Linguist List
Encyclopedia
The LINGUIST List is a major online resource for the academic field of linguistics
. It was founded by Anthony Aristar
in early 1990 at the University of Western Australia
, and is used as a reference by the National Science Foundation
in the United States. Its main and oldest feature is the premoderated electronic mailing list
, now with thousands of subscribers all over the world, where queries and their summarized results, discussions, journal table of contents, dissertation abstracts, calls for papers, book and conference announcements, software notices and other useful pieces of linguistic information are posted.
, and Eastern Michigan University
was established as the main editing site. Already in 1994 there were over 5,000 subscribers. From October 14 through November 6, 1996, it held its first on-line conference, Geometric and Thematic Structure in Binding, devoted to the Binding Theory and opened by the keynote address by Howard Lasnik
. LINGUIST List moved from Texas A&M to its own site in 1997. Wayne State University
in Michigan was established as the second editing site in 1998, but in 2006 all its operations moved to nearby Eastern Michigan University
. The LINGUIST List is funded by grants from the National Science Foundation
as well as by donations from supporting publishers, institutions and its subscribers during the fund drive month each spring. In recent years it has become a site for research into linguistic infrastructure on the web, and has received numerous grants from the National Science Foundation
to do this work.
language identification standard (aiming to classify all known languages with an alpha-3 language code
). While the Ethnologue
was used as the resource for natural language
s currently in use, Linguist List has provided the information on historic varieties, ancient languages, international auxiliary languages and constructed language
s.
The LINGUIST List has also received grants for: the EMELD Project, designed to build infrastructure to facilitate the preservation of endangered languages data; the DATA project, designed to digitize data for the Dena'ina language; the LL-MAP project, designed to produce a comprehensive GIS site for language; and the MultiTree project, designed to produce a complete database and tree-viewing facility to study language relationships. The EMELD project was the instigator of the GOLD
ontology
, the furthest advanced of the current attempts to build an ontology for the morphosyntax of linguistic data. It has also produced a phonetics
ontology, based upon Peter Ladefoged
's and Ian Maddieson
's The Sounds of the World's Languages.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
. It was founded by Anthony Aristar
Anthony Aristar
Anthony Manuel Rodrigues Aristar is a linguist, the founder of the LINGUIST List, the most important linguistic resource on the web, and currently a professor of linguistics at Eastern Michigan University.-Studies:...
in early 1990 at the University of Western Australia
University of Western Australia
The University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...
, and is used as a reference by the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
in the United States. Its main and oldest feature is the premoderated electronic mailing list
Electronic mailing list
An electronic mailing list is a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. It is similar to a traditional mailing list — a list of names and addresses — as might be kept by an organization for sending publications to...
, now with thousands of subscribers all over the world, where queries and their summarized results, discussions, journal table of contents, dissertation abstracts, calls for papers, book and conference announcements, software notices and other useful pieces of linguistic information are posted.
History
Since 1991 the resource has been run by Anthony Aristar and Helen Aristar-Dry. In 1991 it moved from Australia to Texas A&M UniversityTexas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
, and Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...
was established as the main editing site. Already in 1994 there were over 5,000 subscribers. From October 14 through November 6, 1996, it held its first on-line conference, Geometric and Thematic Structure in Binding, devoted to the Binding Theory and opened by the keynote address by Howard Lasnik
Howard Lasnik
Howard Lasnik is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Maryland.He studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology , Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
. LINGUIST List moved from Texas A&M to its own site in 1997. Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
in Michigan was established as the second editing site in 1998, but in 2006 all its operations moved to nearby Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...
. The LINGUIST List is funded by grants from the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
as well as by donations from supporting publishers, institutions and its subscribers during the fund drive month each spring. In recent years it has become a site for research into linguistic infrastructure on the web, and has received numerous grants from the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
to do this work.
Projects
The LINGUIST List has been one of the resources for the creation of the new ISO 639-3ISO 639-3
ISO 639-3:2007, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages, is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages. It extends the ISO 639-2...
language identification standard (aiming to classify all known languages with an alpha-3 language code
Language code
A language code is a code that assigns letters and/or numbers as identifiers or classifiers for languages. These codes may be used to organize library collections or presentations of data, to choose the correct localizations and translations in computing, and as a shorthand designation for longer...
). While the Ethnologue
Ethnologue
Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...
was used as the resource for natural language
Natural language
In the philosophy of language, a natural language is any language which arises in an unpremeditated fashion as the result of the innate facility for language possessed by the human intellect. A natural language is typically used for communication, and may be spoken, signed, or written...
s currently in use, Linguist List has provided the information on historic varieties, ancient languages, international auxiliary languages and constructed language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
s.
The LINGUIST List has also received grants for: the EMELD Project, designed to build infrastructure to facilitate the preservation of endangered languages data; the DATA project, designed to digitize data for the Dena'ina language; the LL-MAP project, designed to produce a comprehensive GIS site for language; and the MultiTree project, designed to produce a complete database and tree-viewing facility to study language relationships. The EMELD project was the instigator of the GOLD
GOLD (ontology)
GOLD is an ontology for descriptive linguistics. It gives a formalized account of the most basic categories and relations used in the scientific description of human language....
ontology
Ontology (computer science)
In computer science and information science, an ontology formally represents knowledge as a set of concepts within a domain, and the relationships between those concepts. It can be used to reason about the entities within that domain and may be used to describe the domain.In theory, an ontology is...
, the furthest advanced of the current attempts to build an ontology for the morphosyntax of linguistic data. It has also produced a phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
ontology, based upon Peter Ladefoged
Peter Ladefoged
Peter Nielsen Ladefoged was an English-American linguist and phonetician who traveled the world to document the distinct sounds of endangered languages and pioneered ways to collect and study data . He was active at the universities of Edinburgh, Scotland and Ibadan, Nigeria 1953–61...
's and Ian Maddieson
Ian Maddieson
Ian Maddieson is a linguist at UC Berkeley, an Adjunct Professor Emeritus at the University of New Mexico, Vice-President of the International Phonetic Association, and Secretary of the Association for Laboratory Phonology...
's The Sounds of the World's Languages.