Information Density and Linguistic Encoding in “Leichte Sprache” (IDeaLite) (T01*)

• Subject Area: Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 232722074

This transfer project applies insights from CRC 1102 to the analysis and evaluation of texts in Easy German, an umbrella term for different forms of regulated German for low-literacy readers. We pursue the following goals: (1) to show that models of information density are suitable to assess the fit of texts for low-literacy readers; (2) to extend existing surprisal-based models by integrating additional linguistic phenomena relevant for Easy German and (3) to engage with practitioners of Easy German eliciting their expert judgments in psycholinguistic experiments and, in turn, to provide linguistically informed advice on target group--tailored text production. The project is carried out in collaboration with Arbeiterwohlfahrt (AWO) Saarland.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres (Transfer Project)
• Subproject of: SFB 1102: Information Density and Linguistic Encoding
• Applicant Institution: Universität des Saarlandes
• Business and Industry: Arbeiterwohlfahr (AWO); Susanne Schäfer
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Ingo Reich; Professorin Dr. Elke Teich; Professorin Dr. Heike Zinsmeister