{"id":6302,"date":"2020-07-31T05:57:15","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T05:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/sadilar-new-director\/"},"modified":"2020-07-31T05:57:15","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T05:57:15","slug":"sadilar-new-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/sadilar-new-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Prof Langa Khumalo appointed to lead digital language research infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"googlefontscall\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pagebuilderckparams\" data-colorpalettefromtemplate=\"\" data-colorpalettefromsettings=\",,,,\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"rowck ckstack3 ckstack2 ckstack1 uick-sortable\" id=\"row_ID1596174060674\" data-gutter=\"2%\" data-nb=\"1\" style=\"position: relative;\">\n<style class=\"ckcolumnwidth\">[data-gutter=\"2%\"][data-nb=\"1\"]:not(.ckadvancedlayout) [data-width=\"100\"] {width:100%;}[data-gutter=\"2%\"][data-nb=\"1\"].ckadvancedlayout [data-width=\"100\"] {width:100%;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"inner animate clearfix\">\n<div class=\"blockck\" id=\"block_ID1596174060674\" data-real-width=\"100%\" data-width=\"100\" style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ckstyle\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"inner animate resizable\">\n<div class=\"innercontent uick-sortable\">\n<div id=\"ID1596174881161\" class=\"cktype\" data-type=\"text\" style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"tab_blocstyles ckprops\" blocbackgroundpositionend=\"100\" blocbackgrounddirection=\"topbottom\" blocbackgroundimageattachment=\"scroll\" blocbackgroundimagerepeat=\"no-repeat\" blocbackgroundimagesize=\"auto\" blocbordertopstyle=\"solid\" blocborderrightstyle=\"solid\" blocborderbottomstyle=\"solid\" blocborderleftstyle=\"solid\" blocbordersstyle=\"solid\" blocshadowinset=\"0\" fieldslist=\"blocbackgroundpositionend,blocbackgrounddirection,blocbackgroundimageattachment,blocbackgroundimagerepeat,blocbackgroundimagesize,blocalignementleft,blocalignementcenter,blocalignementright,blocalignementjustify,blocbordertopstyle,blocborderrightstyle,blocborderbottomstyle,blocborderleftstyle,blocbordersstyle,blocshadowinset\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tab_edition ckprops\" fieldslist=\"\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"ckstyle\">\n<style><\/style>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cktext inner\" style=\"position: relative;\" spellcheck=\"false\">\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">The <a href=\"..\/index.php\/en\/\" data-mce-href=\"..\/index.php\/en\/\">South African Centre for Digital Language Resources<\/a>, SADiLaR, a research infrastructure funded by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dst.gov.za\/\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/www.dst.gov.za\/\">Department of Science and Innovation<\/a> (DSI) as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Department_of_Science_and_Technology_SARIR_2016.pdf\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Department_of_Science_and_Technology_SARIR_2016.pdf\">South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap<\/a>, is welcoming its new Centre Director, Prof Langa Khumalo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">Prof Khumalo, who is the former Director of Language Planning and Development at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, will take the reins on 1 August, leading the Centre \u2013 the first of its kind in Africa \u2013 to achieve the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov.za\/legislation\/constitution\/chp01.html\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov.za\/legislation\/constitution\/chp01.html\">constitutional imperative<\/a> to recognise all the South African languages as key resources in innovation and science.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">In 2016, Prof Khumalo completed an intensive Advanced Leadership Programme for Higher Education, which made him acutely aware of the vast challenges higher education is confronted with in generating knowledge that is innovative and responsive to our ever-evolving human needs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">During the early stages of his career, Prof Khumalo was introduced to working with language data. \u201cTrained by many luminaries in corpus linguistics, including none other than the late Professor John Sinclair at the Tuscany Word Centre in Italy, I was one of the first editors to compile and publish the first corpus-aided monolingual dictionary of isiNdebele,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">Prof Khumalo has been involved in various Human Language Technology (HLT) projects, including the development of the isiZulu National Corpus, an isiZulu Oral Corpus and the English-isiZulu Parallel Corpus. These corpora are carefully designed to enable among others HLT development. His involvement in various exciting projects such as the development of disciplinary terminology for isiZulu, which culminated in the publication of glossaries such as the illustrated glossary of architecture terms and the glossary of law terms, has contributed in raising awareness of the profile and role of African languages in the academy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">\u201cSADiLaR became an attractive and inevitable destination for me because of what it is doing, what it seeks to do in terms of developing language resources, and its national character and reach,\u201d Prof Khumalo stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">Prof Khumalo has been involved with SADiLaR as a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) since its inception in 2017. Given the close association with SADiLaR, Prof Khumalo has insight into all of the projects that have been rolled out internally as well as projects driven by the various nodes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">\u201cThe Centre has a young and dynamic team and I hope that my experience and skills set will be a useful addition to an already amazing array of skills,\u201d Prof Khumalo noted on working with the SADiLaR team.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">At the core of it all, Prof Khumalo wants the Centre to churn out research, (technology) solutions, and (digital) resources that are impactful and have transformational effect in the communities where these languages are predominantly spoken and\/or taught. He also aims embrace the quality research and productivity culture, and the links that the Centre has hitherto done, achieved and established in such a short period of its existence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">\u201cLanguage is at the centre of our human existence. It carries and conveys the identity of humanity. It records our human achievements and spurs on our innovation and development. It is notable that our Constitution recognises 11 official languages. It is a constitutional imperative to develop all of them in order to achieve \u2018parity of esteem\u2019 between them,\u201d he said Prof Khumalo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">Since the inception, SADiLaR has made strong connections with similar research infrastructures internationally such as the European Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure (CLARIN), the European Language Resources Association (ELRA) and the Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) of the USA. The Centre has been guided by experienced leaders in the field of Human Language Technology (HLT), Linguistics and Digital Humanities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\"><strong>Important links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\"><strong>Department of Science and Innovation:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dst.gov.za\/\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/www.dst.gov.za\/\">https:\/\/www.dst.gov.za\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\"><strong>SARIR: <br \/><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Department_of_Science_and_Technology_SARIR_2016.pdf\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Department_of_Science_and_Technology_SARIR_2016.pdf\">https:\/\/sadilar.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Department_of_Science_and_Technology_SARIR_2016.pdf<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\"><strong>SADiLaR:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\"><a href=\"..\/\" data-mce-href=\"..\/\">https:\/\/www.sadilar.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\"><strong>Constitutional imperative (see 6.2):<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov.za\/legislation\/constitution\/chp01.html\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov.za\/legislation\/constitution\/chp01.html\">https:\/\/www.justice.gov.za\/legislation\/constitution\/chp01.html<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\"><strong>Prof Khumalo\u2019s profile: <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/langakhumalo.co.za\/\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/langakhumalo.co.za\/\">https:\/\/langakhumalo.co.za\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\" data-mce-style=\"font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva, sans-serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div id=\"ID1596174060947\" class=\"cktype\" data-type=\"text\" style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ckstyle\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"cktext inner\" style=\"position: relative;\" spellcheck=\"false\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ckstyle\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The South African Centre for Digital Language Resources, SADiLaR, a research infrastructure funded by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) as part of the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap, is welcoming its new Centre Director, Prof Langa Khumalo. Prof Khumalo, who is the former Director of Language Planning and Development at the University of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":246,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[730],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/246"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}