:

WOOJIN COPOLYMER Co., Ltd.

Корейское написание неизвестно.

Заранее спасибо!

iohanne @ 12:35 am: Non-Sumerian and Non-Akkadian Cuneiform
I'm interested in looking into cuneiform inscriptions in languages other than Sumerian and Akkadian. According to Professor Henry Rogers in his textbook, Writing Systems: A Linguistic Approach, the cuneiform adaptations to other languages were "conservative" and "kept the structure of Sumerian and Akkadian." In the textbook he mentions Elamite, Eblaite, Hittite, Hurrian and Urartian. In addition, Wikipedia mentions Luwian and Hattic.

In order to have an in-depth look at these other cuneiform scripts I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could point me to any academic sources. I'm particularly interested in exploring the relationship between cuneiform and the spoken language. I have learned from Rogers that cuneiform script made mix use of phonograms and morphograms and I would like explore the distribution of these grapheme classes within the cuneiform inscriptions; where they, for example, in complementary distribution (as Japanese generally uses phonograms for inflections and morphograms for lexical roots) or is the usage up to the whim of the scribe? To a lesser extent I am interested in allographic variation especially variation that arose during the initial adaptation of the script from Akkadian to the new language.

Obviously any works on the proposed phonologies of the above languages may also prove to be helpful especially if I could get my hand on a decent list of phonograms for each language. Finally, because there are apparently great innovations in Old Persian and Ugaritic cuneiform (and more research material, I'm assuming), I am interested in these two scripts most of all. Though this may all seem overly ambitious, any help at all, however small, would be greatly appreciated.

X-posted to linguaphiles

P.S. For some reason, when I look at cuneiform tables on-line, it only shows that little square with numbers and letters. I'm an idiot at technology. What do I have to do to get my computer to support the cuneiform characters?

brainstem @ 09:26 am: Linguistics T-shirts!
Hello linguists,

Northwestern University's linguistics society is selling our remaining t-shirts to help fundraise for our [entirely non-funded] club. Whether or not you are a fan of Chomsky, take a look at the shirts here and support student ling communities!

a teaser:


An explanation for the uninitiated.

Please delete if inappropriate. Thanks!

veduyu @ 11:21 pm:

whitevanilla @ 10:04 am: Linguist’s Preservation Kit Has New Digital Tools
Linguist’s Preservation Kit Has New Digital Tools

x-posted to anthropologist

TEI, Sierra Leone — Jogue, yipe, simoi are three short words for foods in Kim, a language in Sierra Leone that Tucker Childs has been trying, for the past three years, to write down, record and understand.

Kim is a dying language, and Dr. Childs a field linguist. From his base here in Tei, a small fishing village on the Waanje River, he canoes up the narrow waterways that cut across the river’s floodplain, and hikes a few miles inland, to where the last Kim communities remain. Based on recordings taken there, he has devised an alphabet and compiled a dictionary and is finishing a book on the grammar.

( Continue reading article )

urasinova @ 01:49 am: бесплатные курсы удмуртского языка в Москве
Объединение финно-угорских народов г. Москвы (ОФУН) объявляет набор на бесплатные курсы удмуртского языка для всех желающих. Занятия начнутся с сентября 2009г. на базе Поликультурного центра, м.Белорусская. По всем вопросам просьба обращаться на urasinova@gmail.com