Relish: Rendering Endangered Languages Lexicons Interoperable through Standards Harmonization

• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: from 2009 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 126094888

When a lexicon constitutes the only record of a dying or already extinct language, it can contribute unique linguistic and cultural information to our store of scientific knowledge. And making it interoperable with other lexical data becomes a critical research priority. The project proposed here will promote language-oriented research by addressing a two-pronged problem: (1) the lack of harmonization between digital standards for lexical information in Europe and America, and (2) the lack of interoperability among existing lexicons of endangered languages, in particular those created with the Shoebox lexiconbuilding software. The project will harmonize key European and American digital standards whose divergence has hitherto impeded international collaboration on language technology for resource creation and analysis, as well as web services for archive access. Focusing on six to eight lexicons of endangered languages, the project will establish a unified way of referencing lexicon structure and linguistic concepts, and develop a procedure for migrating these heterogeneous lexicons to a standards-compliant format. Once developed, the procedure will be generalizable to the large store of lexical resources involved in the LEGO and DoBeS projects.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• International Connection: USA
• Applicant Institution: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main; Fachbereich Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaften; Institut für Empirische Sprachwissenschaft; Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
• Partner Organisation: National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Dr. Helen Aristar-Dry