Language description and hypertext: Nunggubuyu as a case study

Abstract

Any reasonably complete description of a language is a complex object, typically composed of a grammar, a dictionary, and a text collection with internal relationships that can be represented as hyperlinks. The information would be fully searchable, links between text and media could be implemented, and the presentation would be based on a well-defined data structure with advantages for archiving and reusability.

We present a small fragment from Heath's Nunggubuyu text collection with links to parts of the other elements of the description to demonstrate the benefit which this approach can bring. This initial step involves a certain amount of hand-coding but establishes a basis for the necessary data structure which will then be used in a second phase where we develop techniques for the automatic processing of scanned versions of Heath's work.

Grammatical descriptions written with the kinds of structure we are developing, or capable of being converted to that structure (while being 'born digital') are likely to be in short supply. Presentations of old materials in new formats will inform new electronic grammars, and help gain the acceptance of the linguistic community for preferred formats.