3.310 collection of syllabi (106)
Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@VM.EPAS.UTORONTO.CA)
Tue, 1 Aug 89 20:15:02 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 310. Tuesday, 1 Aug 1989.
Date: 1 August 1989
From: Willard McCarty <MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: collection of syllabi in humanities computing
The first group of syllabi has been put on the file-server as SYLLABUS
TOPIC-1. It includes the two just circulated plus another contributed by
Nick Besnier, for a course in corpus linguistics. An abstract from
Besnier's syllabus follows. It contains, by the way, a reasonably large
and recent bibliography.
I have the impression that many Humanists regard the file-server as a
kind of Gulag to which less important items are consigned. This is not
so! Because circulation of large files puts a great burden on the
networks and on individuals' disk quotas, I relegate large and more
enduring items to the server. The Guide to Humanist does contain
complete instructions on how to download items.
Willard McCarty
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EIL 487P: COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF DISCOURSE (CORPUS LINGUISTICS)
COURSE DESCRIPTION
[This seminar was taught at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
in 1986 and 1988.
For further information, contact Niko Besnier
at uttanu@yalevm.bitnet]
Time & place: MW 11:30-1, 169 Davenport Hall
Instructor: Niko Besnier
Office hours: MW 2-3 or by appointment
Office: 3043-FLB, phone 3-1506
E-mail: uttanu@uiucvmd.bitnet
This course is a hands-on research seminar on the uses of programming tools
for discourse analysis. Current approaches to computer-aided discourse
analysis will be reviewed, focusing on recent developments in what has come to
be known as 'corpus linguistics'.
The questions addressed in this seminar include:
* What range of problems in discourse analysis can be addressed using
computational tools?
* What problems are involved in the task of text sampling?
* How do microscopic and microscopic approaches to discourse analysis
differ, and what are the implications of this difference for computer-
aided work in the area?
* How can the standardized computer corpora be used?
* What problems are involved in developing and tagging a corpus of texts?
* How can textual and contextual information be integrated and handled in
a computerized corpus?
* How can qualitative and quantitative methods be integrated?
The skills that will be taught during the course of the semester are:
* PASCAL programming for discourse analysis;
* Simple statistics with SPSS-PC+ with relevance to discourse analysis;
* Handling the three standardized computer corpora;
* Using the IBM mainframe system for receiving and sending e-mail;
* Using LEXWARE, a data-management system for dictionaries;
* Using the Kurtzweil Optical Reader.
Each participant in the seminar will choose a term project and clear it with
the instructor EARLY IN THE SEMESTER. They will present informal progress
reports orally several times during the semester, and will submit a final
written report in the form of a term paper at the end of the semester.
Grading will be based on:
* The originality and theoretical importance of the project;
* The sophistication of the programming tools developed for the project;
* The clarity and pedagogical sensibility of the final oral report;
* The clarity and professionalism of the final written report.
More than one participants in the seminar may work on the same project; please
consult with the instructor if you want to co-author a project.
Here are a few examples of appropriate projects:
* An analysis of the use of particular hesitation markers in conversation;
* A comparison of tense/aspect in ESL and native-speaker compositions;
* An analysis of word-frequency differences across spoken and written
styles;
* A study of a particular subordinating strategy in a written style.
The projects may be based on English data, ESL data, or data from any
language as spoken or written by native or non-native speakers.
All final written reports are due on Friday, December 9.
Material needed:
Access to a Turbo PASCAL compiler and manual (versions 3.0 or 4.0).
You may purchase your own or you may borrow the copy held in the Language
Learning Lab's Microcomputer room (G-13, FLB).
[much material deleted, incl. a Semester Plan and bibliographies]