1,721,018 research outputs found
Pathways for accessing legacy materials in Tohono O'odham
Full text linkThis paper reports work on two sets of legacy materials for Tohono O'odham, a Uto-Aztecan language spoken in Arizona and Sonora Mexico. Tohono O'odham speakers have declined in their numbers, with just above 8,000 speakers in 2000, suggesting a 20% decline since 1990. However, O'odham speakers and revitalization programs could benefit from linguistic resources. Author (2005) discusses a century's worth of archival holdings, covering numerous genres, most of which is unpublished. Here we look at efforts to increase access to the texts from a dialect survey in the 1980s and at efforts to create an online version the out-of-print dictionary compiled by Madeleine Mathiot in 1973. Both projects would increase accessibility of O'odham language materials. The projects bear on several issues of relevance: archiving, collaboration, representing manuscript formats in a community-friendly format, technology, and mobilization of data. The Tohono O'odham dictionary project has gone through several incarnations, mostly at the University of Arizona. Unfortunately, the Mathiot dictionary is still not online, stymied by funding shortages, software and font challenges, changes in grad student personnel, and lack of clarity regarding copyrights. We are more than halfway done with editing the text files of this dictionary, with Mathiot herself editing for presentation and to include errors not addressed in the published version. Once this version is done and online, it will be straightforward to address orthographic differences from the tribal orthography, as well as create options for self-publishing so that community members can print it. Ofelia Zepeda and Jane Hill worked with 92 elders in the 1980s collecting word-lists and texts as part of a dialect survey. These materials have been transcribed in Tohono O'odham, but are untranslated and unpublished. We are scanning the manuscripts into PDF format for preservation and creating text files, and a community member is working on translations. Preliminary versions of accessible texts have the potential to be changed in global ways, given word-processing tools. Preserving the transcripts for accuracy is the first step, which creates a foundation for community-driven revisions. This project involves community members, original researchers, and graduate and post-graduate assistants. The resulting files offer a number of ways to increase access for the tribal community, and established collaborations with the tribal college offer an avenue for successful explorations to mobilize these materials for speakers and revitalization programs
Training communities, training graduate students: The 2012 Oklahoma Breath of Life Workshop
Full text linkWhile grassroots organizations like the American Indian Language Development Institute have long shown the importance of training to indigenous language communities, an increasing emphasis on training in language documentation and revitalization is emerging in new funding initiatives and training institutes and consortia world-wide. In this current atmosphere, the 2012 Oklahoma Breath of Life Workshop presents a case study in training in which the goals of training indigenous community members and graduate students can take place simultaneously. With the rising prominence of training models in language documentation and revitalization, and the practical dimension faced by limitations on resources like personnel and funding, the importance of satisfying multiple goals in a single training venue cannot be underestimated.
Three factors underlie the successes of the 2012 OKBOL: team selection process; mentoring; final day activities and reflection. First, the team selection process made use of labor distribution. One Co-Director took primary responsibility for recruitment of participants. The other Co-Director had a larger pool of graduate linguistics students to draw from, and so took responsibility for mentor recruitment. Regular communication between the two ensured appropriate pairing, especially important considering the diverse languages represented in Oklahoma. Potential student mentors participated at various pre-BOL workshops, allowing both Co-Directors opportunities to evaluate their mentoring abilities in actual training contexts.
Second, the teaching team during the week of the OKBOL represented experienced participants in indigenous language revitalization. In particular, Mr. Daryl Baldwin set the theme of language in the home, and contributed his perspective as a Miami tribal member involved in language reclamation. The instructors met with the mentors in a pre-workshop session and a mid- week mentoring session, where all shared impressions and made adjustments to best serve the participants' needs.
Finally, the last day activities were designed to empower the participants and allow the co-directors to assess the success of the activities. Like the California Breath of Life, OKBOL participants shared a final project with all attendees. Community participants filled out a formal evaluation form of the week's events and activities. Graduate students wrote a short reflection on their experiences, drawing on the reflective practices associated with theories of service-learning (Author 2010).
The 2012 OKBOL demonstrates how to train two diverse audiences as part of a single workshop. This case study can help other training venues build capacity with limited personnel and funding in an effective manner
Using listening workshops to integrate phonology into language revitalization: Learner training in Chickasaw pronunciation
No full textFinding effective ways to bolster the relationship between linguistic documentation and language revitalization and pedagogy is important for endangered languages, especially severely threatened ones. We propose a model where documentation and analysis feed into revitalization and training, extrapolating from experiences with pronunciation training for Chickasaw learners. This research is important because for many languages, the phonological aspects are often underdocumented and teacher training may omit phonetics and phonology. Sounding 'native'-like in pronunciation is often a goal in instruction and learning for endangered language. This goal can be furthered by attention to phonology in both documentation and revitalization.
The Chickasaw language is estimated to have 65 or fewer fluent speakers, all over the age of 60, and a core group of four to five proficient second language learners. The Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program utilizes fluent speakers by drawing on their insights and talents to train new speakers. High priorities for the program are creating new speakers, documenting speech and intuitions from fluent speakers, and ensuring that enrolled citizens of the Chickasaw Nation have access to enrichment language activities via web resources and mobile apps.
We designed listening workshops for Chickasaw learners, using wordlists and narratives. Wordlists teach about phonemes and allophones in the language and phonological variation among speakers. Narratives expose learners to phonological processes like rhythmic lengthening and internal ablaut in verbs, as well as increase exposure to connected speech, fast speech deletion and more.
Concepts like allophones, ablaut, and rhythmic lengthening are indirectly taught in these sessions; we avoid using phonetic and phonological terms. The theoretical concepts drive the design of workshop materials and data collection. Recognizing and acquiring higher level prosody like word rhythm, sentence (and paragraph) rhythm, and ablaut is important to strengthen speaking and listening skills from beginner to intermediate or advanced levels. Second, by having revitalization workshops as one outcome for documentation, the collection and analysis of language materials simultaneously document and teach Chickasaw. Third, fluent speakers are welcome at workshops. Their commentary and additional examples reinforce phonetic and phonological lessons, highlight the reality of language variation, and solidify relationships between learners, speakers and the research team.
Multiple uses for language documentation allows efficient use of resources, whether it is money, time or the contributions of Chickasaw elders. Importantly, our Chickasaw training model is easily extendable to other language communities
The relationship between hip abductor muscle strength and magnitude of pelvic drop following a 3 week strengthening protocol in non-specific low back pain patients.
No full textPurpose: To examine the relationship between hip abductor muscle (HABD) strength and the magnitude of pelvic drop (MPD) for patients with non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) and controls (CON) prior to and following a 3-week HABD strengthening protocol. At baseline, we hypothesized that NSLBP patients would exhibit reduced HABD strength and greater MPD compared to CON. Following the protocol, we hypothesized that strength would increase and MPD would decrease. Relevance: The Trendelenburg test (TT) is a common clinical test used to examine the ability of the HABD to maintain horizontal pelvic position during single limb stance. However, no study has specifically tested this theory. Moreover, no study has investigated the relationship between HABD strength and pelvic motion during walking or tested whether increased HABD strength would reduce the MPD. Methods: Quasi-experimental with 3-week exercise intervention. Fifteen NSLBP patients (32.5yrs,range 21-51yrs; VAS baseline: 5.3cm) and 10 CON (29.5yrs,range 22-47yrs) were recruited. Isometric HABD strength was measured using a force dynamometer and the average of three maximal voluntary contractions were normalized to body mass (N/kg). Two-dimensional MPD (degrees) was measured using a 60 Hz camera and was derived from two retroreflective-markers placed on the posterior superior iliac spines. MPD was measured while performing the static TT and while walking and averaged over 10 consecutive footfalls. NSLBP patients completed a 3-week HABD strengthening protocol consisting of 2 open-kinetic-chain exercises then all measures were repeated. Non-parametric analysis was used for group comparisons and correlation analysis. Results: At baseline, the NSLBP patients demonstrated 31% reduced HABD strength (mean=6.6 N/kg) compared to CON (mean=9.5 N/kg: p=0.03) and no significant differences in maximal pelvic frontal plane excursion while walking (NSLBP:mean=8.1°, CON:mean=7.1°: p=0.72). No significant correlations were measured between left HABD strength and right MPD (r=-0.37, p=0.11), or between right HABD strength and left MPD (r=-0.04, p=0.84) while performing the static TT. Following the 3-week strengthening protocol, NSLBP patients demonstrated a 12% improvement in strength (Post:mean=7.4 N/kg: p=0.02), a reduction in pain (VAS followup: 2.8cm), but no significant decreases in MPD while walking (p=0.92). Conclusions: NSLBP patients demonstrated reduced HABD strength at baseline and were able to increase strength and reduce pain in a 3-week period. However, despite increases in HABD strength, the NSLBP group exhibited similar MPD motion during the static TT and while walking compared to baseline and controls. Implications: The results suggest that the HABD alone may not be primarily responsible for controlling a horizontal pelvic position during static and dynamic conditions. Increasing the strength of the hip abductors resulted in a reduction of pain in NSLBP patients providing evidence for further research to identify specific musculature responsible for controlling pelvic motion
Designing pedagogy from Cherokee language and ecological documentation
No full textDocumenting traditional ecological knowledge in indigenous languages is urgently needed, seen in more widely available training options, such as master classes in folk taxonomy and ethnobotany at venues like ICLDC, CoLang, and other venues. Here we present a collaborative project to create a set of videos documenting Cherokee language and ecological knowledge. Multiple 'by-products' result. Training, curriculum creation, and the documentation itself are all positive outcomes stemming from our academic-tribal partnership, the differing strengths of our teams, and our focus on creating versatile documentary products. The model is useful for other community contexts, especially in maximizing the uses of documentation and its applications.
Our partnership consists of Cherokee Nation's vigorous Language Program and Natural Resources Department with the University of Texas at Arlington, whose strengths lie in documentation, revitalization, and indigenous language service projects. Importantly, Cherokee Nation prioritizes language revitalization and the documentation of ethnobotanical and ecological knowledge (Cherokee Nation, 2010).
We proceeded as follows. The Cherokee Language Program publicized the project and recruited fluent speakers with specialized knowledge on plants and nature. UTA students then documented language and ecological knowledge in a Field Methods course, recording approximately three hours of video in Cherokee onsite in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Students processed and edited the video, and prepared meta-documentation. With fluent speakers from the Language Program, they are transcribing and translating the Cherokee videos.
By creating a curriculum unit that draws on regional strengths in Traditional Ecological Knowledge, this project provides a ready-made unit for use by a variety of instructors. Technology like ELAN can create subtitled language videos on traditional uses of plants uploadable to Cherokee Language Program's YouTube channel, for widespread community use, whether by immersion school students, young adults studying Cherokee at Northeastern State University or wider audiences within Cherokee Nation or other universities. Many of the recordings are segmented as free-standing shorter videos, facilitating their usefulness for multiple purposes. Video also means it is possible to have online delivery of the unit as a course accompaniment. Because the videos include spontaneous Cherokee educational narratives, anecdotes and conversation, they have additional, significant value.
Ultimately, both the technical training on video and the actual documentation with this ecological focus increases both newly-trained field linguists and Cherokee language and scientific resources. Our project is also replicable by others needing to maximize resources and to create versatile documentation in language and traditional ecological knowledge.
Reference:
Cherokee Natural Resources Department. 2010. The Wild Plants of the Cherokee Nation. Tahlequah, OK: Cherokee Nation
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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