Heidi Goes and Lorenzo Maselli participated in a successful world record attempt

BantUGent members Heidi Goes and Lorenzo Maselli participated as ‘witnesses’ or experts in a successful world record attempt in Schaarbeek on Sunday 26th of February 2023 for several African languages, together with UGent alumna Jocelyn Mulanga Kabeya. The Guinness World Record attempt for Reading aloud in multiple languages was an initiative of the local library and schools, as well as the Foyer charity that works with newcomers. Every sentence of the book by Leo Timmers’ ‘Magical Life of Mr Renny’ (Mijnheer René) was read aloud in another language. Most of the second reading of the book was done in Dutch by the author himself. Experts were present for 65 of the 74 languages used during the attempt, to verify that the correct language was used, so the Record was set at 65 languages, ten more than the previous record by the Museum of Islamic Culture in Qatar.

English: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2023/02/27/record-_reading-aloud-in-multiple-languages-set-in-schaarbeek/
French: https://www.lesoir.be/497543/article/2023-02-26/un-record-mondial-ete-battu-dans-une-bibliotheque-de-schaerbeek
Dutch: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2023/02/26/wereldrecord-meertalig-voorlezen-gebroken-in-schaarbeekse-biblio/
Dutch with video: https://www.bruzz.be/samenleving/wereldrecord-meertalig-voorlezen-gebroken-schaarbeekse-bibliotheek-2023-02-26

Gilles-Maurice de Schryver gives a talk on the future of lexicography in Tokyo, Japan

[Gilles-Maurice de Schryver is on a lecture tour in Tokyo, presenting five papers on lexicography in a week, with a focus on Bantu languages and more generally for the field of (meta)lexicography as a whole. See for the other events the ‘News’ page as well as the ‘Activities’ page.]

What? The future of lexicography: Extrapolating from five decades of trends
Who? Gilles-Maurice de Schryver
When? Sat 4 March, 16:00-17:30 (Tokyo time)
Where? Hybrid (online and face-to-face at the Research Institute of Business Administration, School of Commerce, Waseda University)
Contact person: Professor YAMADA Shigeru

The future of lexicography: Extrapolating from five decades of trends

Gilles-Maurice de Schryver & David Joffe on the impact of ChatGPT on the field of lexicography

Monday 27 February, David Joffe and Gilles-Maurice de Schryver discussed the impact of ChatGPT on the field of lexicography. The seminar took place in Tokyo and kick-started a week in which Gilles-Maurice de Schryver talks on various lexicographic aspects of the future (see other ‘News’ items and the ‘Activities’ page).
For more information on this seminar, including theme, program, abstract, etc., see: http://codh.rois.ac.jp/seminar/lexicography-chatgpt-20230227/
The recording of this presentation can be found below the pictures.

What? The end of lexicography, welcome to the machine: On how ChatGPT can already take over all of the dictionary maker’s tasks
Who? Gilles-Maurice de Schryver & David Joffe
When? Mon 27 February 2023, 17:30-19:00 (Tokyo time)
Where? Hybrid (online and face-to-face at the National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo, room 2005)
Contact person: Professor KITAMOTO Asanobu



Presentation 20th CODH seminar: ‘On how ChatGPT can take over all of the dictionary maker’s tasks’

Gilles-Maurice de Schryver gives a talk on the future of metalexicography in Tokyo, Japan

[Gilles-Maurice de Schryver is on a lecture tour in Tokyo, presenting five papers on lexicography in a week, with a focus on Bantu languages and more generally for the field of (meta)lexicography as a whole. See for the other events the ‘News’ page as well as the ‘Activities’ page.]

What? The future of metalexicography: A bibliometric study
Who? Gilles-Maurice de Schryver
When? Fri 3 March, 18:00-19:30 (Tokyo time)
Where? Online [for the Lexicography SIG, Iwasaki Linguistic Circle, Tokyo]
Contact persons: Professor TONO Yukio & Professor AKASU Kaoru




The future of metalexicography: A bibliometric study

Minah Nabirye and Gilles-Maurice de Schryver talk at Tokyo African Linguistics Knot

When? Thu 2 March 2023, 14:30-17:00 (Tokyo time)
Where? Venue at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Who and what?
• Minah Nabirye: Language documentation for Lusoga (Bantu, JE16)
• Gilles-Maurice de Schryver: From corpus to online lexicon for Swahili (Bantu, G42d), and what its searches can tell us about actual dictionary use
Contact person: Professor SHINAGAWA Daisuke

http://www.tufs.ac.jp/tokyo-african-linguistics-knot/2023/02/dddlingtalk20225.html

From corpus to online lexicon for Swahili, and what its searches tell us about actual dictionary use

BantuGent research at the Francqui International Professorship Symposium in Antwerp

On December 9, 2022, Antwerp University organises the Francqui International Professorship Symposium on “Diversity and Documentation of Speech Sounds in Languages of the World“. This symposium celebrates the International Francqui Professorship of Prof. Dr Bruce Connell and explores the diversity in languages of the world and the need for their documentation. The contributions focus on both the segmental and suprasegmental aspects. The symposium programma also includes several BantUGent talks: 
  • Labial-velar consonants in Sakata (Bantu C34): preliminary phonetic and phonological observations by Lorenzo Maselli
  • Retroflex nasals in the Mai-Ndombe (DRC): the case of nasals in North Boma B82 and Nunu B822 by Lorenzo Maselli, Véronique Delvaux, Jean-Pierre Donzo, Sara Pacchiarotti, Koen Bostoen
  • Shared phonetic features in newly documented hunter-gatherer Bantu languages  in the southern fringe of the Congo rainforest (DRC) by Jean-Pierre Donzo, Lorenzo Maselli, Marie-Faustine Beloko, Sara Pacchiarotti & Koen Bostoen

For more info, see https://www.phonetics.expert/programme.