July 15-18, 2004 Detroit, MI

E-MELD 2004

Findings

&

Acknowledgements

July 15-18, 2004

Problem Identification

Avoid the Wysiwyg Temptation! (Dafydd)

And the Alien Font problem. (Dafydd) You can’t make a sow’s ear out of a pig

(Terry) We have severely underestimated the

contribution of the pharynx all these years. ( Doug )

Some of you may be familiar with Curses. (Peter )

July 15-18, 2004

Problem Solving

We never validated any of our stuff against your dtd; we simply commented it out. (Terry)

Idiosyncratic features? Oh, we decided to say they’re instances; and the ontology only treats classes. (Gary )

“Whether or not you use open source is important.”

“Yes, it is, but it’s something we’re going to gloss over.” (Doug )

July 15-18, 2004

Problem Solving

There should be no problem constructing an interface with a button for the gullible user to switch off the competing information. (Dietmar)

If it’s really impossible, you fake it (Dietmar)

You have to remember we humans are good at some things. (Laura B-W)

July 15-18, 2004

Methodology

“I’ve chosen to talk about New Guinea because I know nothing about it.” (Ferdinand)

“Take your tools out of the closet.” (Hans Nelson)

Traditional categories usually don’t mean anything, but we use them anyway (Doug).

July 15-18, 2004

Methodology

All metaphors ultimately breakdown. So the question is which one gives the most mileage. (Donald)

Our research is going to open up the pharynx—not medically, of course. (Doug)

I am as technically savvy as I have to be, and not a bit more. (Donald)

July 15-18, 2004

Methodology

Our native speaker does perfect phonemic transcription. I send him stuff by email, and he does it and sends it back. This is the modern way of doing fieldwork. ( Dafydd )

The grant budget doesn’t count for this survey—it’s the only important thing but it doesn’t count. (Doug)

July 15-18, 2004

Historical Insights

Of course the Danes were culturally distinct in the 11th century—otherwise they wouldn’t have been worth killing. (Oesten)

In a thousand years, people are either going to be clever enough to understand what we’ve done, or they’re not going to be interested. (Dafydd)

July 15-18, 2004

Historical Insights

Just as people in a thousand years may not care what we’re doing, we shouldn’t care what they do. (Ferdinand)

A.D. MMIV = A.D. XML (Joseph & Ulrike)

July 15-18, 2004

Spiritual Aspects

We accepted LS as the holy core. (Peter)

GOLD might be gold, but it’s not a holy ontology. (Ed)

We don’t just need an ontology; we need a cosmology. And linguistic evangelists. (Joseph)

It’s a good map, but the devil is in the details. (C. C.)

July 15-18, 2004

Inspirational Material

I’m newly recovering in XML, but I’m making progress. (Donald)

Now we know Lewis’s software is clever and useful. But is it virtuous? (Ed)

Jump on the bandwagon; just don’t be righteous. (Ed)

Competition is good for descriptions. (Dietmar)

The Creator has access to all the information. (Doug)

July 15-18, 2004

Memorable Dialogues

“Cats are not existentially aware” (Ferdinand)

“You haven’t met my cat” (Jim) “My cat can beat up your cat.” (F) “Physically or philosophically?” (J)

“Does anyone want decaf coffee?” “In the MORNING??”

July 15-18, 2004

Thanks to: LL Arrangements Committee

Naomi Fox, Chair Andrea Berez (Food) Ann Sawyer (Notebooks) Marie Klopfenstein (Travel) Tomoko Okuno (Website) Neil Salmond (Technical Setup) Steve Moran (School of BP) Nikki Brugnone (WSU liaison)

July 15-18, 2004

Flowers

July 15-18, 2004

LINGUIST Crew Members

Sadie Williams Stephanie Stoll Megan Zdrojkowski Marisa Ferrara Michael Appleby Susan Hooyenga Takako Matsui Prashant Nagaraja Gayathri Sriram (Project Manager) Zhenwei Chen (Programmer)

July 15-18, 2004

Coffee Pot

July 15-18, 2004

Special Award

Sam Levine

Best Guest:

July 15-18, 2004

Heartfelt thanks to ….

E-MELD 2004 participants

For the practical recommendations that will help the discipline preserve irreplaceable language documentation