18,543 research outputs found
What language documentation via corpora can do for local communities: The case of sign languages
No full textSign languages exist in unique sociolinguistic circumstances: they are young minority languages with few native signers and an interrupted pattern of intergenerational transmission. As a consequence, it is often difficult for even native signers to be certain as to what is and is not an acceptable construction in their language. This has led to a pressing need to test the claims made by many existing descriptions and analyses of sign languages because they have often been based on limited datasets from a small number of signers.
To resolve these problems, sign linguists are increasingly turning to corpora. A modern linguistic corpus (e.g. the British National Corpus of English) is understood to refer to a large collection of spoken, written or signed language data (with associated metadata) that is in machine-readable form, is maximally representative (as far as is possible) of the language and its users, and can be consulted to study the type and frequency of constructions in a language. The need for corpora is driven by the assumption that processing of large amounts of annotated texts can reveal patterns of language use and structure not available to everyday user intuitions or even to expert detailed analysis.
In addition to benefits for linguists, there are also potential benefits to local communities through the creation of corpora. Corpora provide an important means of recording endangered languages as they are used today for posterity; this includes sign languages (Johnston, 2004; Nonaka, 2004; Author, 2010). Additionally, further empirical research on linguistic structure and the documentation of words/signs used in the language (e.g., via a corpus-based dictionary) will inform and improve teaching materials which will, in turn, lead to the improvements in the training of teachers and interpreters, and in the education of children in the local community.
In this presentation, we will describe some of the major corpora that now exist or are being developed for sign languages - including the British Sign Language Corpus and the Auslan (Australian Sign Language) Corpus - and other language documentation efforts with sign languages. In doing so, we will show how, at a fundamental level, the aims and methodologies of linguistic corpora need not be very different from traditional language documentation efforts. We will also explore the benefits of corpora for local communities, particularly in language teaching and learning, and the implications of this not just for sign languages but for spoken/written languages as well.
Johnston, Trevor. 2004. W(h)ither the deaf community? Population, genetics and the future of Australian Sign Language. American Annals of the Deaf 148.5, 358-75.
Nonaka, Angela. 2004. Sign languages - the forgotten endangered languages: lessons on the importance of remembering. Language in Society 33.5, 737-67
ADAM SMITH'S OPTIMISTIC TELEOLOGICAL VIEW OF HISTORY
No full textAdam Smith's four-stage theory provides the framework for his writings on history. The fourth stage is the commercial epoch; the culmination of history in this stage is a key component in the conventional interpretation of Adam Smith as a prophet of commercialism. In two historical case studies Smith shows the capacity of commercial society to regenerate itself. This potent capacity suggests that commercial society is inevitable. At a certain point in time it also overcomes the major obstacles to its permanence. Smith's philosophy of history anticipates the end of history views of Kant and Hegel.Political Economy,
How Might Adam Smith Pay Professors Today?
No full textAdam Smith’s proposal for paying professors was intended to induce increased faculty knowledge. If students have imperfect information about what they learn, and universities can only imperfectly measure the input of faculty time in student learning, publications may be used to measure faculty knowledge. If professors’ ability to publish is positively related to their ability to produce student learning, which universities can imperfectly measure, publications may be necessary to attract more able professors. Since research signals faculty knowledge, schools that do not value publications per se could require higher publication standards and pay higher wages than schools that value only publications.
ADAM SMITH'S VIEW OF HISTORY: CONSISTENT OR PARADOXICAL?
No full textThe conventional interpretation of Adam Smith is that he is a prophet of commercialism. The liberal capitalist reading of Smith is consistent with the view that history culminates in commercial society. The first part of the article develops this optimistic interpretation of Smith's view of history. Smith implies that commercial society is the end of history because 1) it supplies the ends of nature that he identifies; 2) it is inevitable; and 3) it is permanent. The second part of the article shows that Smith has some dark moments in his writings where he seems to reject completely such teleological notions. In this more civic humanist mood he confesses that commercial society does not supply the ends of nature, nor is it inevitable, nor is it permanent. Both views exist in Smith and the commentator is forced to choose between passages in Smith's work in order to support a particular interpretation of the former's view of history.Political Economy,
The test battery for Australian Sign Language Morphology and Syntax Project: noun-verb pairs in Australian
No full text20 page(s
Adam Smith and Roman Servitudes
No full textThis essay is a preprint of an article that appeared at: Tijdschrift voor Rechstsgeschiedenis, 72 (2004), 327–57.This essay discusses Adam Smith historical jurisprudence and his use of Roman law materials in his Lectures on Jurisprudence. It argues that Smith found it difficult to maintain his theory of legal development in the face of a highly developed body of Roman law literature
- …
