In 2019, the ISLA project has formally ended. This does not mean, however, that we stop investigating idiomatic expressions. We have collected lots of data we can publish about in the future. Please have a look at our page with publications for an overview of our scientific publications and other output so far.
On the 18th and 19th of June the FLIPR workshop took place organized by us, the ISLA team. During this multidisciplinary workshop, invited speakers presented their research on formulaic language in native and non-native speakers from different perspectives, such as psycholinguistics, L2 acquisition, and computational modelling.
During this multidisciplinary FLIPR workshop, invited speakers will present their research on formulaic language in native and non-native speakers from different perspectives, such as psycholinguistics, L2 acquisition, and computational modelling.
Click here to register!
For additional information, click here.
We started a new round of learning experiments at the HAN (University of Applied Sciences in Nijmegen) in which Arabic learners of Dutch receive intensive training on Dutch idiomatic expressions through a Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) system. The students will be trained on various Dutch idiomatic expressions during the course of 4 weeks. They will perform different types of exercises, and receive corrective feedback. In this way, the students will learn Dutch idioms and we will receive insight in the factors that influence idiom learning.
Helmer Strik has been awarded a CLS Small Research Grant. With this grant, we will expand the mini-game on Dutch idiomatic expressions that Games for Health developed with input from Catia Cucchiarini, Ferdy Hubers, Michel Gerritse and the muZIEum. An enriched version of the game will be created that employs Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) to allow spoken interaction.
The science television programme ‘De Kennis van Nu' featured Ton Dijkstra in the episode of Thursday April 13th on the bilingual brain. The short interview can be found around 06:00 min.
Watch the complete episode (in Dutch) below.
Ferdy Hubers has been awarded a Valorisation Grant. This grant of 1500 euros will be used to develop a simple game for blind and visually impaired people to test their knowledge of Dutch idiomatic expressions. This audio game will make use of speech synthesis and will be exhibited in the MuZIEum to show the possiblities of modern technology for blind and visually impaired people.
Prof. dr. Ton Dijkstra, dr. Catia Cucchiarini, and dr. Helmer Strik are the supervisors on this project.
In June of this year an interview with the two PhD students Wendy van Ginkel and Ferdy Hubers has appeared in the local newspaper 'De Gelderlander'. Click on the image to view the PDF file (in Dutch).
Last weekend the Drongo language festival took place in the Jaarbeurs Exhibition Halls in Utrecht and ISLA was represented there as well. At our labs visitors were able to particpate in demo's of our behavioural experiments and they had the opportunity to test their knowledge on Dutch idiomatic expressions. The festival itself was very crowded and our labs were very busy. It was nice to talk to people about idiomatic language and to see that they were so enthousiastic about our test.
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