Mobile apps have the potential to support collaborative fieldwork even where web connectivity is unreliable or unavailable. To explore this potential, we developed portable network infrastructure and custom-made field tool apps. We deployed this solution in remote communities in the far north of Australia, in connection with co-located cooperative…

This dissertation consists of three manuscripts. The manuscripts contribute to a budding "methodological reform" currently taking place in quantitative second-language (L2) research. In the first manuscript, the researcher describes an empirical investigation on the application of two well-known effect size estimators, eta-squared (eta…

Song is a universal human phenomenon that can shed much light on the nature of language. Despite this, field linguists are not always equipped with the knowledge and skills to analyze song texts and draw out their significances to other areas of language. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for a language community to ask linguists working in the…

This paper argues that the goal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) research should be to construct a reliable evidence-base with "engineering power" and generality upon which the design of future CALL software and activities can be based. In order to establish such an evidence base for future CALL design, it suggests that CALL…

In this article, a survey of current psycholinguistic techniques relevant to second language acquisition (SLA) research is presented. I summarize many of the available methods and discuss their use with particular reference to two critical questions in current SLA research: (1) What does a learner's current knowledge of the second language (L2)…

The method of parametric interpretation used in the computer program "Yorktalk," software that creates synthetic parameter files from phonological representations of speech, is explained. First, the design of the program is described, and the concept of "exponency" in prosodic analysis is explained as it is applied in the…

Presents the benefits of using online methodologies in second language acquisition (SLA) research. Provides a selection of online experiments that have been widely used in first and second language processing studies that are suitable for SLA research and discusses the hardware and software packages required for setting up a psycholinguistic…

Argues that researchers in the area of discourse comprehension and mental representation of discourse will likely feel motivated to adopt highly quantitative research techniques described in the articles in this special issue. Notes that ability to do so will be enhanced by availability of well-documented, easy-to-use computer software, or…

Discusses a research project designed by the Italian National Research Council to establish a historical databank of the Italian legal language from its beginning in 960 AD to the present. Outlines processing techniques and problems. Describes specific computer software employed. Seeks to create an information system that retains the richness of…

Papers from the meeting on computational linguistics include: "Conversational Games, Belief Revision and Bayesian Networks" (Stephen G. Pulman); "Valence Alternation without Lexical Rules" (Gosse Bouma); "Filtering Left Dislocation Chains in Parsing Categorical Grammar" (Crit Cremers, Maarten Hijzelendoorn);…

The computerized morphological parser, AMPLE, grew out of work in computer assisted dialect adaptation. AMPLE contains no language-specific code, but is controlled entirely through external, user-written files, the notations of which were designed for linguists. AMPLE's constructs are linguistic: e.g., allomorph, morpheme, conditioning…

Currently, no machine translation (MT) system is capable of successfully imitating the behavior of a human translator, and there exists no formal description of what an MT system is supposed to do. The biggest problem in practice is disambiguation. However, various types of existing systems do help reduce language barriers, even if they are poor…

A computer program for classifying elements of a language corpus for large-scale analysis is discussed. The approach is based on the assumption that there is a natural unit in speech processing and production, called a tone unit. The program "tags" the five grammatical phrase types (verb, adverb, adjective, noun, and prepositional) to…

The four 1996 issues of this journal contain the following articles: "Sketch of Autosegmental Tonology" (H. Andrew Black); "System Relationships in Assessing Dialect Intelligibility" (Margaret Milliken, Stuart Milliken); "A Step-by-Step Introduction to Government and Binding Theory of Syntax" (Cheryl A. Black);…

Four issues of this journal contain articles, dissertation abstracts, reviews, remarks and rejoinders, conference reports, and announcements of publications and professional matters relating to linguistics and language research. The substantive articles contained in these issues include: "FIESTA--A Linguistics Text Tool" (E. Clay Johnston);…