GIS for language study (LanGIS) is a two-year research environment (2017-2019) at the Dept. of Scandinavian Languages and the Dept. of Linguistics and Philology funded by the Faculty of Languages at Uppsala University. This project provides an opportunity for researchers to learn how to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

Following main events are planned for 2017-2019:

• LanGIS Inspirational Seminar with Prof. William A. Kretzschmar, Jr., Dept. of English, University of Georgia, May 21, 2019 (Tuesday) at 9:00-12:30 in Eng/22-1017
• LanGIS Talks: a lecture series on spatial analysis and GIS for language study with invited speakers, autumn term 2018
• LanGIS Lecture Day: May 9, 2018 (Wednesday) at 9:00-12:15 in Eng/ 16-0043
• Two-day Introductory Workshop: May 7-8, 2018 (Monday, Tuesday) at 9:15-17:00 in Eng/22-1017 and Eng/22-0025
• Kick-off Seminar: November 8, 2017 (Wednesday) at 9:15-16:00 in Eng/16-2043

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are computerized information systems for collecting, storing, managing, and analyzing location-based data. The revolution in methodology that GIS has brought about has shown its clear effect in several fields of science, including linguistics. Internationally, language research using GIS methods is a growing field. Areas of application for GIS range from general linguistics and variational linguistics to runology and onomastics. The aim of the planned research environment is to digitize the faculty's research on location-based materials by popularizing the use of GIS as well as by creating a platform for cooperation for research staff in the faculty. Such a platform has the potential to contribute to interdisciplinary collaborations within and outside the faculty and university. The Figure below is an example of what mapping and visualisation of language data, in this case nominal classification, can look like. It shows a general distribution of numeral classifier and gender languages in the world, based on data from the The World Atlas of Language Structures (Corbett, 2013; Gil, 2013).

The research environment will undertake a series of activities over two years to explore the analytical tools provided by GIS together, thereby giving the faculty's research on location-based materials a lift. At the seminars and workshops planned under this initiative, the emphasis will be placed on method development in concrete mini-projects that representatives from the different subject areas and institutions will plan together, discussing the use of various GIS software such as ArcGIS and QGIS, among others. GIS is a new phenomenon at the faculty. We will therefore draw upon international expertise to promote discussion on GIS methods and areas of application. The research environment's activities will be concluded with an “inspiration workshop” in 2019 where the faculty's need for a GIS infrastructure for research and teaching will be discussed.

Contact:

Project leader & Coordinator: Alexandra Petrulevich
Coordinator: Marc Tang

References:

• Greville G. Corbett. 2013. Number of Genders. In: Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath, Martin (eds.) The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
• David Gil. 2013. Numeral Classifiers. In: Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath, Martin (eds.) The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
• Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath, Martin (eds.) 2013. The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Members

Here is the list of our official members, but feel free to contact us to participate in our workshops and discussions.

Junior researchers

• Alexandra Petrulevich (Project leader), Researcher at the Department of Scandinavian Languages.
• Agnieszka Backman, Researcher at the Department of Scandinavian Languages.
• Elin Pihl, Researcher at the Department of Onomastics.
• Ergin Opengin, Guest lecturer at the Department of Linguistics and Philology.
• Harald Hammarström, Associate Senior Lecturer at the Department of Linguistics and Philology.
• Karolina Andersdotter, Librarian at the University Library, Subject Library Division; Carolina and Karin boye Libraries; The Carolina Library
• Simon Skovgaard Boeck, Researcher at the Department of Scandinavian Languages.
• Sofia Pereswetoff-Morath, Lecturer at the Department of Swedish Language and Multilingualism, Stockholm University.

Senior researchers

• Anju Saxena, Professor at the Department of Linguistics and Philology.
• Anne-Sofie Gräslund, Professor Emerita at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History.
• Eleanor Coghill, Professor at the Department of Linguistics and Philology.
• Jonathan Adams, Researcher at the Department of Scandinavian Languages.
• Karine Åkerman Sarkisian, Senior lecturer at the Department of Modern Languages, Slavic Languages.
• Kristina Neumüller, Researcher at the Department of Onomastics.
• Margareta Svahn, Professor at the Department of Scandinavian Languages.
• Michael Dunn, Professor at the Department of Linguistics and Philology.
• Rogier Blokland, Professor at the Department of Modern Languages, Finno-Ugric Languages.

PhD students

• Adam Horn, Department of Scandinavian Languages.
• Alessandro Palumbo, Department of Scandinavian Languages.
• Hanna Åkerström, Department of Scandinavian Languages.
• Marc Tang, Department of Linguistics and Philology.
• Simon Karlin Björk, Department of Scandinavian Languages.