Barbara Kelly

Murrinh-Patha, spoken in Wadeye (Port Keats), is one of a very small number of Australian languages still being acquired by children as their first language.  It is also one of Australia’s most morphosyntactically complex languages, being highly polysynthetic with complex verbal predicates which are formed with discontinuous elements in the verbal word, and many of which are noncompositional semantically. For example, the Murrinh-Patha word wurdam ngintha dhawiweparl wardagathu means “then the two non-siblings, at least one of whom was female, spoke out in unison”, with the two bolded elements jointly providing the predicate ‘speak out in unison’. In this paper we report on the early stages of a long-term project to investigate the acquisition of Murrinh-Patha by the children of Wadeye.  We discuss the challenges raised by Murrinh-Patha in the context of first language acquisition research on other morphologically complex languages (e.g Inuktitut (Allen and Schroder 2003),  West Gre...

Sociolinguists and anthropologists have long problematized the term ‘community’, whether it be framed as an ethnic community, speech community, a discourse community, or a community of practice. This paper seeks to examine the notion of community within the framework of field linguistics and language documentation by drawing on interdisciplinary approaches to the use of this term. The call for papers for this conference specifically mentions work that benefits ‘communities’ and current best-practice in linguistic fieldwork is heavily focused on working ‘with the community’. At the first two ICLDC conferences 79 of 146 papers had the word “communities/y” in the title, and 126 in the abstract. As field linguists we focus on “community engagement” and “working with the community”. However, exactly what this constitutes is rarely questioned or critiqued (although see Bowern 2008, Holton 2009). In this paper we critically examine the meaning of ‘community’ in language documentation and i...

Language documentation and description are closely related tasks, often performed as part of the same fieldwork project on an un(der)-studied language. However, since Himmelmann (1998) we have been encouraged to consider that documentation and description are methodologically different, and that data collected with documentary methods can enable verification of descriptive claims based upon them. The last decade has seen a surge in the literature on good fieldwork methodology, including Gippert, Himmelmann & Mosel (2006), Crowley (2007), Bowern (2008), Chelliah & De Reuse (2011) and Thieberger (2012). The result is that linguists are more aware of good methodological practices for data collection than ever. These include attention to metadata about speaker demographics, setting, linguistic and discourse types; information about tools, equipment, and stimuli; a description of the fieldwork conditions including time spent among speakers; and a description of archiving practices and lo...

The field of first language acquisition (FLA) needs to take into account data from the broadest typological array of languages and language-learning environments if it is to identify potential universals in child language development, and how these interact with socio-cultural mechanisms of acquisition. Yet undertaking FLA research in remote field-based situations, where the majority of the world’s languages are spoken and acquired, poses challenges for best-practice methodologies assumed in lab-based FLA research. This article discusses the challenges of child language acquisition research in fieldwork contexts with lesser-known, under-described languages with small communities of speakers. The authors suggest some modified approaches to methodology for child language research appropriate to challenging fieldwork situations, in the hope of encouraging more cross-linguistic acquisition research.

Objetivo: El objetivo de este estudio fue explorar el potencial para desarrollar un conjunto unico de informacion de los pacientes para utilizacion en el cambio de guardia y en la documentacion de enfermeria. Antecedentes: La comunicacion de la informacion del paciente requiere dos procesos de enfermeria: un resumen verbal de la atencion prestada a los pacientes y otro informe en anotaciones de enfermeria, creando una duplicacion. Introduccion: Los avances en la tecnologia de reconocimiento de voces han proporcionado una oportunidad para considerar la viabilidad de reunir un conjunto de informacion en el cambio de guardia al finalizar el turno de enfermeria. Metodos: Utilizamos el analisis de contenido para comparar las transcripciones de 162 cambios de guardia grabados digitalmente y anotaciones de enfermeria escritas para pacientes similares en las unidades ganerales medico-quirurgicas de dos hospitales metropolitanos en Sidney, Australia. Resultados: Utilizando el marco de analisis del Conjunto Minimo de Datos se encontro un contenido similar [n=2109 (cambio de guardia) n=1902 (anotaciones de enfermeria)] en los cambios de guardia y las anotaciones al final del turno (7:00 a.m. y 2:00 p.m.). El analisis de categorias integrales demostro el enfasis en las fuentes de datos como: identificacion del paciente (31%), planificacion de la atencion o intervenciones (25%), historial clinico (13%), y estado clinico (13%) en el cambio de guardia, vs. planificacion de la atencion (47%), estado clinico (24%), y resultados o metas de la atencion (12%) para las anotaciones de enfermeria. Discusion: Este estudio ha demostrado que una informacion similar del paciente se presento en el cambio de guardia y en la documentacion. Las principales categorias son compatibles con los conjuntos internacionales de datos minimos de enfermeria en uso. Conclusion: Podemos utilizar un unico conjunto de informacion del paciente (dentro de algunas limitaciones) para dos finalidades con diseno de sistemas, cambio de practica y educacion. Actualmente, se estan realizando experimentos para probar el reconocimiento de voces en laboratorios y entornos clinicos. Implicaciones para la enfermeria y la politica sanitaria: Un unico conjunto de informacion de los pacientes, generado verbalmente en el cambio de guardia permitiendo la documentacion electronica en un unico proceso, transformara la politica internacional de enfermeria para el cambio de guardia y la documentacion de enfermeria.

Abstract Abstract. The field of gesture classification has been an area of in0 tense scholarship in recent decades. This article provides a brief overview of the area in seeking to understand how this theoretical framework relates to the way speakers attend to gestural information. 48 native English speakers participated in a web0based survey cen0 tred on a short narrative.

Page 1. One size doesn't fit all: Research methodologies in a language variation study of Sudanese teens Authors Meredith Izon & Barbara F. Kelly Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics School of Languages University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 ...

The aim of this study was to explore the potential for one set of patient information for nursing handover and documentation. Communication of patient information requires two processes in nursing: a verbal summary of the patients' care and another report within the nursing notes, creating duplication. Advances in speech recognition technology have provided an opportunity to consider the practicality of one set of information at the nursing end-of-shift. We used content analysis to compare transcripts from 162 digitally recorded handovers and written nursing notes for similar patients within general medical-surgical wards from two metropolitan hospitals in Sydney Australia. Using the Nursing Handover Minimum Dataset analysis framework similar content [n = 2109 (handover) n = 1902 (nursing notes)] was found within the handovers and notes at the end-of-shift (7:00 am and 2:00 pm). Analysis of the overarching categories demonstrated the emphasis within the differing data sources as: patient identification (31%), care planning or interventions (25%), clinical history (13%), and clinical status (13%) for handover, vs. care planning (47%), clinical status (24%), and outcomes or goals of care (12%) for nursing notes. This study has demonstrated that similar patient information is presented at handover and within documentation. Major categories are consistent with international nursing minimum datasets in use. We can use one set of patient information (within some limitations) for two purposes with system design, practice change and education. Experiments are currently being conducted trialling speech recognition within laboratory and clinical settings. One set of patient information, verbally generated at handover delivering electronic documentation within one process, will transform international nursing policy for nursing handover and documentation.

Selected Papers from the 2009 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society, edited by Yvonne Treis & Rik De Busser. http://www.als.asn.au. 2010. ... Indigenous Perspectives on the Vitality of Murrinh Indigenous Perspectives on the Vitality of Murrinh-Patha

Abstract. Verbal communication between nursing staff during shift changes provides an accurate representation of patients' background and current state of clinical management. However, over two thirds of this valuable handover information is lost after three to five shifts if written notes are taken by hand or not taken at all. Failures in communication cause the largest number of sentinel events in the USA and nearly half of all adverse events and over a tenth of preventable adverse events in Australia. This paper presents a study on the use ...

This chapter reports on initial findings of an ongoing large-scale research project into the acquisition of Murrinhpatha, a polysynthetic language of the Daly River region of the Northern Territory of Australia with complex morphology. The complex verbal structures in Murrinhpatha, which can contain a large number of morphemes and bipartite stem morphology discontinuously distributed throughout the verbal template, raise a multitude of questions for acquisition. In this chapter we focus particularly on the acquisition of the complex predicate system in the verb, and the acquisition of subject-marking categories and tense/aspect/mood. Our findings are based on the language development of five Murrinhpatha acquiring children aged from 2;7–4;11 years.

Language documentation and description are closely related practices, often performed as part of the same fieldwork project on an un(der)-studied language. Research trends in recent decades have seen a great volume of publishing in regards to the methods of language documentation, however, it is not clear that linguists' awareness of the importance of robust data-collection methods is translating into transparency about those methods or data citation in resultant publications. We analyze 50 dissertations and 50 grammars from a ten-year span (2003-2012) to assess the current state of the field. Publications are critiqued on the basis of transparency of data collection methods, analysis and storage, as well as citation of primary data. While we found examples of transparent reporting in these areas, much of the surveyed research does not include key information about methodology or data. We acknowledge that descriptive linguists often practice good methodology in data collection, ...

Failures in information flow from clinical handover are the leading cause of sentinel events in the USA and associated with nearly half of all ad-verse events and over a tenth of preventable adverse events in Australia. Verbal clinical handover provides a good picture of the background clinical history and current state of clinical management of a group of patients cared for by a nurs-ing team. However, all this valuable verbal information is lost after three con-secutive shifts if no notes are taken during handover. When traditional note-taking by hand occurs, less than a third of data is transferred correctly after five shifts. We propose using an automated approach of cascading speech-to-text con-version, standardisation with respect to controlled thesauri, and structuring in accordance with documentation standards. This transcribes verbal handover in-formation into written drafts for subsequent clinical review, editing, and addi-tion to electronic health records. In this paper, ...

This paper is a position statement on reproducible research in linguistics, including data citation and attribution, that represents the collective views of some 41 colleagues. Reproducibility can play a key role in increasing verification and accountability in linguistic research, and is a hallmark of social science research that is currently under-represented in our field. We believe that we need to take time as a discipline to clearly articulate our expectations for how linguistic data are managed, cited, and maintained for long-term access.

We present evidence for the importance of low-level phenomena in dialogue interaction and use this to motivate a multi-layered approach to dialogue processing. We describe an architecture that separates content-level communicative processes from interaction-level phenomena (such as feedback, grounding, turn-management), and provide details of specific implementations of a number of such phenomena.

This paper examines best-practice frameworks for reporting data in the field of first language acquisition. It investigates the challenges these may present for researchers of lesser-known, under-described languages with small communities of speakers whose members are highly mobile for ceremonial and family reasons. This paper is offered as a springboard for discussion around how best to integrate the rigor of data collection and analysis required for language development research with the study of typologically diverse languages, often spoken in remote communities.

The field of gesture classification has been an area of intense scholarship in recent decades. This article provides a brief overview of the area in seeking to understand how this theoretical framework relates to the way speakers attend to gestural information. 48 native English speakers participated in a web-based survey centred on a short narrative. The gestures focused on in the film narrative were based around McNeill’s common gesture typology. Half of the participants watched the video with sound and the other half without to help ascertain whether the presence of speech affects how people attend to gestural information. Participants were asked to count the total number of gestures and list what they thought the five “best” examples of a gesture were. While there was no significant difference between the number of gestures counted by each group, the categories of gesture which were attended to varied between the two groups. Those with sound were more likely to include iconic ge...

Poster: In order to move forward toward reproducible research in linguistics, we first need to know where we are now with regard to our practices for methodological clarity and data citation in publications. In this poster we share the results of a study of over 370 journal articles, dissertations, and grammars, which is taken as a sample of current practices in the field. The publications all come from a ten-year span. The journals were selected for broad coverage. Grammars included published grammars and dissertations written as grammars, with broad geographic coverage, both in terms of subject language and publisher or university.These publications are critiqued on the basis of transparency of data source, data collection methods, analysis, and storage. While we find examples of transparent reporting, most of the surveyed research does not include key metadata, methodological information, or citations that are resolvable to the data on which the analyses are based.

Language documentation and description are closely related practices, often performed as part of the same fieldwork project on an un(der)-studied language. Research trends in recent decades have seen a great volume of publishing in regards to the methods of language documentation, however, it is not clear that linguists’ awareness of the importance of robust data-collection methods is translating into transparency about those methods or data citation in resultant publications. We analyze 50 dissertations and 50 grammars from a ten-year span (2003–2012) to assess the current state of the field. Publications are critiqued on the basis of transparency of data collection methods, analysis and storage, as well as citation of primary data. While we found examples of transparent reporting in these areas, much of the surveyed research does not include key information about methodology or data. We acknowledge that descriptive linguists often practice good methodology in data collection, but ...

This paper examines comparability of descriptive grammars across typologically different languages. Focusing on the Nepal Himalayas, which has high language diversity that extends beyond areal, genetic, and historical categorization, the paper examines similarities across grammars and the influences motivating these. It reports on the construction and use of a database comprising materials from 18 descriptive grammars of Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal written over a 30-year period. This includes a small sub-database of metadata noting grammarian linguistic training, career affiliations, and dissertation supervisors and a larger sub-database of fully tagged tables of contents for each of the grammars. The overarching relational database links sections containing similar content, enabling search functions to explore the locations of similar information and feature labels across grammars in the database. While some grammar-features in the corpus reflect broader structural properties ...

Data is central to scholarly research, but the nature and location of data used is often under-reported in research publications. Greater transparency and citation of data have positive effects for the culture of research. This article presents the results of a survey of data citation in six years of articles published in the journal Gesture (12.1–17.2). Gesture researchers draw on a broad range of data types, but the source and location of data are often not disclosed in publications. There is also still a strong research focus on only a small range of the world’s languages and their linguistic diversity. Published papers rarely cite back to the primary data, unless it is already published. We discuss both the implications of these findings and the ways that scholars in the field of gesture studies can build a positive culture around open data.

Dr. Rechberger talked a very important point about “Listening between the lines” because it is overlook the most people is seeing only the physical aspect but they forget non-verbal communication, which include when we see somebody cross their arms or frown, it is a signal for a perceptive person. Because, the communication occur inside where is hidden feelings behind to gestures, but she said about our brain and how work about this aspect for example in the picture, she showed the dinosaur brain and it is the oldest part of our brain, which is instinctive, primitive and non-verbal. By the way, it has characteristics in our behavior today, when we are angry and in a violence attitude is showed t-rex, Chicken Little characteristic trying to defense our family, values or beliefs and perceiving danger, this characteristic was necessary in the survive. But, today it is another primitive attitude, which is not understood, but the study of Dr. Rechberger was focused about the behavior, the dialogue and considering another aspect like culture, gender, religious and dynamics of power.

We describe a structured task for gathering enriched language data for descriptive, comparative, and documentary purposes, focusing on the domain of social cognition. The task involves collaborative narrative problem-solving and retelling by a pair or small group ...

We describe a structured task for gathering enriched language data for descriptive, comparative, and documentary purposes, focusing on the domain of social cognition. The task involves ollaborative narrative problem-solving and retelling by a pair or mall group of language speakers, and was developed as an aid to investigating grammatical categories relevant to social cognition. The pictures set up a dramatic story in which participants can feel empathetic involvement with the characters, and trace individual motivations, mental and physical states, and points of view. The data-gathering task allows different cultural groups to imbue the pictures with their own experiences, concerns, and conventions, and stimulates the spontaneous use of previously under-recorded linguistic structures. We argue that stimulus-based elicitation tasks that are designed to stimulate a range of speech types (descriptions, dialogic interactions, narrative) within the single task contribute quantitatively ...

We present evidence for the importance of low-level phenomena in dialogue interaction and use this to motivate a multi-layered approach to dialogue processing. We describe an architecture that separates content-level communicative processes from interaction-level phenomena (such as feedback, grounding, turn-management), and provide details of specific implementations of a number of such phenomena.