Re: Is FieldWorks being used for linguistics?

[Tim Stirtz]

Hi Doug,

I would estimate that at least half the number of languages projects
overseen by SIL use FLEx for at least a basic lexicon. Many of these
also use it for interlinearization, and a few also use it for grammar
features and parsing. FLEx is being taught at DIU, CanIL, Payap,
probably Moorlands, and maybe other SIL training institutions. There are
354 dictionaries published on Webonary which uploads dictionaries
produced in FLEx. FLEx is not commonly used by translation projects
outside of SIL. However, there are current discussions of how to make
FLEx more integrated with Paratext. If that were to happen, FLEx use
could becoming much more widespread.

I'm copying a few others who could give a better view of how widely FLEx
is used, since they correspond nearly daily with those who use FLEx on
the FLEx...@googlegroups.com, giving support and answering questions.
There are hundreds on this google group, including many outside SIL, but
I don't know the exact number.

Yes, you can forward these comments to the Anthro group.

Tim

On 9/16/2024 10:36 AM, Doug Fraiser wrote:
> Dear Tim,
>
> For the past several years, I've been training people to use the Notebook section of FieldWorks to record and analyze anthropological data. I’ve had two reasons for doing so. One is that I haven’t found a better program for handling cultural data. The other is that most of our colleagues in SIL are focused on linguistics or translation, and using FieldWorks enables them to analyze the same texts for multiple purposes.
>
> That said, I’m wondering how much people are using FieldWorks these days, given the introduction of several linguistics programs that aren’t integrated with FieldWorks. When I posed this question to SIL’s anthro group, Sharon Merz suggested that you might be have a feel for how the program is being used for linguistics, as well as whether its use is being taught in SIL linguistics courses.
>
> What are you seeing? And, may I share your response with the SIL anthro group?
>
> Peace,
>
> Doug Fraiser
> Senior Anthropology Consultant
> Anthropology Coordinator, MSEAG

[Tyler Depke]

I will make a quick plug here about being someone in the field who WANTS to use FLEX more, but am unlikely to use it regularly because it isn't available on mobile devices. 90+% of my data collection occurs away from my computer and I don't have time to collect it on mobile and then transfer it to FLEX. Not sure if others outside of SIL circles feel the same, but just thought I'd make this known. 

Tyler

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[Rogers Katelem]

I will really like to see FLEX on mobile devices, or be able to login and enter data online on-the-go, then sync when I'm on my computer to continue the work.

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[Johnny Walker]

As a lexicographer with SIL Tanzania, I wanted to put in a plug for FLEx. In my role, I'm using it almost daily and sometimes for the majority of the day. It really is a great tool for dictionary development and makes my life a lot easier.

Even other linguists in the branch who aren't directly involved in lexicography make use of FLEx. When we start work with a new language in Tanzania, the first step is to collect a 1700 wordlist. All of that data gets put into a FLEx database where it can be sorted in multiple ways to make analysis easier. As the orthography for a new language is developed, the FLEx database is a useful place to make updates to the orthography and have a fairly authoritative list of correctly spelled words in the language. Of course, it depends on the individual linguist how much they make use of FLEx in their daily work. However, when I've started lexicography work on new languages, I've generally found that the FLEx databases are already in fairly good shape which implies that they've been used on a regular basis.

- Johnny Walker

  SIL Tanzania Linguistics Consultant & Lexicography Specialist

[Ann Bush]

Language Forge allows you to enter words in a mobile app and then add them to FLEx.  I don’t know a lot about it, but you can find out more at https://languageforge.org/.

 

Ann

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[Tim Kempton]

Hi Doug and Tim

> I’m wondering how much people are using FieldWorks these days, given the introduction of several linguistics programs that aren’t integrated with FieldWorks.

In Nigeria I believe the vast majority of SIL projects use FieldWorks/Flex for a lexicon, and many will use the other features. The activity on this Flex email list i.e. multiple exchanges per day, would suggest Flex is the most used SIL linguistics tool (not counting Paratext).

I agree that a number of tools could integrate better with Flex.  At the very basic level you can do workarounds e.g. 

Export: copying from the Flex lexicon table and pasting into a spreadsheet 

Import: using SheetSwiper to convert spreadsheet data to SFM for importing into Flex

At the other end of the spectrum there are tools like Language Forge that exchange data with Flex easily through Lexbox.

I hope funders can be made more aware of the significance of Flex. I understand the developers have very limited resources to make improvements. 

Tim

[Bruno Estigarribia]

Hello all,

I am a linguist. I am using FieldWorks/Flex to document my family's southern Italian language. My interest is not a dictionary but a grammar, and I am using the software to collect texts and provide interlinear glossing, as well as to do morphosyntactic analysis.

Bruno Estigarribia (How to say my name: https://namedrop.io/brunoestigarribia)

Chair, Department of Romance Studies
Professor of Spanish & Hispanic Linguistics
Affiliated Faculty: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Global Studies, American Indian and Indigenous Studies, Institute for the Study of the Americas
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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[Claire Bowern]

Flex is widely used in language documentation by linguists with no affiliation with SIL, mostly for the interlinear parser,

Claire

Claire Bowern

Professor

Editor: Diachronica

Department of Linguistics, Yale University

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[Toby Anderson]

I use FLEx as a member of SIL, firstly to maintain a dictionary which I would export into various formats including an Android app (with Dictionary App Developer) and now to gloss and analyse texts as I work towards writing a grammar for the language I'm working with.

I'm a Linux user and I originally used the Linux version of FLEx but had to work around a lot of bugs with it. I eventually got too frustrated with all the bugs and started running a virtual machine to run Windows to run FLEx on that. That became too laggy and I've more recently set up a windows server in Google cloud to run FLEx in (I connect to it with remote desktop software) - that's charged by the second, so I shut it down when I'm not using it, and it costs me about $1 per hour to run.

This is the extent I go to to use FLEx because it's so useful to my work.It would be much simpler if the native Linux version wasn't so full of bugs.

[Thomas Blecke]

Hello all,

I take this opportunity to point out that apart from Ethnologue, Fieldworks is the SIL product most appreciated and used in academia. It's seen as the 'industry standard' for lexicography by influential linguists. So improving the import and export functions seems a very worthwhile thing to do indeed!

Thomas

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[Steve Marlett]

Fieldworks is a great tool, which I use constantly and encourage colleagues from other institutions to use as well. The integration with XLingPaper for publishing texts and thus for working on short and long publications is extremely helpful. See the recently published book of analyzed texts (https://mexico.sil.org/resources/archives/93194), which integrates organically with a forthcoming extensive grammar and various papers. The foundation of this is FLEx working in harmony with XLingPaper. I am now still cleaning up the database for production of another publication of the lexicon, this time using FLEx, hopefully with an improved output method. I cannot imagine doing anything so detailed without a tool like FLEx.

[Rich Meister]

As a linguist, I use FLEx often. It’s the tool that I recommend to colleagues for improving their understanding and competence. It’s fair to saw that FLEx has limitations, but often times it’s figuring out how the program works in order to describe the language activities well. 

Regards,

Rich

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[Jean Paul Gotopo Maldonado]

As a linguist, I use FLEx a lot, including for teaching about morphology and syntax. I use it not only for lexical documentation, but also for the documentation of morphemes, morphophonemic processes, phonology, and even for discourse analysis. It is a very comprehensive tool that can be used at all levels of linguistics: from phonetics to discourse.

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[Verna Stutzman]

The Dictionary-Making and Lexicography courses (https://sites.google.com/sil.org/dls-course/home) recommend using FLEx for dictionary compilation and publication. People working through the courses will gain a comprehensive ability to use FLEx for dictionary work. The courses are available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

[Tim Stirtz]

Recently Doug Fraiser compiled the discussion on this google group regarding Fieldworks being used for linguistics. It is available here for your interest: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f5oM6GivFO12K8stqP2NNwDhKF1ZuOyd/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=106628602379784797121&rtpof=true&sd=true

Thanks.

Tim

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