Tools and Technologies of Language Documentation

By Prof. Bornini Lahiri, Prof. Dripta Piplai (Mondal) | IIT Kharagpur

Learners enrolled: 323 | Exam registration: 33

ABOUT THE COURSE:
This is a course on language documentation, a sub-field of linguistics. The growing global recognition of indigenous knowledge systems has brought an urge to document the dying languages. There are different projects going on all over the world including India where scholars from different fields are working together to save and document the dying languages. The aim of this course is to introduce the students to the issues related to language endangerment and various aspects of language documentation focused on the Indian scenario. The course along with making the students aware of the theories related to language documentation will also train them in data collection, data processing and creating various applications with the available data.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: UG & PG Students of Linguistics & NLP, Research Scholars of Linguistics and related disciplines

PREREQUISITES: Not required but it will be helpful for the students if they have completed an introductory course in linguistics.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Companies working on NLP and smaller languages, e.g. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Flipkart etc.

Summary

Course Status :	Completed
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	8 weeks
Category :	Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit Points :	2
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	22 Jul 2024
End Date :	13 Sep 2024
Enrollment Ends :	05 Aug 2024
Exam Registration Ends :	16 Aug 2024
Exam Date :	21 Sep 2024 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1:
1. Introduction:
1.1. What is Language Endangerment?
1.2. Language vitality and shift.
1.3. Linguistic diversity, biodiversity and wellbeing.
1.4. UNESCO and language endangerment.

Week 2:
2. What is Language Documentation?
2.1. What to document?
2.2. How to document?
2.3. How to collect ethno-linguistic data?
2.3. How to make tools for data collection?
2.3.1 Preparing picture books & videos

Week 3:
3. Different ways of data collection:
3.1. Designing quantitative questionnaire
3.2. Designing qualitative questionnaire

Week 4:
4. In the Field:
4.1. What are the dos and don’ts of the field?
4.2. How to create metadata in the field?
4.3. How to get prepared with the equipment?
4.3. How to be ethical in the field?

Week 5:
5. After the Field:
5.1. How to clean the field data?
5.2. How to create metadata after the field?
5.3. How to process the data?
5.3.1. Sound Slicing

Week 6:
5.3.2. IPA Transcription
5.3.3. Glossing Rules

Week 7:
6. How is language documentation useful in language revitalization?
6.1. Creating digital dictionaries

Week 8:
6.2. Designing pedagogical materials
6.3. Creating language games & pedagogical Apps
7. Case studies of Language Documentation from India and other parts of the world

Books and references

Austin, Peter K. 2010. Current issues in language documentation. In Peter K. Austin (ed.) Language Documentation and Description, vol 7. London: SOAS. pp. 12-33.
Austin, Peter K. and Julia Sallabank. 2011. The Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Boerger, Brenda H., Stephen N. Self, Sarah Ruth Moeller, and D. Will Reiman. 2016. Language and Culture Documentation Manual. LeanPub.
Chelliah, Shobhana, L. 2021. Why Language Documentation Matters. Springer.
Fishman, Joshua. 2000. Can Threatened Languages Be Saved? Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Gippert, Jost, Nikolaus P. Himmelmann, and Ulrike Mosel, eds. 2006. Essentials of language documentation. Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs 178. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Instructor bio

Prof. Bornini Lahiri

Prof. Bornini Lahiri is Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. She has a PhD in Linguistics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has previously worked in the project, the Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages, hosted by the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru. She was a research assistant for Study and Research of Indigenous and Endangered Languages of India, hosted by Jadavpur University, Kolkata. She has worked extensively on typological and morpho-syntactic properties of several lesser-known, low-resourced languages, including Toto, Mahali, Dhimal, Magahi and Angika. Her publications include The Case System of Eastern Indo-Aryan Languages (2021), Bangla-Kurmali-English-Hindi Dictionary (2020), Effect of Bangla on Koda Verbs (2020), Kurmali: A Language of Undivided Bihar (2019), and Presence of Minor Languages of West Bengal in Social Media (2018), among others.

Prof. Dripta Piplai (Mondal)

IIT Kharagpur

Prof. Dripta Piplai (Mondal) is Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur. She has a Ph.D. in Linguistics from University of Delhi (2015). Her research interests include Language conflict in classroom, Syntactic Variation, creating language technology- based solutions for minority children, material development for the children speaking endangered languages, Language Policy and Planning for First Languages etc. Previously, she has taught at the Department of Elementary Education of two Delhi University colleges. Dripta has done extensive field work in different rural areas of West Bengal for last 14 years. Her current research focuses language technology for Mundari speaking children, and development of additional Teaching-learning materials in two link languages of rural Bengal.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: 21 September 2024 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 6 assignments out of the total 8 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Kharagpur .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team