Projects / Programmes
Slovene Language - Basic, Contrastive, and Applied Studies
January 1, 2019
- December 31, 2027
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.05.00 |
Humanities |
Linguistics |
|
| 5.06.00 |
Social sciences |
Political science |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H350 |
Humanities |
Linguistics |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.02 |
Humanities |
Languages and Literature |
| 5.06 |
Social Sciences |
Political science |
Applied linguistics, Post-structural linguistics, Corpus linguistics, Language resources, Language description, Terminology, Discourse analyses, Contrastive analysis, User research
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
April 26, 2024;
A3 for period
2018-2022
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
127 |
467 |
389 |
3.06 |
| Scopus |
285 |
1,445 |
1,190 |
4.18 |
Researchers (42)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
The research program is based on empirical approaches and focused on upgrading and maintaining language resources, and on corpus-based linguistic descriptions that belong to post-structuralist approaches to language.
It is vital to continually upgrade and maintain language resources to provide a basis for empirical research. Recently, a number of corpora have been built for Slovene: Gigafida (reference corpus), Kres (sample corpus), Gos (spoken Slovene), Janes (computer-mediated communication), KAS (academic Slovene), Šolar (texts produced by pupils), Lektor (revised texts), SIGNOR (Slovene Sign Language). Maintaining and upgrading corpora is a cornerstone within the research program, as it is the only program in Slovenia that systematically deals with the development and maintenance of corpora. A significant portion of the infrastructure developed within the program has to do with terminological resources and technologies, also in terms of developing innovative methods of terminology extraction. As efficient terminology management is key in transferring knowledge between different linguistic environments as well as the conceptualizations in these environments, we also plan to develop modern terminological descriptions in addition to building and maintaining terminological resources. In so doing, we are moving from the classical understanding of terminology as alinguistic denomination of a specialized concept to investigating them in texts as dynamic conceptual-linguistic networks.
Comprehensive linguistic descriptions of Slovene are still based on the structuralist tradition; thus, we hereby propose a plan for new descriptions within lexicogrammar. In addition, we are preparing a corpus-induced lexicogrammatical description of verb phrases as a model for a comprehensive description of Slovene. Even in contrastive studies in the Slovenian cultural environment, the research is based on the structuralist tradition, and this does not allow for fully functional communication skills. By researching discourse markers, we are transferring contrastive studies into the framework of discourse analysis.
The digital media and new forms of communication have radically changed the means of communication. In addition, the digital media with a specific regulation in different cultural environments is also a space of discursive practices that are recognized as socially unacceptable. A type of discourse that has been radically changed in the last decade by technology and new communication channels is that of the media. At the forefront of our discourse analyses, along with socially unacceptable behavior, are the transformations of media discourse, which were significantly marked by new media with technological, social, cultural and aesthetic changes in the production, distribution and reception of content.
Significance for science
The research program continues to promote the dialogue of the individual research disciplines with international linguistics; its materials, theoretical approach, and findings are an original contribution to international linguistics.
Viewed from a broader perspective, in the last two or three decades linguistics has witnessed a noticeable paradigm shift from researching language as a system, which was typical of structuralism, to a more empirically-oriented language description that aims to describe the workings of language in real life, and is linked to fields such as sociology, psychology, neurobiology, ICT, artificial intelligence, etc. This type of linguistics aims to integrate traditional fields, such as phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, etc., and others (pragmatics, discourse analysis, text linguistics, etc.) into a unified description. To enable research within the new paradigm, reliable empirical data about different language phenomena are needed, and these are provided by modern computational or corpus linguistics, using automatic methods to analyze extensive collections of written and spoken language data (corpora), and this is what our research is based on. The research program thus represents a scientific foundation for corpus-based linguistic studies of Slovene, as it is the only program that systematically upgrades and maintains corpora for Slovene.
European linguistics, especially in the Slavonic cultural environments, is still largely based on the structuralist tradition. As it has failed to include a number of post-structuralist approaches into its theoretical and methodological framework, it is lagging behind other fields in the humanities and social studies. This research program, based on corpus linguistics as the prevalent methodological approach, systematically introduces various post-structuralist approaches to its linguistic descriptions. This holds true for those that have been present for a long time, such as sociolinguistics, text linguistics, discourse analysis, as well as new approaches, such as critical discourse analysis, critical stylistics, gender linguistics, and queer linguistics.
Linguistic procedures and language technology developed within the research program will improve language resources for Slovene, the general as well as specialized ones that are intended for specific research purposes. Thus, an important segment of the Slovene linguistic infrastructure will be created, making sure that the infrastructure is incorporated into the linguistic research sphere as an essential segment of contemporary linguistic analyses and linguistic descriptions based on these analyses. The program will thus contribute to the following:
a. further development of the principles of a standardized presentation of language resources for Slovene
b. the development of modern methods of analyzing structured data in text corpora
c. the development of modern methods of linking corpus resources, their analysis and the presentation of the results of the analysis
d. the development of modern methods for accessing Slovene language resources
In the applied linguistics domain, the program will strengthen the role of corpus linguistics and other post-structural approaches in Slovenia. With the compilation of general corpora, corpus linguistics has established itself as an independent research methodology. The corpus-based approach is systematically included into our research on Slovene and into contrastive studies of Slovene and other languages, and this is an important step towards a meaningful inclusion of corpus linguistics into linguistic analysis in general.
Significance for the country
Basic research studies of Slovene ensure that the language fulfills its functions and is comparable to other European and world languages. The emphasis on the digital presence of language and the construction of digital-born linguistic descriptions ensure the dynamic development of language in the digital age. Only those languages that will be equipped to function in the digital world of diverse corpus data will be able to develop, which makes the work of the research program vital for the future of Slovene in the digital environment. However, this environment does not only bring about positive effects but also gives rise to a number of socially unacceptable discursive practices. For this reason, we wish to point out, as one of the significant contributions of the research program, our research on socially unacceptable practices on social media, which is performed with a combination of quantitative and qualitative as well as descriptive and inferential approaches.
In contemporary society, based on knowledge and advanced technologies, it is important that an adequate infrastructure is developed for every language. This is something that we must do ourselves. In the global community, accessibility of information in a particular language, as well as its potential to interrelate with other languages, is of vital importance, therefore, the compilation of various language resources for Slovene is crucial, as is efficient intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary communication, within a single language and among various languages. The work in the field of terminology has worldwide support, as it enhances the transfer of technology. Undoubtedly, this is also the case in Slovenia. By efficient terminology management we not only encourage a faster transfer of technological solutions to the Slovene cultural/economical environment, but also showcase the Slovenian technological achievements in a foreign language. Figures show that the majority of all data related to specialized knowledge and skills (as much as 80%) is transferred through the modern media. Therefore, terminological research is extremely important for a successful exchange of relevant information. By ensuring a fast and efficient exchange of new information, it offers economic subjects operating in this field an opportunity for better performance. Data shows that skilled transfer of specialized information from one language to another is an important factor in economic development.
Communication problems often arise from insufficient knowledge of terminology rather than from the lack of general language skills. The incorrect use of terminology and communicative patterns can have a number of negative effects, ranging from a poorer economic performance to harm or injury in situations involving safety regulations or instructions for use, due to inadequate translation. This may reduce the efficiency of education, increase the cost in the context of unsuccessful interlingual transfer of technical documentation, reduce the level of legal protection in contracts and other legal documents, etc. Thus, the effects of the proposed research work can be measured both in terms of quantity and quality. The proposed research presents the basis for ensuring efficient communication and consequently plays an important role in eliminating the negative effects listed above on interlingual and intercultural transfer.
Most important scientific results
Interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Interim report
