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such as German in this special case, are just some of the problems Rumantsch and
other small languages have to face in order to propose acceptable terminology and
preserve language at the same time. The project on the ‘Welsh National Terminology
Database’ reflects the need to find a means between accepted terminology standards
used for bigger languages (ISO 704 and ISO 860 norms) and language preservation. This
project takes advantage of the similarities between terminology and lexicography, as
existing lexicographical resources and applications are used to enrich the terminology
database.
Another central topic that lesser used languages have in common is the usability
of available data. On the one hand we find the contribution on Judeo-Spanish, where
Roussi & Stulic describe how to transliterate and annotate texts written in Hebrew
characters and, at the same time, allow users to add their own interpretation and
comments. On the other hand, Uchechukwu explains in his contribution the problems
related to appropriate font programmes and software compatibility. On the basis of
the Igbo language he describes what happens when the amount of data is considerable
but not usable (due to the obstacle of accepted format).
Issues of data sparseness and usability determine linguistic research, especially
during the phases of data pre-processing, and the amount of time linguists must
invest in dealing with linguistic research questions. Uemlianin proposes to use
SpeechCluster in order to ensure that linguists can concentrate on linguistic analyses
rather than disperse their efforts with formatting or any other time-consuming manual
processing.
Trosterud emphasises on the importance of open-source technology for projects
on lesser used languages, so as to avoid waste in terms of time and technology, which
must be reinvented every single time for every small language. The same point of
view is stated by Stuflesser and Streiter as they present their intention to use XNLRDF,
a free software package for NLP. Their contribution introduces the existing prototype
and outlines future strategies.
A similar aim is pursued by the invited key-note speaker Oliver Streiter, who focuses
on this topic, providing a detailed overview on available resources and underlining the
importance of mutual support within the research community through data sharing
in standard formats, so as to make it usable and accessible to everybody. One of the
instruments cited and used most often for data sharing is the Internet, as it allows
online storage of data such as dictionaries, language games or terminology data bases
(Jones & Prys). This medium is used by Canolfan Bedwyr to publish the web-based
word games for Welsh, as well as by the Ladin institutions to disseminate their online
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