Summer Research Program - 2016 Projects
Available Projects
- Translating and analysing stories of ill-treatment in Indonesia - Dr Annie Pohlman
- The sound patterns of Sahul - the continent of Australia-New Guinea. Dr. Erich Round
- The investigation of dominant ideologies in Korean language textbooks in Korea and in China. Dr Isaac Lee
- Dialectology in Australian Kriol. Dr Greg Dickson
Further information and how to apply
Translating and analysing stories of ill-treatment in Indonesia
Project duration: 10 weeks, approx.. 20hrs/week (total minimum 180hrs)
Description:
During the military New Order regime (1966 – 1998) in Indonesia, high numbers of civilians experienced torture and ill-treatment at the hands of members of the security services and their proxies. Reports of torture were collected and published during this period by a range of Indonesian and international organisations, including the Indonesian Institute for Legal Aid (YLBH), Asia Watch, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
The purpose of this project is to catalogue, translate and conduct preliminary coding analysis on some of these materials collected from Indonesia and Timor Leste. The data includes personal testimonies, witness statements, NGO reports and other materials. The task will be to translate (where necessary) these materials into English, and then to categorise the information contained therein thematically into an existing database. The database is part of a larger project investigating forms of torture during the New Order.
Given the nature of the materials to be translated and the sensitive information contained therein, successful applicants will work closely with the lead researcher (Pohlman) and will abide by strict ethical considerations, including absolute non-disclosure of data or results.
Expected outcomes and deliverables:
It is anticipated that successful applicants will gain skills in translation and data analysis. In particular, scholars will have the opportunity to conduct hands-on research into a sensitive research area of Indonesian studies.
Suitable for:
Must be an advanced speaker of Indonesian and be able to translate written materials into English, with guidance.
Students from an Indonesian or Malay-speaking background, as well as students who have studied to 3rd year or above in Indonesian language, are encouraged to apply.
Tetum speakers are also highly desirable.
Only candidates who agree to abide by the ethical considerations for the handling of data will be considered.
Before submitting an application, please contact the supervisor Dr. Annie Pohlman (a.pohlman@uq.edu.au) to discuss the project, the ethical considerations and your eligibility.
The sound patterns of Sahul - the continent of Australia-New Guinea
Project duration: 6 weeks
Description:
Sahul, the continent of Australia–New Guinea, was first colonised by humans over 50,000 years ago and for the next 40,000 years of occupation it was a single landmass, split by rising sea levels into Australia and New Guinea only 10,000 years ago. Today Sahul is the world’s most linguistically diverse region — with over 1,000 languages — but also one of its least well understood. This UQ Summer Research project at the UQ Ancient Language Lab will help to unveil the linguistic prehistory of Sahul. You will play an active role in assembling a high-quality dataset of many hundreds of languages through a mix of linguistic analysis and so-called “human computing”, where computer code performs simple, repeated tasks lightning fast, and we humans preform the slower, but more sophisticated tasks that the computer can’t. The result is a dataset which neither humans nor computers could compile on their own, in the time given. Our focus is on lexicon and phonology.
Expected outcomes and deliverables:
Students will be introduced to the languages of Sahul and gain exposure to cutting edge approaches in continent-scale linguistics. Previous years’ students have gone on to present their research at national and international conferences, and have pursued research at honours and PhD level in related fields.
Suitable for:
You will need some background in linguistics (e.g. UQ’s LING1000 and LING1005 courses). A more advanced background is a plus, especially in phonology and morphology, as is a background in computer science and/or mathematics.
For further information, please contact Dr Erich Round e.round@uq.edu.au.
The investigation of dominant ideologies in Korean language textbooks in Korea and in China
Project duration: 10 weeks
Description:
This project aims to analyse what dominant ideologies are embedded in Korean language textbooks.
This project analyses Korean language textbooks for primary school which were published in In South Korea and in China for ethnic Koreans.
This will look at what ideal world the textbooks construct using school textbooks and project their ruling ideologies.
The student will have the opportunity to interpret Korean textbooks and scholarly articles into English and Chinese scholarly articles into English or Korean.
They will learn how to read and analyse texts critically, and reveal dominant ruling ideologies embedded in textbooks.
Expected outcomes and deliverables:
Students will develop critical analytic skills of texts, and will have an opportunity to translate Korean into English, and Chinese into English or Korean.
Suitable for:
This project is open to receive applications from students with high bi-lingual skills (Korean and English or Chinese and Korean/English), UQ enrolled students or open to students outside of UQ, etc.
For further information, please contact Dr Isaac Lee isaaclee@uq.edu.au.
Dialectology in Australian Kriol
Project duration: 6 weeks
Description:
Kriol is spoken by around 20,000 people in Northern Australia across an area the size of Spain. Despite being a new language that has existed for just over a century, it is widely known that numerous dialects of Kriol exist. Yet this dialectal variation has never been carefully examined. A new research project through UQ and the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language will analyse variation across ten remote communities (see poster describing the project).
Fieldwork for this project commenced in 2016 with over 60 participants interviewed across nine locations in Northern Australia. Dialectal variation will be assessed by transcribing and analysing these extended sociolinguistic interviews. There are six components to the interviews:
1) Background/personal information and demography
2) Short narratives
3) Kinship and kin terminology
4) Native speaker perceptions of variation
5) Known variable checklist
6) Picture task elicitation/stimuli
Summer scholars will have the opportunity to focus on one or two of these components to investigate what contributions the chosen domains make towards determining dialectal variation in Kriol.
Expected outcomes and deliverables:
Scholars will be required to transcribe and analyse Kriol field recordings under the supervision and support of Greg Dickson. It is proposed that for the first two weeks of the project, scholars will also be assisted by two visiting first-language Kriol speakers. This represents an exciting opportunity for scholars to work collaboratively with Aboriginal people.
Scholars will develop skills in transcription and translation and in the use of language documentation tools such as ELAN. They will contribute to the development of a Kriol corpus and develop skills in analysing sociolinguistic variation. They will also build their knowledge of Kriol and, concurrently, their general knowledge of contact languages/creole languages. The project will also provide anthropological insights into aspects of contemporary life of Aboriginal people in remote Northern Australia.
Scholars will be asked to present their work at the end of the project. Further opportunities such as research assistance work or further research and analysis may arise as the study of Kriol dialectal variation continues.
Suitable for:
This project will suit students in the latter stages (2nd and 3rd year) of a linguistics degree, particularly those with an interest in Indigenous languages and/or sociolinguistics.
Further info:
Contact Dr Greg Dickson: g.dickson1@uq.edu.au, Rm 503A Gordon Greenwood. 3365 2246.