Forschung und wissenschaftliches Rechnen - Beiträge zum - GWDG

The Interactive Reference Tool
for the World Atlas of Language Structures
Hans-Jörg Bibiko, Martin Haspelmath, Matthew S. Dryer,
David Gil & Bernard Comrie
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology,
Department of Linguistics, Leipzig
Abstract
The Interactive Reference Tool, as presented in this paper, is a system for organizing of
comparative data from large samples of the world’s languages. The tool is explicitly designed
to provide linguists with an easy-to-use tool for research and language information
management, and to give students or non-linguists easy access to information on the world’s
linguistic diversity. The user interface is intended to be intuitively understandable, so as to also
allow for usage by non-sophisticated computer users.
1. Introduction
Data processing tools for information about the world’s languages, which
are intended for linguists and non-linguists alike, are thinly scattered. The
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