{"id":6689,"date":"2023-08-11T16:29:27","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T16:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/salals-conference\/"},"modified":"2023-08-11T16:29:27","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T16:29:27","slug":"salals-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/salals-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"SADiLaR researchers inspired by 2023 SALALS Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"googlefontscall\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pagebuilderckparams\" data-colorpalettefromtemplate=\"\" data-colorpalettefromsettings=\",,,,\" data-styles=\"\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"rowck ckstack3 ckstack2 ckstack1 uick-sortable\" id=\"row_ID1691770976767\" 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_ID1691770976767\" 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=\"ID1691770985611\" 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>Three Digital Humanities researchers from the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) attended the 2023 Southern African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society (SALALS) Conference, hosted by Walter Sisulu University on its Mthatha Campus from 3 to 6 July 2023.<\/p>\n<p>SADiLaR\u2019s Andiswa Bukula, Respect Mlambo and Dr Muzi Matfunjwa each presented a paper on their research at the annual conference, which had \u2018Standardisations, descriptions, and delimitations of Southern African languages: past, present and future\u2019 as its theme.<\/p>\n<p>In a call for papers, published on SALALS\u2019s website, the society\u2019s secretary Nina Brink explains the significance of this year\u2019s conference theme: \u201cAfrican languages on our continent have played second fiddle to the former colonial languages of English, French and others, often being reduced to written forms with sometimes questionable and controversial orthographies. These written forms have led to unending debates, raising questions of who, why and how they were arrived at. To date, issues pertaining to the intellectualisation of these languages abide, particularly in this age of digitalisation. The conference theme for this year therefore aims to shine a light on this and other related issues pertaining to Southern African languages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Digitisation as a tool to preserve indigenous languages<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe conference theme really spoke to my research,\u201d says Andiswa Bukula, who presented a paper titled \u2018Digitisation as a tool to preserve indigenous languages through the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough my overall research and research interests, I am always looking for ways in which I can introduce new and computational ways to develop isiXhosa, which speaks to the future of research,\u201d she explains. \u201cFor instance, with my digitisation project, I am looking to digitise a few isiXhosa novels and dramas from various institutions, and thus introduce to them computational tools that can be used post digitisation. Tools like <a href=\"https:\/\/voyant-tools.org\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/voyant-tools.org\">Voyant Tools<\/a>, an open-source, web-based application for performing text analysis which also supports scholarly reading and interpretation of texts or corpus, can be used once these materials are digitised.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bukula is pleased that her presentation was so well received. \u201cI received many questions during the Q&amp;A, following my presentation. Participants were excited to hear about the possibilities that are presented by digitisation and how easy one can be part of the digitisation process, depending on what one is trying to digitise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Speaking to the core of African languages<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bukula thoroughly enjoyed the conference. \u201cThe conference was a big success and the quality and diversity of the presentations was very impressive. I was very inspired by the keynote speakers, who spoke to the core and future of our African languages. It is unfortunate that there were a few speakers that did not make it to the conference for one reason or the other, as their topics were really intriguing \u2013 it would have been a great pleasure to sit through their presentations,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n<p>According to Bukula, the conference also presented her with some networking opportunities which may have just given her the boost she needs to start her PhD. \u201cThrough my networking, I was motivated to engage with young researchers who have just completed their PhDs or who are in the process of completing it. I am truly energised to start and complete mine as there are many possibilities as to how one can contribute to the development of African languages,\u201d she notes with excitement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to say a big \u2018thank you\u2019 to the conference organisers for arranging such a well-planned, well-executed conference in the very beautiful, yet cold, Mthatha. This was my first SALALS conference attendance, and it lived up to its standard. I\u2019m looking forward to the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Written by: Birgirt Ottermann<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ckstyle\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rowck ckstack3 ckstack2 ckstack1 uick-sortable\" id=\"row_ID1691770981927\" 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_ID1691770981927\" 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=\"ID1691770989633\" class=\"cktype\" data-type=\"image\" onshow=\"ckAddDndForImageUpload(jQuery('#ID1691770989633')[0]);\" style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ckstyle\">\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"imageck\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100%\" height=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SAALALS.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SAALALS.jpg\">\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ckstyle\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three Digital Humanities researchers from the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) attended the 2023 Southern African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society (SALALS) Conference, hosted by Walter Sisulu University on its Mthatha Campus from 3 to 6 July 2023. SADiLaR\u2019s Andiswa Bukula, Respect Mlambo and Dr Muzi Matfunjwa each presented a paper on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":6688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[730],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6689","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\/252"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sadilar.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}