Fast Lexically Constrained Viterbi Algorithm (FLCVA): Simultaneous Optimization of Speed and Memory

Lexical constraints on the input of speech and on-line handwriting systems improve the performance of such systems. A significant gain in speed can be achieved by integrating in a digraph structure the different Hidden Markov Models (HMM) corresponding to the words of the relevant lexicon. This integration avoids redundant computations by sharing intermediate results between HMM's corresponding to different words of the lexicon. In this paper, we introduce a token passing method to perform simultaneously the computation of the a posteriori probabilities of all the words of the lexicon. The coding scheme that we introduce for the tokens is optimal in the information theory sense. The tokens use the minimum possible number of bits. Overall, we optimize simultaneously the execution speed and the memory requirement of the recognition systems.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 4 table

Languages, Literacies, and Translations: Examining Deaf Students' Language Ideologies through English-to-ASL Translations of Literature.

Educators have long grappled with how print literacy might be best taught to deaf students and which language might best serve this purpose: spoken English, American Sign Language (ASL), or another communication mode. Over the decades, pedagogical approaches have been introduced and critiqued according to the various ideologies of different stakeholders. We know very little, however, about the ideologies that deaf students themselves carry about language and the complex ways these ideologies may be contributing to or interfering with their acquisition of print literacy. This dissertation, thus, explores deaf high school students’ attitudes and beliefs about language and interrogates how their ideologies are confirmed, contradicted, or complicated through their encounters with English and ASL via ASL translations of literature in their English classroom. This qualitative study collected data on how deaf students’ ideologies played out when their teacher integrated a unit consisting of ASL translations of English literary works into their English class. The findings highlight how the students’ language ideologies are neither predictable nor consistent, and that many students carry conflicting and even mistaken ideologies about each language that lead them to believe that ASL has no grammar rules and disparage English for being too strict. Moreover, the students’ ideologies profoundly affect the degree of alienation or ownership that they feel towards each language, and especially towards print literacy, which nearly all of the students identify as being a “hearing” practice. The students’ complex relationship with each language is illuminated especially clearly in their reactions to ASL translations of English texts, an experience that many of them found to be enriching and deeply validating because for the first time, they could bring their literacy practices and linguistic strengths from ASL to the experience of reading in the English classroom, and thus achieve a more meaningful and evocative reading of the stories. The ways these students interacted with the ASL translations challenge us to broaden our understanding of literacy and reading so that it is inclusive of the literacy practices that they brought to the table while working with the translations.PhDEnglish and EducationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/133217/1/raspoon_1.pd

An Optimal Path Coding System for DAWG Lexicon-HMM

Lexical constraints on the input of speech and on-line handwriting systems improve the performance of such systems. A significant gain in speed can be achieved by integrating in a digraph structure the different Hidden Markov Models (HMM) corresponding to the words of the relevant lexicon. This integration avoids redundant computations by sharing intermediate results between HMM's corresponding to different words of the lexicon. In this paper, we introduce a token passing method to perform simultaneously the computation of the a posteriori probabilities of all the words of the lexicon. The coding scheme that we introduce for the tokens is optimal in the information theory sense. The tokens use the minimum possible number of bits. Overall, we optimize simultaneously the execution speed and the memory requirement of the recognition systems

Counterstories of Black High School Students and Graduates of NYC Independent Schools: A Narrative Case Study

Public youth resistance movements in 2019 and 2020 exposed the entrenchment of racism, sexism, heteronormativity, and classism across New York City independent schools (NYCIS). In order to support the imminent need for schools to provide effective diversity, inclusion, and equity supports that address broad issues of school climate, relationships, and pedagogy, there is a need to better understand the specific, hyperlocal experiences of Black/African Descendant (BAD) students, who occupy several unique, unexplored spaces in educational research. The following four research questions helped to conceptualize the experiences that support and hinder the academic success and long term well-being of BAD students in NYCIS: (a) What kinds of multimodal and linguistic resources do BAD high school youth and alumni/ae of NYCIS use to express their identities as members of various communities? (b) How do ideologies of language, race, class, and gender impact perceived schooling experiences of BAD high school youth and alumni/ae? What challenges and supports do BAD high school youth and alumni/ae encounter in NYCIS? (c) According to BAD alumni/ae, what are the lasting impacts of their NYCIS experiences on their present day lives? (d) How do multimodal, public narratives of BAD alumni/ae describe ideologies of language, race, class, and gender in NYCIS? In this relational narrative case study, I used purposeful sampling to identify six total participants for in-depth interviews, and I employed document analysis of four fiction and non-fiction narratives. In summary, I collected and analyzed four written narratives, six interview transcripts, and two visual collages as data sources. My central theories of translanguaging, critical race theory, and intersectionality guided all aspects of study design, and I engage in critical race methodology, which is crystallized in explicitly exploring counterstory as narrative inquiry (Berry & Cook, 2019; Kim, 2016; Martinez, 2020; Miller et al., 2020) and centering the role of intersectionality (Berry & Cook, 2019). The interview findings led to the development of 28 thematic codes centered on six salient topics: (a) relationships with peers, (b) relationships with teachers, (c) rigorous academics, (d) school culture, (e) expressing sexuality, and (f) hyperlocal literacies. These findings contribute to research on BAD students in independent schools illustrating that racism and classism continue to negatively impact the socialization of middle- and lower-income Black students (Datnow & Cooper, 1997; DeCuir-Gunby, 2007; French, 2018; Horvat & Antonio, 1999; Jacobs, 2017). This study also adds to the general body of research on the socialization of youth in elite independent schools (Coleman & Hoffer, 1987; Gaztambide-Fernández, 2009; French, 2018; Kane, 1992; Khan, 2011; Powell, 1996). Findings for RQ1 were that BAD high school students used both linguistic and semiotic resources to express their identities. They strategically used the breadth of their linguistic repertoires to challenge raciolinguistic ideologies (Rosa & Flores, 2017) and position themselves as members of NYCIS communities. They also disrupted dominant semiotic discourses related to hair grooming by wearing their natural coily hair, discussed the importance of languaging to identity construction, and actively translanguaged with African American Language and Mainstream American English throughout the interview. Findings for RQ2 are that BAD participants experienced psychological, emotional, and physical harm resulting from dehumanizing ideologies of language, race, class, and gender. Raciolinguistic ideologies in general (Martin et al., 2019; Rosa & Flores, 2017), and anti-Black linguistic racism specifically (Baker-Bell, 2020) contributed to the linguistic expression of their BAD identities being degraded. In addition, BAD participants experienced deficit narratives of racial inferiority, hypersexuality, undesirability, and criminalization. In several accounts, BAD girls in co-ed schools were surveilled and verbally attacked by teachers more than BAD boys, belying their intersectional experiences of racism and sexism (Crenshaw, 1989; 1990). Moreover, the disproportional harassment and harsh treatment of BAD girls overall is indicative of misogynoir (Bailey, 2010; 2016). On the whole, BAD youth and alumni/ae benefitted most from: (a) relationships with faculty and staff members who served as mentors, (b) teachers who demonstrated interest in their cultures and taught a multicultural curricula, (c) time and space to socialize with BAD peers, and (d) participation in sports and arts programming. Findings for RQ3 are that BAD participants experienced the lasting negative impacts of low self-esteem and a lack of self-awareness. More useful impacts include academic preparation for college and preparation for the microaggressions that accompany attending a predominantly White institution. These findings align with scholarship that reported how students who attended elite secondary schools are prepared for the academic rigors and social discourses of highly selective colleges and universities (Coleman & Hoffer, 1987; Jack, 2016; 2019; Kane, 1992; Khan, 2011). Findings for RQ4 are that public narratives of BAD alumni corroborate thematic codes constructed from interview narratives. One novel finding of the public narratives is the great extent to which participant experiences in private school preparatory programs like Prep for Prep can either mirror or buffer anti-Blackness experienced in NYCIS

Speech is my hammer, bang the world into shape: making meaning in college through hip hop lyricism

This opening line of Yasiin Bey’s (1998) critically acclaimed album, Black on both sides, exists as a sprawling opus to hip-hop. In expressing his profound appreciation for the culture, Bey (formerly known as Mos Def) constructs this nuanced, multilayered worldview through the prism of lyricism – broaching topics from climate change to critiquing capitalism, all while reflecting on life, love, and the ancestral wisdom of the elders. Within the context of education and cultural foundations, scholars of critical pedagogy often look to hip-hop as a pathway for engaging students’ self-awareness, critical thinking, and social consciousness. This arts-informed, qualitative study explores the meaning-making processes and learning outcomes of college students who identify as hip-hop artists. This study re-mixes traditional qualitative methodologies by centering hip-hop poetics and participant-analysis, as a primary means of collecting and deconstructing data. Participants were asked to record one song in response to the prompt: Describe your college experience. Together, we assess the implications for the consumption, creation, and performance of hip-hop in postsecondary education