The Alberta Language Technology Lab (ALTLab) (altlab.ualberta.ca), in association with CILLDI, the CCP and APhL centres/laboratories in the Department of Linguistics, are offering a directed research course (LING 375) in Winter term of 2015.
Our main research objective is to substantially expand the Maskwacîs Plains Cree dictionary through the elicitation, recording and transcription of example sentences together with native speakers of Plains Cree, as well as to conduct linguistic research on various aspects of the resulting dictionary and corpus of spoken Plains Cree and its written transcription. In addition, we offer research opportunities in analyzing the structure of several Plains Cree dictionaries and prior Plains Cree text collections that ALTLab has gained access to.
Moreover, we anticipate similar research opportunities on other indigenous languages spoken in Alberta and the rest of Western Canada. A full range of possible linguistic research with indigenous languages that can be pursued within ALTLab and the associated laboratories and centers are listed under the Full Curriculum.
Instructors (of record): Drs. Antti Arppe, Jordan Lachler, Juhani Järvikivi, Tim Mills.
Course Structure: The course will consist of (1) introductory lectures on indigenous languages of North America; (2) practicums, workshops and training (on e.g. elicitation, transcription, and lexicography); (3) directed undergraduate research work on a topic of your choice; (4) student presentations; and a (5) final written report (see syllabus template). Depending on your background and interests, we will mutually specify a research topic and primary instructor for you. As the course is geared towards individual data collection, analysis and research, it is not solely structured on regular meeting times, and may thus accommodate many different schedules.
Necessary Prerequisites: LING 101, LING 205 (Phonetics), and LING 308 (Morphology & the Lexicon). N.B. Knowledge of or courses taken in Cree are not mandatory.
Undergraduate Background: Minor or Major in Linguistics.
Application Procedure: Send your application by email to arppe@ualberta.ca, including (1) a copy of your transcript, (2) indicating separately the courses you deem relevant for this directed research course, and (3) a brief statement (maximally one page) of your research interests and why you would want to take this directed research course.
Direct any possible queries as well to arppe@ualberta.ca
Final Application Deadline (UPDATED): 9am on Thursday, November 20, 2014.