1,948 research outputs found
On defining language development
Get PDFWith the call for greater language activism, language development is a term that is entering the vocabulary of the language documentation and conservation movement. However, the term has yet to appear in any dictionary of linguistics. This poster reviews its use in the literature and proposes a three-sense definition
A global profile of language development versus language endangerment
No full textOne of the lasting contributions of Fishman’s (1991) seminal book, Reversing Language Shift, is GIDS — the Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale. He developed GIDS as a measuring rod for the level of threat to long-term language maintenance. The scale has eight levels (numbered 1 to 8) representing increasing levels of threat or disruption. At level 1, representing virtually no threat, is an official national language with a standardized written form that is used for the business of government and passed to the next generation through a national system of compulsory education. At level 8, representing virtually assured language death, is a language spoken only by the elderly. The six levels in between represent successively fewer functions for language in society as the level of disruption increases. The basic premise of GIDS is that language shift happens as languages lose functions in society. To reverse language shift, the community must engage in language development activities to bring those functions back and to even add new functions that further strengthen the position of the language (like writing and use in formal education).
GIDS is well elaborated on the safe end, but has only two levels on the endangered end. By contrast, the scale developed by the UNESCO Expert Meeting on Safeguarding Endangered Languages (Brenzinger and others 2003) identifies four levels of endangerment, but does not distinguish different levels on the safe end of the scale. We have developed an Extended GIDS (Authors 2010) by harmonizing GIDS, the UNESCO scale, and categories used in Ethnologue (Lewis 2009). The EGIDS is a 13-level scale which recognizes the following levels (from highest to lowest): International, National, Provincial, Wider Communication, Educational, Developing, Vigorous, Threatened, Shifting, Moribund, Nearly Extinct, Dormant, Extinct.
The paper will present the results of our efforts to assign an EGIDS level to every known language enumerated in the ISO 639-3 standard (ISO 2007). Since EGIDS differentiates levels of development as well as levels of endangerment, we can report not only on the extent of language endangerment worldwide, but also on the extent of language development. For instance, we find that of 7,065 known living languages, 12% are dying (8a and lower) and 21% are in trouble (6b and 7). By contrast, 10% have attained the relative safety of institutionalization (4 and higher) and 19% are vigorous with development taking place (5). This leaves 38% that are still vigorous, but not developing (6a)
OLAC: Accessing the world's language resources
Get PDFLanguage resources are the bread and butter of language documentation and linguistic investigation. They include the primary objects of study such as texts and recordings, the outputs of research such as dictionaries and grammars, and the enabling technologies such as software tools and interchange standards. Increasingly, these resources are maintained and distributed in digital form. Searching on the web for language resources in many languages is a hit-and-miss affair for three reasons: (i) resources are housed in archives that have never put their catalog online, (ii) resources are exposed online but are hidden behind form-based interfaces such that search engines cannot find them, or (iii) resources are exposed to online search engines but they are described in ad hoc ways so that searches do not retrieve desired results with precision. The Open Language Archives Community (OLAC) is addressing these problems by building on digital library standards to provide a standard format for describing language resources, which makes use of standardized identifiers for languages, linguistic data types, and other things of particular interest to linguists. For instance, all resources from all archives that are in or about the same language use the same three-letter language code from the ISO 639-3 standard. OLAC also provides a portal that permits users to simultaneously query the holdings of the three dozen participating language archives in a single search. Since resource description uses precise language identifiers, a search for a particular language return all and only the relevant resources. However, the current usage and coverage of OLAC is only the tip of the iceberg. Many more linguists should be using it to find many more resources. This paper describes research that is being done to make language resources maximally accessible to linguists. We describe new methods for greatly improving search access to archived language resources, new services that encourage language archives to use best common practices to produce resource descriptions that are maximally useful for searching, and new data providers that use digital library services and web-mining technologies to find language resources in the library, institutional repository, and web domains
Evaluation as adventure: taking that risk
No full textHelen Simons traces the values that underpin her preferred methodology of case study and democratic evaluation to the central values she gained from the land of her birth. She looks back to consider what early experiences may have influenced her deep commitment to these values and how they impacted on her professional world as a teacher, a psychologist, and an evaluator. Her interview transcript which was a stimulus for this article is here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/ev.20302/suppinfo. Read only. This should not be used in any form without explicit permission from the author.</p
Recommended from our members
Photograph of a CoRSAL presentation
No full textPhotograph of Gary F. Simons standing behind a podium and holding a sheaf of papers while preparing for his presentation. A portion of one of his slides is visible on a projector screen to his left, against a brick wall. This is during the presentation "Developing infrastructure for interoperating digital language archives" at the 2017 Symposium on Developing Infrastructure for Computational Resources on South Asian Languages
Recommended from our members
Speech on developing infrastructure for interoperating digital language archives
No full textVideo recording of the second keynote session at the 2017 Symposium on Developing Infrastructure for Computational Resources on South Asian Languages. In this session, the presenter Gary F. Simons explores strategies of concerns and automation of services in developing an infrastructure for interoperation
Rating the vitality of sign languages
Get PDFThe Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS, Authors 2010), based on Fishman’s (1991) earlier GIDS, was developed with spoken languages in mind. As such, some wording and criteria in it do not apply easily to signed languages, reflecting the fact that signed languages have not figured prominently in the literature on language endangerment. In this paper, we propose a modification and refinement of EGIDS that is equally applicable to signed and spoken languages.
Some modifications are trivial, such as replacing “speakers” with “users” or “speakers/signers”. Since transmission of sign languages is usually not from parent to child (a relatively small proportion of deaf children have parents who know a sign language), phrases such as “transmitting [the language] to their children” need to be rewritten to put the emphasis on whether children are learning the language, not who they are learning it from. Some changes are considerably more challenging, however, such as the importance of writing. Although writing systems have been devised for some sign languages, no signing community makes regular, widespread use of a writing system. Yet, many signed languages are used in schools and thus have institutional support and other mechanisms of standardization that parallels what happens in spoken languages with established writing systems. We propose, therefore, that the key criteria that distinguish EGIDS levels 4 (Educational) and 5 (Developing) from level 6a (Vigorous) is not writing but the extent of standardization and institutional support, particularly from the formal educational system. Similarly, it is necessary to characterize normal use of a language (not in written form) in a way that does not use the word “oral”, which presupposes spoken languages. Instead, we propose “face-to-face communication”.
In making these modifications, some larger questions about language vitality of signed and spoken languages have needed to be considered. What sociolinguistic characteristics of signed languages result in a level of vitality that is comparable to a given level for spoken languages? Or, to put it another way, to what extent are signed and spoken languages affected by the same factors, and when there are differences, are these differences analogous between the two modalities? Are signed languages more or less robust than spoken languages when facing analogous pressures? (Anecdotal evidence suggests that sign languages are very resistant to replacement by spoken languages, but very easily replaced by other sign languages.) The revised EGIDS provides a first step toward answering such questions
NEW ALTERNATIVE TO THE DUNHAM POTENTIAL FOR DIATOMIC MOLECULES
No full textPresent address of Gary Simons: Department of Chemistry, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas, 67208.Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, The Johns Hopkins UniversityA new systematic procedure for constructing potential curves for diatomic molecules is developed. The procedure is similar to the wellknown Dunham method, except that the expansion parameter is ( instead of . The new expansion, which has a formal theoretical basis, is shown to be superior in terms of both rate of convergence and region of convergence. The proper behavior of the potential at large R is shown to allow one to calculate dissociation energies directly from the Dunham coefficients. Several diatomics are explicitly treated, and possible extensions and applications to polyatomic molecules are discussed
Consideration of risk in hydraulic design of bank protection using Reno matresses and riprap
No full textThis report discusses channel stabilization design by erosion protection measures considering risk analysis. Although many different erosion protection measures have been used, this report only considers rip-rap and wire enclosed rock (in mattresses) which are two of the most widely used methods of erosion protection. The purpose of erosion protection and channel stabilization is, of course, to maintain a channel and its banks and/or bed in a relatively fixed location to protect property, structures or other development from erosion related damage. Because rivers are quite dynamic and development continues along rivers and other types of channels, the need for erosion protection and bank stabilization will continue. Chapter II discusses briefly the dynamic nature of rivers and the need for erosion protection and channel stabilization. Various types of engineering analysis are required in developing an erosion protection design. These include hydrology, hydraulics, geomorphic, erosion and sediment transport. Where ship or barge traffic is of concern, ship-generated waves and other related impacts should also be accounted for. Chapter III discusses the data and analysis required for designing erosion protection and channel stabilization projects. This is by no means a comprehensive discussion of these topics but is meant to serve as an introduction and guide to the subject. The reader is encouraged to refer to the references given on these topics for further information. Chapter IV discusses common failure modes of erosion protection projects. There are a number of distinct and independent causes of failure. Each one alone can be sufficient to induce failure or they may, in some cases, act in concert to induce failure. A fairly comprehensive list of potential modes of failure is included ranging from the obvious to the more obscure and often overlooked. Flowing water causes forces or stresses to act on the bed and banks of a river. These are the forces that cause erosion and attempt to damage any erosion protection. They basically include shear, lift and drag forces acting on each individual particle on the bed and banks. The beginning portion of Chapter V analyzes the hydrodynamic forces due to flowing water acting on erosion protection works. Then based on the most important or frequent modes of failure and an evaluation of the forces acting on rip-rap or wire enclosed rock, methods to evaluate the probability of failure for each of the selected modes were developed. The remqinder of Chapter V covers this topic. The methods presented can be used either directly in a design application or as a tool in evaluating an existing design. Chapter VI outlines these methodologies in step by step format and then gives an example to follow for each procedure. Because the individual modes of failure can be treated independently, the total probability of failure is obtained by summing the individual probabilities. If the probability of failure thus obtained is too high for the given event, redesign is required. The next chapter (Chapter VII) is called "Risk Analysis." This type of an analysis actually is an economic optimization procedure but it has been previously called risk analysis in the literature. Risk analysis consists basically of designing a structure or whatever in order to minimize overall costs. These overall costs include both the initial construction costs as well as long term maintenance and repair costs. It is based on the logic that one may design something that can withstand the forces of a 1,000 year flood but the initial cost and therefore the total cost would be unreasonably high. One may also design a project to withstand the forces of a two year event which would have a very low initial cost but again the overall cost would be very high because of the frequency of maintenance and/or repair and replacement costs. The purpose of risk analysis is to find the minimum overall cost by varying the hydrologic return period of a project and associated designs and their costs in order to minimize the overall project cost. The design is selected that then gives this minimum cost or at least is in the range where costs are near the minimum. Chapter VIII contains the summary and conclusions. References and an appendix of terminology follows the final chapter
Analysis of watersheds and river systems: short course
Get PDFShort course: Analysis of Watersheds and River Systems, Session I and II, held on May 28-June 1, 1979 and June 4-June 8, 1979 at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.Speakers: Dr. E. V. Richardson, Dr. David Duttweiller, Mr. Lee Mulkey, Dr. Stanley A. Schumm, Dr. Daryl B. Simons, Dr. Ross Carder.Includes bibliographical references.This short course is designed for individuals dealing with the analysis of watersheds and rivers. Practical applications concerning physical processes will be emphasized.Chapter 1. General introduction / Daryl B. Simons and Ruh-Ming Li -- Chapter 2. Introduction to watershed and river analysis / Daryl B. Simons and Ruh-Ming Li -- Chapter 3. Physical processes governing response of watersheds and rivers / Daryl B. Simons, Timothy J. Ward and Ruh-Ming Li -- Chapter 4. Sediment transport / H. W. Shen -- Chapter 5. Alluvial bed roughness / H. W. Shen -- Chapter 6. Overview of flood routing methods / Ruh-Ming Li and V. Miguel Ponce -- Chapter 7. Water routing and yield from watersheds, Part I and II / Ruh-Ming Li, Daryl B. Simons, and Kenneth G. Eggert -- Chapter 8. Water routing in rivers / Yung-Hai Chen -- Chapter 9. Stage discharge relations / Robert K. Simons, Ruh-Ming Li, and Daryl B. Simons -- Chapter 10. Watershed sediment yield / Ruh-Ming Li, Daryl B. Simons, and Timothy J. Ward -- Chapter 11. Unsteady sediment routing models in rivers / Yung-Hai Chen and Daryl B. Simons -- Chapter 12. Known discharge sediment routing / Glenn O. Brown and Ruh-Ming Li -- Chapter 13. Landslide potential delineation / Timothy J. Ward, Ruh-Ming Li, and Daryl B. Simons -- Chapter 14. Application of Kalman filtering in watershed and river analysis / Nguyen Duong -- Chapter 15. Handheld calculator programs for analysis / Kenneth G. Eggert, Ruh-Ming Li, and Daryl B. Simons -- Chapter 16. Overview of case studies and data management / Daryl B. Simons, Ruh-Ming Li, and Nguyen Duong -- Chapter 17. Canal and channel design and river response analysis / Daryl B. Simons, Ruh-Ming Li, and Yung-Hai Chen -- Chapter 18. Degradation and aggradation analysis / Ruh-Ming Li and Daryl B. Simons -- Chapter 19. Watershed best management analysis / Ruh-Ming Li, Timothy J. Ward, and Daryl B. Simons -- Chapter 20. Large river basin analysis: Yazoo River Sedimentation Study / Daryl B. Simons and Ruh-Ming Li
- …
