What can data-driven linguistics tell us about culture?

Elisabeth Burr

What can data-driven linguistics tell What can data-driven linguistics tell us about culture?us about culture?

Three directions of research

Elisabeth Burr

ContentContent

Theory- vs. data-driven linguistics

Three directions of research

– Corpora and the meaning of verbal categories

– Discourses about languages and ideology

– Language, web and identity

Conclusion

Elisabeth Burr

Theory- vs. data-driven linguisticsTheory- vs. data-driven linguistics

Elisabeth Burr

Theory-driven linguisticsTheory-driven linguistics

language– is looked upon from an exclusively

theoretical point of view

– is forced into models constructed a priori • very small number of isolated phrases• in the majority of cases invented• constructed to illustrate the rules in question• invention is considered the only effective way

to reach a comprehensive description of language

Elisabeth Burr

theory-driven linguisticstheory-driven linguistics

justification

– the native speaker is capable of producing an unlimited number of phrases in their own language by drawing on the registers and styles which a certain type of education has put at their disposal

– using naturally occurring language data would mean restricting one's own native speaker competence to the stylistic registers present in a corpus

Elisabeth Burr


dualistic conception of language– functional oppositions:

• homme / uomo / hombre / man [+ masculine]• femme / donna / mujer / woman [- masculine]

– linguistic levels:• Saussure: langue - parole • Chomsky: competence – performance

– hierarchies:• competence / langue = centre of attraction • performance / parole = secondary manifestation of

language

Elisabeth Burr


another binary opposition

– core = homogeneity

– periphery = all the facts which disturb it

Elisabeth Burr

but ...but ...

speaking is much too complex to be studied as a mere realisation of systematic possibilities or relations

severe implications for– the type of speech which is studied– for corpus building– for the linguistic knowledge taken into

account– for the speakers

Elisabeth Burr

Data-driven linguisticsData-driven linguistics

language

– is studied "in der verbundenen Rede"

– naturally occurring spoken & written speech

non-dualistic theory of speech

– Dell Hymes (1972)

– Eugenio Coseriu (1988)

Elisabeth Burr

theory of speechtheory of speech

real language not an idealisation

opposition to Chomsky and 'common core'– speaking is a complex activity– speaking is based on different spheres of

knowledge– real speech communities are heterogeneous– people

• are not mono- but plurilingual• possess a socio-culturally determined knowledge of

languages and language varieties• varieties and languages cannot be related to a common

grammar

Elisabeth Burr

language varietieslanguage varieties

sociolects

styles

styles

styles

dialects

Elisabeth Burr

VarietätenketteVarietätenkette

Dialect Sociolect Style

Elisabeth Burr

homogeneityhomogeneity

functional language

virtual technique

realised technique

4 - language type 3 - language system 2 - language norm

1 - discourse

Elisabeth Burr

homogeneityhomogeneity

system– functional oppositions– elements– procedures– of possibilities

norm– social– traditional realisations– system of traditional constraints– formed by (influential) people / institutions

Elisabeth Burr

knowledge of the speakersknowledge of the speakers

does not correspond to variety's synchrony– thou– udire – sentire– usage of older forms– revitilisation of older forms / procedures

does not comprise just one variety– speakers know & use several varieties / languages– have rudimentary knowledge of other varieties /

historical languages• languages of imitation

– giorgia, seseo, yeísmo– spaghetten, mangiaren– uno momento, picco bello, dalli dalli, alles paletti

Elisabeth Burr

knowledge of the speakersknowledge of the speakers

does not correspond to historical language– no speaker knows all the varieties– not all know the same varieties– not all know the varieties in the same way

communicative adequacy

prestige – sanctions

judgement of languages / stereotypes

Elisabeth Burr

state of the artstate of the art

Systematic investigation into culturally bound linguistic knowledge of the speakers is scarce

despite our very elaborate linguistics of varieties we do not yet really know what is spoken, when and by whom

solution

– theory of speech has to be combined with data- and / or corpus-driven linguistics

– new technologies have to be exploited to the full

Elisabeth Burr

Corpora and the meaning of verbal Corpora and the meaning of verbal categoriescategories

Elisabeth Burr

CorporaCorpora

Paper Editions Tokens_____________________________________________________Italian Newspapers “German Unification 1989”

Corriere della Sera 19., 20., 21.10.1989 258.287Il Mattino 20., 21.10.1989 171.501La Repubblica 20., 21.10.1989 174.958 La Stampa 20., 21.10.1989 119.771

Total 724.517

French, Italian, Spanish Newspapers “European Elections 1994”

Le Monde 12./13., 14., 15.06.1994 236.236Corriere della Sera 13., 14., 15.06.1994 303.641La Vanguardia 13., 14., 15.06.1994 261.133

Elisabeth Burr

CorporaCorpora

corpora try to respect the knowledge of the speakers– complete editions– no reduction to core– "complete experience, that permits distinction but

excludes selection"– components are a portrait of the combination of

varieties in newspapers– reliable representation

• of what readers are presented with• of knowledge expected from them

knowledge needs to be differenciated

Elisabeth Burr

Mark-up „Bibliographical“Mark-up „Bibliographical“

Variable Code (Example) Value_____________________________________________________

paper <Z> <Z La Vanguardia>edition <E> <E 130694>section <S> <S Politica>origin of the text <A>signed <A firmato>anonymous <A non firmato>editorial <A Redazione>name of author <N> <N Tapia Juan>page <C> <C 01>language <L> <L Inglese>

Elisabeth Burr

Mark-up „Texttype“ <T>Mark-up „Texttype“ <T>head-line <T Occhiello>slugline <T Titolo>sub-title <T Sottotitolo>abstract <T Sommario>in between title <T Catenaccio>announcement <T Civetta>article <T Articolo>front-page story <T Spalla>TV-, cinema program <T Programma>film content <T Film>commentary <T Corsivo>interview <T Intervista>column <T Rubrica>criticism <T Critica>stop press <T Flash>news in brief <T Breve>leading article <T Fondo>letter to the editor <T Lettera>listings <T Elenco>news <T Notizia>weather report <T Tempo>title of book, film, song etc. <T Nome>picture caption <T Foto>

Elisabeth Burr

Mark-up „Type of Speech“ Mark-up „Type of Speech“ 

running text 

quote from written source 

quote from oral source 

interview question 

interview response 

Elisabeth Burr

Corpora onlineCorpora online

Paper Edition Tokens_____________________________________________________________________________________

Corriere della Sera 21.10.89 91.099

Corriere della Sera 15.06.94 98.224

Il Mattino 21.10.89 89.399

Le Monde 15.06.94 75.514

La Vanguardia 15.06.94 80.414

Elisabeth Burr

Elisabeth Burr

Elisabeth Burr

Elisabeth Burr

Elisabeth Burr

Elisabeth Burr

Corpus-based researchCorpus-based research

Varieties of Italian newspaper language

Presence and representation of women in Italian newspapers

the meaning of verbal categories

Phraseology – usage of patterns

Elisabeth Burr

The meaning of verbal categoriesThe meaning of verbal categories

personal names

– do not say anything about the qualities of the person

– do not normally possess positive or negative connotations

– cannot be used in generic terms

– always refer to concrete persons of female or male gender

Elisabeth Burr

the meaning of verbal categoriesthe meaning of verbal categories

co-occurrence of personal names with contextual features

– grammatical

– lexical

– semantic

Elisabeth Burr


not retrieved– names of firms (la Barilla)– names of criminal or court cases (il caso Renzi)– personal names in literary works (La morte di

Danton)– personal names in the plural (i Neri) were not

retained

retrieved– 13.612 personal names– 90,97% refer to men, 9,03% to women

Elisabeth Burr

personal namespersonal names

reference to man woman total

personal name

absolutee

% absolute % absolute %

surname 6904 55,76 183 14,89 7087 52,06

name 477 3,85 297 24,17 774 5,69 name & surname

5002 40,39 749 60,94 5751 42,25

total 12383 100,00 1229 100,00 13612 100,00

gender sensitive

– name

– name & surname

gender non sensitive

– surname

Elisabeth Burr

definite articledefinite article

surname– not neutral– refers to male person

reference to man woman total personal name + definite article

absolute % absolute % absolute %

name & surname

0 0 0 0 0 0,00

name 0 0 1 0,34 1 0,13

surname 51 0,74 62 33,88 113 1,59

masc. article– freed from systemic

function– famous / notorious

Elisabeth Burr


speech is not an imperfect realisation of the system

the socio-cultural norm determines the meaning of certain verbal categories

the socio-cultural norm is bound up with the dominant 'world view'

Elisabeth Burr

Print-based researchPrint-based research

Language & ideology

– gender in grammars of Romance languages

– data collection for linguistic atlases

– discourses about languages

– lay-linguistics and gender

Elisabeth Burr

Discourses about languagesDiscourses about languages

Elisabeth Burr

discourses about languagesdiscourses about languages

Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1706): Della perfetta poesia italiana, Vol. 3. Venezia

– chapters IX & X

• “Si difende la lingua italiana dalle opposizioni di un certo scrittore di Dialoghi. [...]”

• “[...] S’ella sia molle ed effeminata. Dolcezza virile d’essa. Conformità della lingua italiana e latina.”

Elisabeth Burr


Dominique Bouhours

controversy Orsi-Bouhours • Les entretiens d’Ariste et d’Eugène (1671)

• La manière de bien penser dans les ouvrages d’esprit (1691)

entretien “Langue française”

Elisabeth Burr

LL’’entretienentretien

Eugène and Ariste

– sea-front promenade in Dunkirk

– France had just reconquered Dunkirk from the English

– isolated from other people

– do not know Flemish

Elisabeth Burr

ll’’entretienentretien

Introduction: French is spoken nearly everywhere

two parts governed each by a topos• Les langues suivent d’ordinaire la fortune et

la réputation des Princes

• Le langage suit d’ordinaire la disposition des esprits

Elisabeth Burr


Les langues suivent d’ordinaire la fortune et la réputation des Princes

– “Ibi namque romanum imperium est ubicumque romana lingua dominatur.” (Lorenzo Valla 1471).

– “la fabla comunemente, mas que otras cosas, sigue al imperio” (Gonzalo García de Santa María 1484).

– “siempre la lengua fue compañera del imperio” (Antonio de Nebrija 1492).

Elisabeth Burr


Les langues suivent d’ordinaire la fortune et la réputation des Princes– frame

• Que doit faire présentement pour une langue polie et parfaite la grandeur d'un monarque comme le nôtre, qui réunit en sa personne le bonheur de Charles-Quint et le mérite de François Ier? (Bouhours 1671 / 1920: 37)

• Les rois doivent apprendre de lui [Louis XIV] à régner; mais les peuples doivent apprendre de lui à parler. Si la langue française est sous son règne ce qu'était la langue latine sous celui d'Auguste, il est lui-même dans son siècle ce qu'Auguste était dans le sien. Entre les grandes qualités qui lui sont communes avec cet empereur si célèbre, il a l'avantage d'être né éloquent, comme il faut qu'un prince le soit. (Bouhours 1671 / 1920: 147).

Elisabeth Burr


Muratori

– does not defend Italian against this claim

– concentrates on the second part• “[...] S’ella sia molle ed effeminata. Dolcezza

virile d’essa. Conformità della lingua italiana e latina. [...]”

Elisabeth Burr


Le langage suit d’ordinaire la disposition des esprits– proof of the superiority

• of French over Spanish and Italian• of French mentality over Spanish and Italian mentality

– 1. part• Spanish / Italian = negative extremes• French = juste milieu

– 2. part• Spanish / Italian are looked down upon from the superior

position of French• criteria

– language anecdotes, language judgements, language praise

– changed in accord with the aim

Elisabeth Burr


negative extremes

– Fernando Herrera (1580): Annotaciones to the work of Garcilaso de la Vega – Comparacion entre la lengua Toscana i Española

• Benedetto Varchi (1503-1565): ending of words in vowels, handling of consonants turn the Italian Volgare into a sweeter / softer language than Greek and Latin

Elisabeth Burr


negative extremes• Herrera– ending of words in vowels, handling of

consonants in Italian = downgraded

– aim: to use the positive judgement for Spanish

– gravidad – dulçura

– Italian is more than once said to be effeminate

Elisabeth Burr


Bouhours

– Herrera’s judgements

– Herrera’s method• Spanish: gravidad > faste and orgueil

• Italian– dulzura > mollesse

– ridicules the vowel ending of words and diminutives

Elisabeth Burr


“Ne dirait-on pas qu'elle ait dessein de faire rire avec ces fanciuletto fanciullino; bambino, bambinello, bambinellucio; huometto, huomicino, huomicello; dottoretto, dottorino, dottorello, dottoruzzo; vecchino, vecchietto, vecchiettino, vecchiuzzo, vecchiarello? Ajoutez à cela les mêmes terminaisons qui reviennent si souvent, et qui font une rime perpétuelle dans la prose. Le discours est quelque fois tout en A et quelquefois tout en O; ou du moins les O et les A se suivent de si près qu'ils étouffent le son des I et des E, qui de leur côté font aussi en quelques autres endroits une musique assez mal pleisante.”

Elisabeth Burr

Discourses about languagesDiscourses about languages

“Les Italiens et les Espagnols font à peu près le même: l'élégance de ces langues consiste en partie dans cet arrangement bizarre, ou plutôt dans ce désordre et cette transposition étrange de mots. Il n'y a que la langue française qui suive la nature pas à pas, pour parler ainsi; et elle n'a qu'à la suivre fidèlement pour trouver le nombre et l'harmonie que les autres langues ne rencontrent que dans le renversement de l'ordre naturel.”

Elisabeth Burr


2. part

Balant Itali, gemunt Hispani, ululant Germani, cantant Galli

“Les Chinois et presque tous les peuples de l'Asie chantent; les Allemands râlent; les Espagnols déclament; les Italiens soupirent; les Anglais sifflent. Il n'y a proprement que les Français qui parlent;”

Elisabeth Burr


Italian is not capable to be the language of love French is the langue du coeur Italian

– womanly language– adequate for talking with women– effeminate language– language = mentality

“car le langage suit d'ordinaire la disposition des esprits; et chaque nation a toujours parlé selon son génie. [...] les Italiens en ont une molle et efféminée, selon le tempérament et les moeurs de leur pays.”

Elisabeth Burr


j'entends celle qu'on parlait au temps d'Auguste, dans le siècle de la belle latinité; et je dis que notre langue, dans la perfection où elle est, a beaucoup de rapport avec la langue latine de ce temps-là. Pour peu qu'on les examine toutes deux, on verra qu'elles ont le même génie et le même goût, et que rien ne leur plaît tant qu'un discours noble et poli, mais pur, simple, naturel et raisonnable.

si bien que la langue française a tout ensemble la majesté de la langue latine et la douceur de la langue grecque. Ce qu'elle a de doux et de délicat est soutenu par ce qu'elle a de fort et de mâle [...] on peut la comparer à ces anciennes héroïnes, qui avaient toute la douceur de leur sexe et toute la force du nôtre [...].

Elisabeth Burr


Spanish = false masculinity (faste, orgueil) Italian = false femininity (molle et efféminée)

Muratori

– not interested in féminité

– interested only in latinità and virilità

Elisabeth Burr


The socio-cultural norm is at least partly formed by influential people in accord with their political and cultural value system (ordre naturel)

Stereotypical categorizations of languages and speakers– are handed down from generation to generation– are changed in this process in accord with

certain aims or value systems– influence the behaviour of the speakers

Elisabeth Burr

Web-based researchWeb-based research

Identity

– language, female identity and the web

–mountain dialects online

– globalization and identity

Elisabeth Burr

Language, web and identityLanguage, web and identity

Interplay of two strategies

– making women visible in language use

– creation of virtual spaces where political, social or professional topics related to women find a home

level = political institutions in France and Spain

Question: Does it lead to an autonomous identity of women?

Elisabeth Burr

language, web, identitylanguage, web, identity

occultation or secondarity of women in discourse

– dogma of the genericity or unmarkedness of the masculine gender • preeminence of the masculine over the

feminine“le genre plus noble”, “le masculin l’emporte sur le féminin”

Elisabeth Burr


preeminence of the masculine gender– historically the feminine gender is of secondary

nature (Meillet), – concordance rules: 99 femmes et un homme

sont venus,– description of feminine denominations as

secondary derivations from masculine terms• in dictionaries (accoucheur, euse; enfermero, ra)• grammars (Féminin des noms)

– attitudes towards the use of feminine professional names, titles, grades, functions

Elisabeth Burr


grammatical and natural gender– lexeme inherent: mère (f) / père (m), madre (f) / padre (m)

– choice of grammatical gender • alternating: gender-specific suffixes, endings,

determinants or specifiers:– vend-euse / vend-eur, ac-triz / ac-tor– herman-a / herman-o, marchand-e / marchand-Ø– la / le ministre, une / un journaliste; las / los

profesionales– ministre déléguée / ministre délégué

• derivation– -esse / -essa, -ina: prince / princesse, abad / abadessa,

zar / zarina– femme / mujer: femme maire, mujer periodista

Elisabeth Burr


a few stages

– France: discussion of the link between identity and denomination

« Comme on est mal dans sa peau, on peut se sentir mal dans ses mots. [...]tout se passe comme si on avait fini par autoriser les femmes à exercer des métier d’homme, mais à condition qu’elles adoptent l’uniforme des hom mes et ne le mettent pas à leurs mesures. Qu’elles portent en somme le signe du masculin, comme une défroque trop grande pour elles, comme le symbole visible de leur transgression. » (Groult 1984: 20).

– only by openly taking a stand on their femininity would the situation change

Elisabeth Burr


making women visible in language use

– language policy measures – two approaches• Instituto de la Mujer (1988): Recomendaciones para el uso no

sexista de la lengua • Circulaire du 11 mars 1986 relative à la féminisation des

noms de métier, fonction, grade ou titre.

– consequences in France• En l’absence d’un suivi actif et d’un volontarisme fort, cette

réforme qui n’avait pas de caractère contraignant, est restée lettre-morte.

• […]• les noms, notamment ceux des métiers, ont aujourd’hui une

existence en tant que noms masculins qui renvoient à des femmes exerçant la profession (Rignault / Richert 1997: 65).

Elisabeth Burr


change– 6 female ministers insisted with selfconfidence and

firmness on being addressed as Madame la Ministre– “Circulaire du 6 mars 1998 relative à la féminisation

des noms de métier, fonction, grade ou titre” • promulgated the realisation of first circulaire• asked the INaLF to elaborate a Guide

published 1999: Femme, j'écris ton nom...

– genericity of the masculine not questioned• measures to make women visible remain restricted to

terminology• feminine professional names continue to be

understood as derived

Elisabeth Burr


Spain– feminisation not the only question– presence / picture of women at least as important– “sexist language” always present in the title of

guidelines – generic use of masculine always considered to

be the main reason for sexism in language use• hombre / hombres „en un sentido universal“• los españoles• Los nómades se trasladaban con sus enseres,

mujeres, ancianos y niños de un lugar a otro

– señorita – las limpiadoras – los abogados

Elisabeth Burr


Virtual spaces– www-pages of the French government

• Féminisation and doubling of pronouns only when people are addressed

„N. Ameline, qui va, [...], animer cet observatoire avec madame Zimmermann et chacune et chacun d’entre vous“

(Raffarin 2003a) • when a concrete person is referred to

„Sur proposition de la ministre de la défense“

• all other contexts: generic use of the masculine is preferred

Elisabeth Burr


Observatoire de la parite entre les femmes et les hommes– 29 women and 4 men– particular instance of lack of commitment– continue to use the generic masculine– accept the dichotomy personne – individu

« Depuis son renouvellement par le décret du 25 novembre 2002, l'Observatoire de la parité comprend 33 membres, parlementaires, acteurs de la vie associative, universitaires (juristes, historiens, sociologues, politologues), tous reconnus comme experts sur le sujet, dont Mme Marie-Jo Zimmermann nommée Rapporteur général le 25 novembre 2002, succédant à Mme Catherine Génisson, qui occupait ces fonctions depuis le 1er octobre 1999. »

Elisabeth Burr

Elisabeth Burr


Féminisation– does not constitute a topic– relegated via links to the separate section on La

parité sur Internet– exceptional status of feminine professional

names is emphasised Observatoire– little more than an organ of information– contributes scarcely to the creation of an

autonomous feminine identity– identity is left to linked alternative organisations

Elisabeth Burr

Elisabeth Burr

Elisabeth Burr

Elisabeth Burr

Elisabeth Burr


Institutos de la Mujer

– have already created virtual spaces• professional, creative and informative

• further the development of an alternative complex

identity of women

– competition between the institutes• furthers greater creativity

• specialisation on different themes and areas of research

Elisabeth Burr


Instituto Aragonés de la Mujer– Lenguaje No Sexista

Instituto Andaluz de la Mujer– «meridiam»

„rescatar la obra y la memoria de nuestras antecesoras“.

Elisabeth Burr

Elisabeth Burr


plans of the regional institutes for equality of opportunity

– content and language are interesting• Cultura, imagen y medios de comunicación

• Coeducación

• Área de educación, cultura y medios de comunicación

– connections are established between• language usage

• the rendering visible of women

• the promotion of an alternative image of women

Elisabeth Burr


Plan Igualdad de Oportunidades entre Hombres y Mujeres (2001-2004)

3.2 Fomentar una imagen equilibrada y no discriminatoria de las mujeres, en los medios de comunicación social.

3.2.1 Realizar acciones de sensibilización dirigidas a los y las profesionales de los medios de comunicación, sobre el uso no sexista del lenguaje, así como sobre la utilización de una imagen no estereotipada del papel de las mujeres en la sociedad.

Elisabeth Burr


Language– double reference: familias monoparentales y

monomarentales, de los y las profesionales, a Jueces y Juezas

– splitting: alumnos/as, universitarios/as– genuine Epikoina: personas, población,

profesorado– @

[...]Talleres de Concordia de Género impartidos a alumn@s de 1º a 4º de [...]

Captar el interés de l@s alumn@s haciéndoles observar y reflexionar [...]

Elisabeth Burr

What does data-driven linguistics What does data-driven linguistics tell us about culturetell us about culture People know the linguistic norm and apply it

Norms are formed in accord with value systems

Norms can be changed

Technologies

– certainly inforce norms

– open up new ways of changing norms

Documents

What can data-driven linguistics tell us about culture?