Network of two-Chinese-character compound words in Japanese language

Some statistical properties of a network of two-Chinese-character compound words in Japanese language are reported. In this network, a node represents a Chinese character and an edge represents a two-Chinese-character compound word. It is found that this network has properties of "small-world" and "scale-free." A network formed by only Chinese characters for common use ({\it joyo-kanji} in Japanese), which is regarded as a subclass of the original network, also has small-world property. However, a degree distribution of the network exhibits no clear power law. In order to reproduce disappearance of the power-law property, a model for a selecting process of the Chinese characters for common use is proposed

Small Worlds and Semantic Network Growth in Typical and Late Talkers

Network analysis has demonstrated that systems ranging from social networks to electric power grids often involve a small world structure-with local clustering but global ac cess. Critically, small world structure has also been shown to characterize adult human semantic networks. Moreover, the connectivity pattern of these mature networks is consistent with lexical growth processes in which children add new words to their vocabulary based on the structure of the language-learning environment. However, thus far, there is no direct evidence that a child's individual semantic network structure is associated with their early language learning. Here we show that, while typically developing children's early networks show small world structure as early as 15 months and with as few as 55 words, children with language delay (late talkers) have this structure to a smaller degree. This implicates a maladaptive bias in word acquisition for late talkers, potentially indicating a preference for “oddball” words. The findings provide the first evidence of a link between small-world connectivity and lexical development in individual children

The ethno-wiki project: ethnographic museums in Wikimedia commons

The ethno-wiki project is an initiative to use Wikimedia as a tool to save vulnerable heritage collections of non-western cultures and revive the research on ethnographic artefacts. The project may be able to create a network of small ethnographic collections in different parts of the world, which despite having no money to spend on object databases, still want to become a part of the digital community in order to be less unknown; a network which might also include source communities of ethnographic artefacts in European collections. The idea behind the project is that information should be given in the language(s) of the country of the museum or collection, in English and –if possible- in the language of the ethnographic group that made the objects. The aim to translate information into the native language will enable the descendants of the makers of ethnographical objects to comment on the given information. In this way, people will be able to add that information that they find is important. As their way of looking at things is different than that of western researches and/or admirers of ethnographic artefacts, a discussion will take place between these two groups. What Westerners call an “ethnographical object” is often “an ancestor” in indigenous terms. This exchange of knowledge certainly will contribute to strength of this wikimedia project and will give way to new research. Also this wikimedia project allows for the creation of ‘virtual museums’ within Wikimedia enabling objects disseminated in numerous museums in different continents to be brought togheter. The initiative plans to include objects of ethnographic museums in Wikimedia Commons aiming at the reduction of irreversible loss of cultural diversity. The systematic integration of objects, in particular 'hidden' objects in the reserves of scattered museums, facilitates scientific research on the ethnographic past and the material expression of cultural traditions