Using Computational Tools to Facilitate Corpus Collection and Language Use in Arrernte (aer)

在该领域研究濒危语言的语言学家经常要求他们的线人描述说明他们语言的特定特征的图片，例如它如何使用代词或空间关系或时间概念。 这使得现场语言学家能够以最少的指令获得自然语言，对所说的内容施加最小的影响，从而可以记录有关语言的准确信息。 通常情况下，这样的图片是预先准备好的，基于对语言的研究假设-但通常新的假设出现在与线人的会话过程中。 哥伦比亚大学的研究人员提议为实地语言学家开发一种辅助工具，使他们能够在实地出现新的研究问题时对其进行测试。 他们将改造现有的文本到场景生成软件，WordsEye，它允许用户从简单的英语输入创建3D场景，以产生一种名为WELT的新工具，即WordsEye语言学工具。WELT工具最终将有两种操作模式：1）在第一阶段，英文输入将自动生成一幅图片，该图片可用于引出有针对性的描述，2）在第二阶段，目标语言的输入将自动生成表示输入的含义的图片，以与母语使用者验证语言假设。虽然WELT最终是为了通用，但它最初将被开发用于研究Arrernte，这是一种濒危语言，在澳大利亚中部有大约6000-8000名Arrernte人使用。 虽然这种语言的某些方面是有据可查的，但与描述空间关系有关的语言的一些特殊词汇和形态特征还没有得到很好的理解。 这些特征很有趣，因为它们直接关系到使用者如何使用语言来描述他们感知世界的方式。 语言群体的偏远位置和孤立的文化使得很难用传统手段记录，因此，诸如WELT之类的工具应该特别有用。 作为与澳大利亚悉尼麦考瑞大学的Mark Dras博士和其他研究人员现有合作的一部分，WELT将在实地进行测试。计算机信息科学工程局信息智能系统司（Division of Information Intelligent Systems of the Directorate for Computer Information Science Engineering）为该奖项提供资助，作为其支持濒危语言文档编制的计算工具和方法的发展承诺的一部分。

Linguists studying endangered languages in the field often ask their informants to describe pictures that illustrate particular characteristics of their language, such as how it uses pronouns or spatial relations or concepts of time. This enables the field linguist to obtain natural language with minimal instruction, exercising minimal influence on what is said, so that accurate information about the language can be recorded. Typically such pictures are prepared in advance, based upon research hypotheses about the language -- but often new hypotheses emerge in the course of sessions with informants. Researchers at Columbia University have proposed to develop an aid to field linguists which makes it possible to test new research questions as they arise in the field. They will adapt existing text-to-scene generation software, WordsEye, which allows users to create 3D scenes from simple English input, to produce a novel tool for fieldwork called WELT, the WordsEye Linguistics Tool.WELT tool will ultimately have two modes of operation: 1) In Phase 1, English input will automatically generate a picture which can be used to elicit a targeted description, 2) In Phase 2, input in the target language will automatically generate a picture representing the meaning of the input, to verify linguistic hypotheses with native speakers. While WELT is intended ultimately for general use, it will initially be developed to study Arrernte, an endangered language spoken by ~6000-8000 Arrernte people in Central Australia. While some aspects of this language are well documented, a number of idiosyncratic lexical and morphological features of the language that relate to describing spatial relations are not well understood. Such features are interesting because they relate directly to how a language is used by its speakers to describe the way their perceive the world. The language group's remote location and insular culture have made it difficult to document by traditional means, so that tools such as WELT should be particularly useful. WELT will be tested in the field as part of an existing cooperation with Dr. Mark Dras and other researchers at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.The Division of Information & Intelligent Systems of the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering is [co-]funding this award as part of its commitment to support the development of computational tools and methods for the documentation of endangered languages.