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Margaret Ransdell-Green the Kala Language Documentation Project Is

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Margaret Ransdell-Green the Kala Language Documentation Project Is Kala Dictionary Making with the WOLF lexicography software: A Collaborative Effort Margaret Ransdell-Green Department of Linguistics, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa The Kala Language Project Software Needs The Kala Language Documentation Project is an In my journey of editing and formatting this dictionary, I ongoing community-based project by an searched for the best lexicography software for this interdisciplinary team of researchers in linguistics, project. anthropology, and biology toward the documentation of We wanted to choose a tool that allowed: the Kala language. Kala is an Austronesian language spoken by around 3000 people along the Huon Gulf in • Options for fine-tuned formatting & Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Previously customization undocumented, Kala is spoken in 6 villages in 4 dialects. • Ease of importing words and other fields from One of our current project arms is to create a spreadsheets multilingual dictionary of 1500-2000 Kala lexemes in all 4 dialects, with glosses in English and Tok Pisin, one of • Inclusion of several languages (Kala, English, the national languages of Papua New Guinea. Tok Pisin) and dialects (4 Kala dialects from 6 villages) The Dictionary WOLF Software Our current project aim is to create a multilingual dictionary of 1500-2000 Kala lexemes in all 4 dialects, WOLF (Word with glosses in English and Tok Pisin, one of the national Oriented Linguistic languages of Papua New Guinea. The dictionary is a part Framework) is a free of a tripartite research effort to create materials lexicography documenting Kala Indigenous knowledge of the aquatic software that already environment, so certain terms relating to this topic are met many of my predominant. This dictionary, in its final form, will be needs both digital and physical, to allow for maximum accessibility to community members in the villages and beyond. WOLF Templates WOLF (Word Oriented Linguistic Framework) is a Using the template system, I was able to set specifics for lexicography software developed by Dr. Dan Harvey, style and formatting as befitted our needs: Professor of Computer Science at Southern Oregon Headwords are important when documenting University, specifically for Indigenous language subsections about ‘ocean’ (ta) and ‘fresh water’ (alẽ) dictionaries. WOLF: • Already allowed inclusion of up to 100 different languages in a single dictionary • Had a range of formatting and style options available WOLF also allows for many lexicographical conventions, such as headwords > subheadings, homonym numbers, and lots of additional information for each entry. Using WOLF’s template system, I was able to set specifics for style and formatting as befitted our needs All languages & dialects can be easily included and ordered in different ways Collaboration to Add Features Merging Data & More Style Options One feature that I needed that WOLF did not include Other features we worked together to add: was a way to integrate previously organized data into • Additional stylistic and formatting options, allowing the WOLF system in a seamless and accessible way. greater flexibility and customization of fields, including two new fields (morphemes and annotations) • The ability to merge spreadsheet data with existing WOLF databases • This means we can keep adding cumulatively to the Kala dictionary in WOLF if new data comes along • WOLF can now also import dictionaries in SIL’s LIFT format (used by LexiquePro, WeSay, & FieldWorks) Results The collaborative efforts between Dan Harvey and me have led to • A lexicographical program with greater customizability, accessibility, and ease of use in creating Indigenous language dictionaries by linguists as well as activists and community members Previously, data could only be imported via XML markup • Ways to integrate datasets from outside software sheets that were specified with WOLF’s tagging system, and databases a process that would be very labor-intensive for large • A Kala Dictionary that is more closely aligned to the databases needs and wishes of the Kala speaker community I worked with Dan Harvey to add features that allowed Thank you to: The Kala Language Committee and all for easy and direct importation of spreadsheet data Kala speakers, Dan Harvey, Christine Schreyer, John into WOLF without the need for XML markup. Wagner, Ken Longnecker, David Lacho, Andrea Berez- This makes using WOLF with large datasets far easier! Kroeker. This work was funded by NSF Grant No. 1563363..
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