Grant URL: http://ucmexusresults.ucr.edu/ucmexusresults/ShowGrant?p=571A74F0CFEAC53C6896D674A097C1FA8FDA8AAED434D1F0213145E5E53EC9B9
UC P.I.: Stefan Gries, Linguistics, UC Santa Barbara
Faculty Page
Department Page
MX P.I.: Minerva Oropeza, Cicesas Golfo, CIESAS
Researcher Page
Department Page
Grant Program: 2007 UC MEXUS-CONACYT Grant
Project Title: Electronic corpus of Mexican folktales
Título del Proyecto: Corpus electrónico de narrativa tradicional Mexicana
Additional Academic Participants:
John Du Bois, Linguistics, UC Santa Barbara
Student Involvement:
Jaime Mauricio Buendia Reyes, Undergraduate, Escuela Nacional De Antropología e Historia
Nadia Cordero Gamboa, Graduate Student, Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas
Enrique Alejandro Cárdenas Aguilar, Undergraduate, Universidad Veracruzana
Andy Gregorio Fernández, Undergraduate, Universidad Veracruzana
Xóchitl Hernández Palestina, Undergraduate, Universidad Veracruzana
Faviola Jiménez Ortiz, Undergraduate, Universidad Veracruzana
Paula Martínez Bautista, Undergraduate, Universidad Veracruzana
Carrie Meeker, Graduate Student, Linguistics, UC Santa Barbara
Mark Myslín, Undergraduate, Linguistics, U C Santa Barbara
Sergio Uriel Ramírez Lara, Undergraduate, Universidad Veracruzana
Daisy Rosenblum, Graduate Student, Linguistics, UC Santa Barbara
Proposal Abstract (English): The purpose of the project is to create the conditions for a better understanding of diverse linguistic, historical and anthropological issues dealing with traditional narrative discourse and Mexican Spanish. To that end, a compilation of an electronic corpus consisting of oral and written folktales is proposed. The compilation process involves the discussion and decision-making on theoretical, methodological and technical issues at different levels, thereby requiring the participation of an interdisciplinary team. It also involves the development of an appropriate transcription system with a careful consideration of the genre properties of the stories contained in order to provide the user with relevant frames for the study of discourse, grammar, lexicon and intonational patterns. Suitable computational tools need to be developed in order to ensure that the design will be suitable for future follow-up projects in which searching the database plays a major role. While other corpora are available for Spanish -- especially Peninsular Spanish -- they tend to focus on written language, especially literary and formal registers, occasionally including spoken discourse in interview situations or TV broadcasts. The electronic corpus of Mexican folktales will be the first one of its kind, since it involves naturally occurring discourse and consists of narratives forged over generations, as a result of intense linguistic and cultural contacts.
Proposal Abstract (Spanish): El proyecto propone la creación de un corpus electrónico de narrativa tradicional mexicana, tanto oral como escrita, con el propósito de alentar la realización de estudios lingüísticos, históricos y antropológicos. La compilación del corpus implica la discusión y toma de decisiones sobre aspectos teóricos, metodológicos y técnicos a diferentes niveles y, consecuentemente, la participación de un equipo interdisciplinario. También implica el desarrollo de un sistema de transcripción basado en la consideración minuciosa de las características de género del acervo narrativo, que ponga a disposición del usario marcos relevantes para el estudio de diferentes fenómenos discursivos, gramaticales, léxicos y entonacionales. Es necessario, asimismo, desarrollar herramientas computacionales que aseguren la aptitud del diseño para la realización de futuros proyectos de búsqueda. Mientras que existen otros corpora para el español especialmente para español peninsular -- éstos tienden a privilegiar la lengua escrita -- sobre todo los registros literario y formal, incluyendo ocasionalmente discurso oral en situaciones de entrevista o programas de televisión. El corpus electrónico de narrativa tradicional mexicana que aquí se propone, será uno de los primeros en su tipo, pues se centra en un importante acervo de narraciones y forjadas generacionalmente como resultado de intensos contactos lingüísticos y culturales.
Project Results: The initial purpose of this project was to broaden the scope of the electronic corpora available for Spanish, especially Mexican Spanish through the incorporation of linguistic data gathered in different situational settings, and representative of a larger number of discourse genres and geographical areas. Electronic corpora have proven relevant for the study of different aspects of language on the basis of language use and interactions, so that the availability of new materials will significantly encourage linguistic research and diverse studies in other disciplines concerned with language, culture and ideology, to mention just a few possible lines of inquiry. An electronic corpus for the study of traditional narratives of the Mexican State of Veracruz has been designed, and will be consistently enriched and disseminated.
While a large number of traditional narratives have been collected not only in Spanish, but also in most of the indigenous languages spoken in the state of Veracruz, they were previously available only in different sources such as books, booklets, newspapers, scholarly articles, thesis and dissertation. A large number of unpublished materials, which were recorded by the researcher or directly transcribed in the field as recounted by the teller, were available only in institutional or personal files. At this point, they have been compiled and are in different stages of the coding process, so that part of them is already available through the website of the project, while the rest will be uploaded soon. Among the unpublished materials that will be disseminated through the electronic corpus is a large collection of narratives gathered by elementary school students in their own communities as part of their education.
A website, hosted by the CIESAS-Golfo website (http://www.ciesas-golfo.edu.mx/enarrativa/), was developed as part of this project. It contains an introduction in English and Spanish, the full text of the currently compiled narratives in .txt format, as well as the corresponding PDF and sound files when available. The website also includes a third section for photos, maps, ethnographic, statistical and other kinds of relevant information compiled as part of the project. The information allows users to contextualize the narrative materials from geographic, demographic, and cultural perspective.
Publications:
Oropeza Escobar, M., "Framing and collaboration in storytelling events. Forgetfulness, reflexivity and word search." In: Pragmatics 21:2 (2011). Special issue: Reframing framing: Interaction and the constitution of culture and society, Hiroko Takanashi, and Joseph Sung-Yul Park (eds.). Antwerp: International Pragmatics Association, pp. 213-230.
http://ipra.ua.ac.be/main.aspx?c=*HOME&n=1417
Grant Images
Title: Home page of the project website Description: Photo Credit: |