Response to member inquiry: Seeking work in endangered languages - RE: computational linguistic approaches

[McGinnis, Scott]

From: Brian Doyle [mailto:brian at gael-image.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 10:46 AM

Tony and fellow list members:

If you're at all interested in computational linguistics, you should
look at
the following article on documentation of endangered langauges that
appeared
in a recent issue of Scientific American:

http://www.language-archives.org/news.html#sciam

The article is posted on the Web site of the Open Language Archives
Community, a group of researchers involved in work to establish archival
and
metadata standards for linguistic archives.

Sincerely,
Brian P. Doyle
Graduate Student, Northeastern Illinois University
Chicago, IL

on 8/20/02 9:32 AM, McGinnis, Scott at smcginnis at nflc.org wrote:

> Dear nice people on the "Heritage Languages" mailing list,
>
> My name is Tony Lopez and I am interested in doing research that
>
> involves the observation and analysis of languages, even languages
that I do
> not yet know.  Since I already speak nine languages, this still leaves
me with
> many to choose from either way.
>
> I am planning on applying to graduate school in Linguistics and Second
> Language Acquisition for the fall of 2003.  I would like to spend
>
> as much of the time between then and now analyzing unique or
undocumented
> languages or language issues, or to assist people with similar such
analyses.
> My goal is to get more experience, discover what kinds of jobs are
available
> in linguistics, and do more of what I enjoy - hopefully with just
enough
> income to survive.
>
> Two possibilities that I've encountered involve the preservation
>
> of endangered languages and comparative linguistics.  Internet
searches and
> inquiries to professors have produced this informative mailing list as
one
> place where people that might be able to point me in the right
direction to
> fulfill my goals, if possible.
>
> Would any of you happen to know of a person or an organization that
might be
> interested in using someone like me to help further their research and
> personal goals?  Would you know of anyone or anyplace that might be
able to
> point me towards such a person or organization?
>
> I have already taken more than a few graduate linguistics courses and
have a
> good deal of practical experience.  I immensely enjoy looking for
recurring
> patterns and trying to fit seeming exceptions into a larger scheme if
> possible.  I've worked under high-pressure situations where perfection
isn't
> possible but good results are nonetheless necessary.  I've had to put
all of
> these skills and this experience together in situations as disparate
as
> getting a master's degree in physics and co-producing a
language-teaching TV
> program in China.  I want to do more
>
> than teach a language or learn a language, I want to contribute to the
> understanding of a language and its connections to other languages.  I
want an
> opportunity to prove how well I can do this and how much I can make a
> difference.
>
> If any of you have the time, I would greatly appreciate it if you
could please
> reply to me with any information you may have that might be
>
> of help to me, or forward this request to someone who can.  My e-mail
address
> is "tonyteach at email.com" and my personal web page is
> "http://tonyteach.knows.it"
>
> Thank you very much for your attention, and I hope I haven't taken too
much of
> your time.
>
> Sincerely, Tony Lopez Chicago, IL, USA
>
>
> Write me -->  tonyteach at email.com Read me -->
http://tonyteach.knows.it
>