ELAN Training Videos

ELAN is a program that allows you to transcribe audio and video recordings for linguistic research. In this post, I list some of the video resources on the internet for learning ELAN.

10 things I miss about NYC

I have been in Botswana for over a year now. Even though I love Botswana, there are a certain number of things that I can do in NYC that I cannot do in Botswana, and I miss them.

How to Review a Syntax Paper

Objective

The objective of a review for a linguistics journal is to evaluate whether a submission advances the scientific study of human language. If the submission makes such an advance, it should be accepted. If it does not, it should be rejected.

Embracing Failure in Linguistics

Working in linguistics can be mentally and emotionally challenging. The field is set up in a way to measure performance at almost every turn, and often there is a negative outcome. I will give a list of some types of failure and rejection, and then give general advice on how to handle them. I suggest that failure should be seen in a positive light, as an opportunity for growth. It should not be feared, but rather embraced, and it should definitely not lower your self-esteem.

Remembering Rahul Balusu

I have just learned that Rahul Balusu has passed away. 

Smuggling in Syntax (Toc)

Forthcoming from OUP.

Workshop Announcement: Syntactic Approaches to Morphology

SCHEDULE

Venue: online (synchronous talks via Zoom)

Registration: There is no registration fee, but attendees need to register. 

For schedule and registration, click here.

Date: December 4-5, 2020

Organizers: Chris Collins (NYU) and Richard Kayne (NYU)

The purpose of this conference is to investigate the relationship between morphology and syntax, and in particular to investigate the extent to which morphological generalizations can be accounted for in terms of purely syntactic operations and conditions. Specific questions that could be addressed include the following:

Why a Working Grammarian need not be ordinary (by Henk van Riemsdijk)

(The following is a guest post by Henk van Riemsdijk responding to the following post:

https://ordinaryworkinggrammarian.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-beginning-of-syntax-version-3.html)

Three Monographs to Write

Here are the next three monographs that I want to write, presented in the order in which they will be written. Most of the material has already been written up (and posted on Lingbuzz and on my blog OrdinaryWorkingGrammarian in various forms).

Capturing Oral Texts

The purpose of this blog post is to lay out the steps required to capture an oral text. I keep the commentary on each step brief, but in some cases provide a link to further discussion.

Sound Recording Set-Ups for Video in Linguistics Fieldwork

I outline some sound recording set-ups that I have used. I am definitely not an expert, but I have not found anywhere on the internet laying out these options, and their pros and cons especially in the context of linguistic fieldwork. I believe that there is no best method. The one you use depends on the requirements and goals for the particular video.

Transcription Mode in ELAN

ELAN has several modes: Annotation Mode, Media Synchronization Mode, Transcription Mode, Segmentation Mode, Interlinearization Mode

Transcription Tips

Transcription of oral texts is difficult and time consuming. It is made more difficult when the words are spoken quickly and softly, and when the audio is not optimal (e.g., too much wind, background noise). Adding to the difficulty, one may have several hours of oral texts to transcribe.