Fw: [Lexicog] Digital Glossarization

Fri May 9 15:04:09 UTC 2008

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jimm GoodTracks 
To: siouan at lists.colorado.ed 
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 7:14 AM
Subject: Fw: [Lexicog] Digital Glossarization

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jimm GoodTracks 
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 6:29 AM
Subject: Re: [Lexicog] Digital Glossarization

George:
I believe that there is value in a "Back of the Book" glossary.  Often a student does not wish to wade through the length of typical dictionary that provides them more information than they wish at the moment.  Electronic dictionaries are available when one is sitting before the computer, and not off to the side in a reading chair.  For the very small child in an immersion setting, the glossary is of little or no value, but indeed it becomes a tool for the older student at any learning level.

The value of an immediate reader glossary, is that it gives one an immediate answer to "What does this word mean".  We just had this discussion this week at the Tribal Office here in Kansas.  And further, it was discussed as to how to present that glossary.  For Native American Languages, the verb complex is the most important and complex element of a sentence unlike English which allows each element of the sentence and words that enhance the main verb to be presented independently.  Certainly a reader can be written in the most simplest format, which involves no prefixes, suffixes, infixes, conjugations, nor additional grammatical elements to be added on to the verb in a Native American sentence.  In this case, the reader would only be able to speak in the 3rd person singular, namely:  He/ she/ it.  In other words, the verb is stripped to its core meaning, which even then, may or may not be a bare root meaning separate from a prefix of instrumentality, that is, a prefix that indicates how an action (of the root word) is performed or caused (by hand, foot, machine, heat, an instrument, etc.).  

When other voices are introduced, namely --  I, you, we, they and dual or plural elements  -- the verb complex begins to build via prefixes and suffixes which have no meaning when detached apart from the verb.  In addition, direct and indirect discourse, prepositional elements, probability and more can all factor in.  And to this end, the literal translation provided in a more layman's terms rather than a professional linguistic rendition seems to be the most helpful to the language student.

I will not have time to review your material, as at the moment I am full time on the providing a revision of our Baxoje Jiwere Dictionary into an unabridged edition, as well as providing the translation of a sixty minute Film.  It is for the sake of time, that I have not supplied examples of my discussion above.  However, I have written today to support your effort and work, which in my opinion has value and probable applications for other Native American Language communities and even for our work here, when I am able to focus fully on the literature and teaching materials phase.

Further, be aware that I did not note any flaws with your English below, as there was nothing unique to suggest that you are of an ESL student background.

Sincerely,
Jimm Goodtracks
Baxoje Jiwere Language Project
Lawrence, Kansas   

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: kawaguy32 
  To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 11:18 PM
  Subject: [Lexicog] Digital Glossarization

  electronic
  process of  raw text of a given book into electronic book with an
  indexed glossary built-in. Amazon.com folks who sell books use
  "glossarized" for some of their selling printed books. 

  I a long experienced programmer (over 40
  years, now retired.) developed a relatively sized program that is
  able to "pluck" dictionary definitions from the net for each 
  word in a given book and store them on a local system such as a
  personal computer. That is the first stage of the said process. The
  next stage is then to "glossarize" those words for the
  given book. The definitions stored are in HTML format for previewing
  purpose. I developed a rather small program that is able to lookup
  those definitions with an aid of word list from which a user is able
  to select a word for the definition. It is just a preview program
  before going into glossized process. The second stage is not yet
  developed but I am about to commence. I am wondering if there is such
  software available on market similar to mine.

  I got the concept of "glossarizing" process not long ago so that I
  could enjoy reading ebooks with glossary built-in. I know there
  are already on market electronic dictionaries for ebook readers but
  they are not so good and sometimes too many definitions for the
  same word, somewhat distracts the reader from the continuious thought
  while reading. The "glossarized" electronic books would be an ideal
  for children, not only those but also ESL readers like myself. 

  Thank you.

  Geo Massar

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