Visual Representations Is Lexical Learning Environments: Application To The Alexia System

Cognition-based arguments in support of using multimedia aids for the learning of vocabulary have so far offered only an imprecise, general framework. CALL experimentalists have also tried to establish the effectiveness of multimedia for vocabulary learning, but their attempts reveal that the underlying representations have not been clearly defined. After reviewing these points, we propose criteria for evaluating the quality of a visual representation in a lexical environment. These criteria are then used to discuss visual representations in paper and electronic dictionaries and in CALL environments. A kind of confusion has been made between multimedia and nonverbal knowledge. Hence visual representations are scarce and limited to concrete words. One way to extend multimedia in lexical learning is to rely on linguistic knowledge and build lexical networks. We present the ALEXIA system, a lexical learning environment for French as a second/foreign language. We detail its network module which can automatically build graphs of some lexical semantic relations. It is a first step for offering learners representations they can easily interpret. Visual representations which can cover a significant part of the lexicon are computable, extendable and interactive

The Lexicon Graph Model : a generic model for multimodal lexicon development

Trippel T. The Lexicon Graph Model : a generic model for multimodal lexicon development. Bielefeld (Germany): Bielefeld University; 2006.Das Lexicon Graph Model stellt ein Modell für Lexika dar, die korpusbasiert sein können und multimodale Informationen enthalten. Hierbei wird die Perspektive der Lexikontheorie eingenommen, wobei die zugrundeliegenden Datenstrukturen sowohl vom Lexikon als auch von Annotationen betrachtet werden. Letztere fallen dadurch in das Blickfeld, weil sie als Grundlage für die Erstellung von Lexika gesehen werden. Der Begriff des Lexikons bezieht sich hier sowohl auf den Bereich des Wörterbuchs als auch der in elektronischen Applikationen integrierten Lexikondatenbanken. Die existierenden Formalismen und Ansätze der Lexikonentwicklung zeigen verschiedene Probleme im Zusammenhang mit Lexika auf, etwa die Zusammenfassung von existierenden Lexika zu einem, die Disambiguierung von Mehrdeutigkeiten im Lexikon auf verschiedenen lexikalischen Ebenen, die Repräsentation von anderen Modalitäten im Lexikon, die Selektion des lexikalischen Schlüsselbegriffs für Lexikonartikel, etc. Der vorliegende Ansatz geht davon aus, dass sich Lexika zwar in ihrem Inhalt, nicht aber in einer grundlegenden Struktur unterscheiden, so dass verschiedenartige Lexika im Rahmen eines Unifikationsprozesses dublettenfrei miteinander verbunden werden können. Hieraus resultieren deklarative Lexika. Für Lexika können diese Graphen mit dem Lexikongraph-Modell wie hier dargestellt modelliert werden. Dabei sind Lexikongraphen analog den von Bird und Libermann beschriebenen Annotationsgraphen gesehen und können daher auch ähnlich verarbeitet werden. Die Untersuchung des Lexikonformalismus beruht auf vier Schritten. Zunächst werden existierende Lexika analysiert und beschrieben. Danach wird mit dem Lexikongraph-Modell eine generische Darstellung von Lexika vorgestellt, die auch implementiert und getestet wird. Basierend auf diesem Formalismus wird die Beziehung zu Annotationsgraphen hergestellt, wobei auch beschrieben wird, welche Maßstäbe an angemessene Annotationen für die Verwendung zur Lexikonentwicklung angelegt werden müssen.The Lexicon Graph Model provides a model and framework for lexicons that can be corpus based and contain multimodal information. The focus is more from the lexicon theory perspective, looking at the underlying data structures that are part of existing lexicons and corpora. The term lexicon in linguistics and artificial intelligence is used in different ways, including traditional print dictionaries in book form, CD-ROM editions, Web based versions of the same, but also computerized resources of similar structures to be used by applications. These applications cover systems for human-machine communication as well as spell checkers. The term lexicon in this work is used as the most generic term covering all lexical applications. Existing formalisms in lexicon development show different problems with lexicons, for example combining different kinds of lexical resources, disambiguation on different lexical levels, the representation of different modalities in a lexicon. The Lexicon Graph Model presupposes that lexicons can have different structures but have fundamentally a similar structure, making it possible to combine lexicons in a unification process, resulting in a declarative lexicon. The underlying model is a graph, the Lexicon Graph, which is modeled similar to Annotation Graphs as described by Bird and Libermann. The investigation of the lexicon formalism contains four steps, that is the analysis of existing lexicons, the introduction of the Lexicon Graph Model as a generic representation for lexicons, the implementation of the formalism in different contexts and an evaluation of the formalism. It is shown that Annotation Graphs and Lexicon Graphs are indeed related not only in their formalism and it is shown, what standards have to be applied to annotations to be usable for lexicon development

Image analysis for translating English multimodal texts into Greek : a multimodal semiotics approach to translation training in a Greek higher education context

This study explores the image analysis practices of undergraduate translation trainees in a Greek. university. The key research questions focused on the trainees' perception of the role of visual literacy in translation, the nature of their verbal and visual associations and activities effective for developing this role. Visual literacy, semiotics, and translation theories provided the conceptual framework for this multimodal semiotics approach to translation training, which guided my examination of the way the trainees described semiotic resources, how they used verbal and visual elements of Cl. translation task, and the extent to which they focused on the visual. Expanding on the concept of mediation, I developed a 'verbo-visual' mediation model that included visual semiotic elements to provide a detailed description of the ways in which the trainees intervened in the translation process. Through an action research study I gauged the extent to which the trainees had developed visual literacy skills. I planned a series of tasks centred on the translation of a multimodal text from English into Greek. I used direct and video observation of the students as they performed the tasks and afterwards evaluated their translations. The main findings of my research reveal that the trainees found it difficult initially to consider all the semiotic elements of the data-text whilst simultaneously translating its verbal elements. However. by providing examples of potential verbal-visual interactions and reflecting on and modifying the tasks, I found that the trainees began to appreciate non-verbal elements as potential translational factors. I was thus able to demonstrate a raised level of awareness of the visual elements of multimodal texts to some extent for all trainees in this study. The research suggests that customized image analysis, photo-elicitation and visualization techniques may play a part in the improvement of translation training in a multimodal semiotics translation environment

Speaking Words of Wisdom: An Analysis of the Old English "Precepts", "The Gifts of Men" and "The Fortunes of Men"

open"Precepts", "The Gifts of Men" e "The Fortunes of Men" sono tre componimenti poetici in inglese antico inseriti all’interno dell’Exeter Book. Nonostante abbiano goduto di scarsa considerazione in ambito accademico e siano stati oggetto di critiche riduttive o, talvolta, sprezzanti, essi non risultano privi di meriti artistici e, in particolare, letterari. Il presente lavoro di tesi contesta le menzionate critiche e mette in evidenza le qualità insite in tali componimenti, adottando prospettive alternative a quelle maggiormente diffuse, e conducendo un’analisi linguistica focalizzata sui temi e sul lessico dei quali le tre poesie fanno sfoggio. Tale studio dimostra l’originalità dei testi presi in esame, la potenza e l’universalità dei principi in essi contenuti, così come la capacità degli anonimi poeti dietro ai tre componimenti di saper combinare e sintetizzare svariati modelli letterari e religiosi, caratteristica tipica della cosiddetta Old English wisdom poetry. Come messo in evidenza dal commento letterario e, in particolare, dallo studio linguistico, le vette artistiche raggiunte dalle tre poesie sono senza precedenti. Tale riconoscimento potrebbe essere funzionale al confezionamento di una o più edizione critiche finalizzate a rendere realmente conto della rilevanza letteraria e culturale di "Precepts", "The Gifts of Men" e "The Fortunes of Men"."Precepts", "The Gifts of Men" and "The Fortunes of Men" are three Old English poems that are part of the Exeter Book. Although they have enjoyed scarce critical consideration and they have been the target of simplistic or, sometimes, even disdainful comments, they do not lack any artistic and, more specifically, literary merits whichsoever. The present thesis challenges such critiques and openly shows the qualities of the three compositions, through the adoption of alternative perspectives in relation to the most widespread ones, as well as by conducting a linguistic analysis centred on the themes and on the vocabulary of such poems. The study argues and demonstrates the originality of the texts, the intensity and the universality of the principles they display, as well as the ability of the anonymous poets to combine several literary and religious models, that is a typical feature of the so-called Old English wisdom poetry. As shown by a literary comment and, in particular, by a linguistic study, the artistic outcome that the three poems reach is totally unprecedented. The fact of acknowledging that could lead to the preparation of one or more critical editions aimed at manifesting and making explicit the literary and cultural significance of "Precepts", "The Gifts of Men" and "The Fortunes of Men"