non-Roman Scripts Research Articles

Cataloging Library Resources in a South African Public Library: A Case Study of Professional Knowledge

The paper examines the knowledge and practices of catalogers at the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Public Libraries (CCTML). The study aims to understand the extent to which catalogers understand current and emerging cataloging practices and to make recommendations for improving practice. The extent of access and the use of library resources depends greatly upon the quality of the library catalog. The following research questions were formulated: what cataloging knowledge do catalogers of CCTML have? How is cataloging carried out in CCTML? What challenges do catalogers of CCTML experience in cataloging library resources? Qualitative approach and case study design were employed. The population of the study was made of 6 catalogers. Data was collected through the focus group interview. Findings indicated that catalogers had knowledge of cataloging standards. They downloaded the catalog records from the OCLC although, they also created original catalog records in case they did not find the matching manifestations on OCLC. Moreover, they experienced challenges of assigning subject headings for non-roman scripts, allocation of the correct classification notation and the advanced use of the cataloging standards. The study recommends the exchange programmes in cataloguing, use of technological tools, artificial intelligence in cataloging.

Others’ Books, Catalogues of our own: non-roman scripts in SBN

The catalogue of the Italian National Library System (SBN) is a roman-script-only database. Local libraries, on the other hand, are facing requests from an increasing number of users from other countries, and are filling the gaps of the national system by developing isolated, non-collaborative ways to manage resources in non-roman scripts. Though a couple of Institutions have recently, but independently each other, developed projects to catalogue resources in native scripts, it is still impossible to predict when this feature will be finally implemented. In the next future, Italian cataloguers will therefore still rely on romanization only. After having briefly reviewed the romanization methods recommended by the Italian cataloging rules (REICAT), the article suggests to expand its repertoire by establishing a method for identifying the most suitable romanization standards.

AUTOMATIC NUMBER PLATE RECOGNITION FOR DIFFERENT FONTS AND NON-ROMAN SCRIPT

According to survey taken the total number of vehicles in [1] India were 260 million. Therefore, there is a need to develop Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems [1] in India because of the large number of vehicles travelling on the roads. [1] It would also help in proper tracking of the vehicles, traffic examining, finding stolen vehicles, supervising parking toll and imposing strict actions against red light breaching. Automatic number plate recognition is image processing technique for finding number plate from image and extracting characters from detected number plate. ANPR in India has always been challenging due to different lighting conditions, changes in fonts, shapes, angles, letters size, number of lines and padding between lines, different languages used. In our project we proposed a model that can detects number plate with considering all irregularities. this system uses Computer vision and machine learning technology in order to detect number plate from image. In our proposed system number plate can be of different fonts and non-roman script. For identification of characters from number plate we use OCR (Optical character recognition) technique. OCR involves two parts: Character segmentation and Character Recognition. This OCR system can be used to extract characters of different fonts and non-roman script. The Quality of OCR depends on the quality of image, image contrast, text font style and size. To improve quality of OCR we can use image processing technique to enhance quality of image.

Demystifying simultaneous triliteracy development: One child’s emergent writing practices across three scripts focusing on letter recognition, directionality and name writing

It has long been acknowledged that immigrant children who are originally exposed to home languages become rapidly socialized into using only English. Although many children ultimately develop receptive skills in their home language, they often become English dominant and rarely have the opportunity for literacy development. There is also a common misperception that allowing children to acquire three languages and scripts simultaneously is either too difficult or too confusing, or both. That children do not realize their full multilingual, multiliterate potential is not only a loss to their cognitive, emotional and academic development but also a violation of their language rights. As a way to help demystify simultaneous triliteracy development, I study my own child as a motherscholar. He is growing up in the United States as a simultaneous trilingual and triliterate in three alphabetical languages using two non-Roman scripts, Korean and Farsi, as well as a Roman script, English. I examine the ways in which he makes sense of and communicates in his literate world from age three to six by focusing on his emergent writing practices, particularly letter recognition, directionality and name writing in three distinctively different scripts. Social semiotic and translanguaging theories have guided my analysis of video and audio data as well as artefacts pertinent to his writing. Qualitative analysis rooted in an ethnographic case study approach demonstrated that he recognized different orthographic symbols across scripts but made linkages between them, applied correct directionality in scripts but with flexibility, and stamped a trilingual identity and met audiences' needs through name writing. The findings show the trilingual child engaging in a more flexible and creative process of letter designing as well as name writing in three scripts in more sophisticated and nuanced ways. The study provides insights into educational practices for multilingual children at preschools and schools.

Is the consonant primacy script-universal or script-specific? Evidence from non-Roman script Korean Hangul

Given the well-documented consonant primacy established in Roman script, this study examined the role of consonants and vowels in lexical decision of Korean Hangul among skilled Korean readers in order to identify whether the salient role of consonants over vowels would be script-universal or script-specific. Three experiments were carried out to investigate how consonant primes facilitated word recognition using related and unrelated consonant primes (e.g., ㅇㄴㅅㅁ –인삼 vs. ㅈㅎㅂㄱ– 인삼, respectively; Experiment 1), consonant and vowel primes in linearity (e.g.,ㅅㄴㅂㄹ – 손발 vs. ㅜㅗ – 운동, respectively; Experiment 2), and consonant and vowel primes in syllabic blocks (e.g., – 침술, – 불법, respectively; Experiment 3). Results showed that significant consonant priming effects were not found, in comparison to those of vowels, in either linear or block formats. Taken together, the findings suggest that the consonant primacy effect may not apply to non-Roman script Hangul recognition and may be script-specific.

Another look at the role of vowel letters in word reading in L2 English among native Korean readers

Abstract While evidence shows that consonants play a primary role over vowels in reading Roman script, it remains unclear whether this primacy extends to reading non-Roman script. This study investigated the role of vowels in L2 English word reading among native Korean readers. Seventy six Korean- and English-speaking adults read words in a naming test. Stimuli included four conditions: lowercase, uppercase, letter strings with no vowels (e.g., cmmn for common), and letter strings with randomly missing letters (e.g., corct for correct). Overall, the vowel deletion manipulation gave rise to higher accuracy and faster reading than the random omission condition for the two groups. When the baseline was controlled, the group and condition variables jointly affected accuracy, but the condition and L1 script are independent of each other for latency. Results suggest that the consonant letter primacy observed in Roman script may not fully extend to other alphabetic languages.

Collective Intelligence based Endangered Language Revitalisation Systems: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation

The languages are disappearing at an alarming rate; half of 7105 plus languages spoken today may disappear by end of this century. When a language becomes extinct, communities lose their cultural identity, practices tied to a language and intellectual wealth. The rapid loss of languages motivates this study. We first introduce collective intelligence, endangered languages, and language revitalisation. Secondly we discuss and explore how to leverage collective intelligence to preserve, curate, discover, learn, share and eventually revitalise endangered languages. Thirdly we compare and synthesise existing language preservation and learning systems. Subsequently, we outline the research methodology. Finally, we propose the design, implementation and evaluation of “Save Lingo” and “Learn Lingo” apps for revitalising endangered languages. The systems are instantiated and validated in context of te reo Māori, Vietnamese and non-roman script languages such as Arabic, Chinese and Hindi.

Chinese and Russian Language Equivalents of the IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: an Overview of Planetary Toponym Localization Methods

ABSTRACTThe Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature (GPN) is maintained by the International Astronomical Union Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature. It contains the internationally approved forms of place names of planetary and lunar surface features. In the last decades, spacefaring and other nations have started to develop local standardized equivalents of the GPN. This initiated the development of transformation methods and created a need for auxiliary information on the names in the GPN that is not available from the database of the GPN. The creation of ‘localized’ (local language) variants of the GPN in non-Roman scripts is an unavoidable necessity, but is also a cultural need. This paper investigates the localization methods into Chinese and Russian; two nations with different scripts, and two that are spacefaring ones. The need for the creation of a localized GPN is related to the local importance of scientific papers published in the local language and the existence of locally developed and operated scientific planetary spacecraft, but exceptions exist.

PCC Training for Copy Catalogers: Is It Worth the Investment? The Columbia University Libraries Experience

This paper presents a case study program implemented at Columbia University Libraries that trains copy in Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) and Name Authority Cooperative Program (NACO) principles. Under the guidance of the NACO coordinator and cataloging supervisors, copy create PCC-level records for belles lettres materials, construct name and uniform title headings, and submit classification number proposals for literary authors in a variety of languages in both roman and nonroman scripts. The benefits of the program include timely and efficient processing of materials, high-quality bibliographic records, better collocation of belles lettres, and upgrade of vendor or member records utilized by the shared cataloging community. The program serves as an important step in the professional development of copy and contributes to the growth of training and mentoring skills of professional catalogers. The skills acquired by copy can be used in future cataloging projects such as metadata creation and name disambiguation. ********** The past two decades have witnessed a significant change in functions and daily operations of technical services departments in academic libraries. Rapid technological developments, shrinking budgets, merging of cataloging and acquisitions departments, and increased use of vendor records have contributed to reevaluation of workflows, reassignment of personnel, and creation of new in-house training programs. The current economic and information environment suggests that technical services will continue to experience these changes in the near future. As libraries continue to move from ownership-based to access-based models, technical services departments will face the challenge of providing access to new types of resources while still processing materials in more traditional formats. These transformations will influence staffing changes and blend job responsibilities in technical services departments in academic libraries. The shift of professional tasks from professional librarians to paraprofessional staff in various aspects of technical services operations is a reality widely acknowledged by library literature and practitioners in the field. (1) The area of cataloging in particular has much potential for training and developing copy catalogers skills to perform more complex and motivating tasks. The research to date has largely focused on successful development of copy cataloging skills. The specifics of training paraprofessionals in original cataloging have rarely been a focus of professional literature. (2) In addition, the authors found no research describing the process of training copy in Name Authority Cooperative Program (NACO) of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) principles, cataloging to PCC level, and cataloging of belles lettres by paraprofessionals. The present study describes a successful program developed at Columbia University Libraries (CUL) in which the combination of copy catalogers' skills and abilities and the institutional training potential resulted in a rewarding outcome. This paper begins by reviewing existing literature on paraprofessionals' participation in original cataloging and principals of PCC and NACO. Then the authors discuss the training and ongoing workflows for paraprofessionals cataloging belles lettres material to PCC level, including creating authority records and submitting call number proposals to be included in the name authority record for a literary author. Finally, the authors argue that competencies obtained by paraprofessional staff in this program have the potential for application in a new emerging cataloging and metadata environment. Literature Review Paraprofessionals and Original Cataloging Several studies have discussed the topic of paraprofessionals' involvement in original cataloging. In 1992, Benand, reflecting on trends in cataloging departments, appealed to library managers with the suggestion to take better advantage of people's skills and abilities by actively involving paraprofessionals in original cataloging. …

Bridging the digital divide in Sri Lanka: some challenges and opportunities in using Sinhala in ICT

The "digital divide" is the gap in technology usage and access. The digital divide has been investigated by scholars [1] and policy makers [2] mainly as an economy-specific issue that permeates the population across all demographic profiles, such as income, gender, age, education, race, and region, but not specific to the languages of different communities. The lack of native language driven ICT is a major conducive factor in digital divide.Sinhala writing system used in Sri Lanka is a syllabic writing system derived from Brahmi which consist of vowels, consonants, diacritical marks and special symbols constructs. Several of these constructs are combined to form complex ligatures. The total number of different glyphs is almost close to 2300 in Sinhala language. Thus, all computer equipments that support Sinhala language needs to support a greater degree of complexity in both display and printing with near minimal changes to the keyboard or the input systems. In this paper we discuss (1) historical background of the Sinhala writing system, (2) Sinhala scripts’ characteristics and complexities and illustrate (3) how Sinhala computing technology has evolved over the last quarter century. Major steps are marked by the design of character code standards as a corner stone of whole architecture for text processing. A case described in this article of “Digital Inclusion” shows how small communities of non-Roman script users can connect to the Romanized system dominated cyberspace.

Evaluating Language Functionality in Library Databases

ABSTRACTThis article discusses the technology and design features of library databases that allow users to search and retrieve information in a language other than English. The author begins with reviewing language localization trends in the following databases: EBSCO Academic Search Complete, Gale Academic OneFile, JSTOR, ProQuest Linguistics and Language Behavior s, and WorldCat on FirstSearch by OCLC (hereafter WorldCat). This review is followed by an evaluation of these databases' abilities to search in a non-English language using a simple keyword search constructed using Google Translate. The results show that searching databases using languages written in Roman fonts (European languages, for example) is supported across all the databases, while searching using languages represented in non-Roman scripts is not well supported (Russian, Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese, etc.). These database features are undergoing constant development as library database vendors expand their products to other countries and languages. This article gives readers a simple method to get a snapshot understanding of language functionality in library databases. Language functionality is an important consideration when working with non-native English speakers and other second language learners. This article will be of interest to librarians who work with departments focused on area studies, linguistics, classics, and foreign languages. Librarians who work in multi-lingual and international environments will also gain a better understanding of how to select databases that best meet the needs of mul-tilingual and international patrons.

A Bayesian Alignment Approach to Transliteration Mining

In this article we present a technique for mining transliteration pairs using a set of simple features derived from a many-to-many bilingual forced-alignment at the grapheme level to classify candidate transliteration word pairs as correct transliterations or not. We use a nonparametric Bayesian method for the alignment process, as this process rewards the reuse of parameters, resulting in compact models that align in a consistent manner and tend not to over-fit. Our approach uses the generative model resulting from aligning the training data to force-align the test data. We rely on the simple assumption that correct transliteration pairs would be well modeled and generated easily, whereas incorrect pairs---being more random in character---would be more costly to model and generate. Our generative model generates by concatenating bilingual grapheme sequence pairs. The many-to-many generation process is essential for handling many languages with non-Roman scripts, and it is hard to train well using a maximum likelihood techniques, as these tend to over-fit the data. Our approach works on the principle that generation using only grapheme sequence pairs that are in the model results in a high probability derivation, whereas if the model is forced to introduce a new parameter in order to explain part of the candidate pair, the derivation probability is substantially reduced and severely reduced if the new parameter corresponds to a sequence pair composed of a large number of graphemes. The features we extract from the alignment of the test data are not only based on the scores from the generative model, but also on the relative proportions of each sequence that are hard to generate. The features are used in conjunction with a support vector machine classifier trained on known positive examples together with synthetic negative examples to determine whether a candidate word pair is a correct transliteration pair. In our experiments, we used all data tracks from the 2010 Named-Entity Workshop (NEWS’10) and use the performance of the best system for each language pair as a reference point. Our results show that the new features we propose are powerfully predictive, enabling our approach to achieve levels of performance on this task that are comparable to the state of the art.

Writing systems at play in Thai-English online interactions

Abstract This article explores the bilingual practices of a community of English-speaking Thai nationals on two online platforms: a social network site (Facebook) and an instant messaging service (MSN). Through a discourse analysis of informal conversation exchanges, the article examines the ways in which these participants play with the two languages and writing systems through practices of code- and script-switching as well as orthographic variation, and it shows how these practices contribute to the construction of interpersonal meaning, the negotiation of relationships, and the performance of social identity in these online contexts. One interesting finding which this study reports is that certain forms of orthographic variation occur not only in English but also in both romanised Thai and that written in the Thai script. This is in contrast to conclusions drawn in previous studies which find that non-Roman scripts are often imbued with values of tradition and purity and are therefore not open to the ...

Runes and Roman: Germanic Literacy and the Significance of Runic Writing

This article examines the ideologies and motivations that made runes appear on Scandinavian and English presses until the end of eighteenth century, as well as the difficulties involved in printing a non-roman script. I will consider especially the contributions of the Danish scholar Ole Worm, whose works on runes have been little discussed in English-language criticism despite their widespread and long-lasting influence throughout Europe, and the English antiquarian Thomas Percy, whose ideas were deeply inspired by Worm's theories. Percy's studies of runes have not been generally noted despite the fact that they define an important moment in the rediscovery of Britain's vernacular past.

An Assessment of the Need to Provide Non-Roman Subject Access to the Library Online Catalog

This article reports the results of an investigation on user preferences in subject searching for non-Roman script materials, and analyzes problems users encountered in retrieving non-Roman script using controlled subject headings in English. Key findings indicate that end users were not completely dissatisfied with the current library catalog; end users and librarians want a system that is more open to multilingual subject headings; end users are not eager for adding tagging feature to the library catalog; they also highlighted areas of opportunity for libraries to make significant improvements to the catalog.

PCC Training for Copy Catalogers

This paper presents a case study program implemented at Columbia University Libraries that trains copy catalogers in Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) and Name Authority Cooperative Program (NACO) principles. Under the guidance of the NACO coordinator and cataloging supervisors, copy catalogers create PCC-level records for belles lettres materials, construct name and uniform title headings, and submit classification number proposals for literary authors in a variety of languages in both roman and nonroman scripts. The benefits of the program include timely and efficient processing of materials, high-quality bibliographic records, better collocation of belles lettres, and upgrade of vendor or member records utilized by the shared cataloging community. The program serves as an important step in the professional development of copy catalogers and contributes to the growth of training and mentoring skills of professional catalogers. The skills acquired by copy catalogers can be used in future cataloging projects such as metadata creation and name disambiguation.

‘Writing it in English’: script choices among young multilingual Muslims in the UK

Much attention has been paid in the literature to matters of script choice vis-à-vis languages. This attention, however, has focused on script choice in a national and political context. By contrast, there has not been any significant attention paid to more local and idiosyncratic instances of script choice operating on an individual and community level. These instances may take place when recourse is made to script as a ‘most appropriate technology’ on a pragmatic and functional basis. The examples outlined in this article occur in a multilingual diasporic setting. This article will seek to describe and, to an extent, interpret a recently observed religio-literacy practice in which participants make recourse to Roman script in their endeavours to record, memorise and share poetic verses and song lyrics composed in languages traditionally associated with non-Roman scripts. In a related example, the use of Roman script as a pedagogical ‘shortcut’ to the learning of a classical non-Roman script will complement the discussion on the nature of script choice in a context where ‘choice’ is problematic. It has been noted that new scripts often render literary traditions inaccessible. This article presents findings where, in certain respects, the opposite is occasionally true with a replacement script providing a means to access literary traditions otherwise out of reach.

No More Romanizing: The Attempt to Be Less Anglocentric in RDA

Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed. (AACR2) rule 1.0E1 allows title and statement of responsibility, edition, publication and/or distribution data, and series title to be “transcribed from the item itself in the language and script (wherever practicable) in which it appears there.” However, AACR2 will be replaced by a set of guidelines entitled Resource Description and Access (RDA). This article compares various guidelines from the November 2008 draft of RDA that are applicable to transcribing titles and names written in non-roman languages and/or scripts with their counterparts in its predecessor.

Evergreen in context

Evergreen in context

The use of interactive whiteboards in teaching non-roman scripts

This study explores the use of the interactive whiteboards in teaching the non-Latin based orthographies of Hindi, Pashto, Dari, Persian (Farsi), and Hebrew. All these languages use non-roman scripts, and except for Hindi, they are cursive. Thus, letters within words are connected and for beginners the script may look quite complicated, incomprehensible and indecipherable. The shapes of the letters also change depending on if they are placed in word-initial, word-medial or word-final positions, causing additional difficulty for learners. Although the Hindi script is not cursive, it also creates difficulty for learners at beginning levels because it is crucial to know where to start and end the lines for each symbol in the alphabet with utmost precision. Surveys and questionnaires were distributed to seventy-five instructors teaching at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California. It is found that the interactive whiteboard appears to be a useful pedagogical multi-media tool to teach non-roman scripts.