TextLink will unify numerous but scattered linguistic resources on discourse structure. Effective discourse in any language is characterized by clear relations between sentences and coherent structure. But languages vary in how relations and structure are signalled. While monolingual dictionaries and grammars can characterise the words and sentences of a language and bilingual dictionaries can do the same between languages, there is nothing similar for discourse. For discourse, however, discourse-annotated corpora are becoming available in individual languages.
The TextLink Action will facilitate European multilingualism by (1) identifying and creating a portal into such resources within Europe “including annotation tools, search tools, and discourse-annotated corpora; (2) delineating the dimensions and properties of discourse annotation across corpora; (3) organising these properties into a sharable taxonomy; (4) encouraging the use of this taxonomy in subsequent discourse annotation and in cross-lingual search and studies of devices that relate and structure discourse; and (5) promoting use of the portal, its resources and sharable taxonomy. With partners from across Europe, TextLink will unify numerous but scattered linguistic resources on discourse structure. With its resources searchable by form and/or meaning and a source of valuable correspondences, TextLink will enhance the experience and performance of human translators, lexicographers, language technology and language learners alike.
Currently TextLink has over 150 members from across our 26 member countries and 2 International Partner Countries, contributing to 4 working groups. The Action is funded by Cost (www.cost.eu), a European framework that supports trans-national cooperation among researchers, engineers and scholars across Europe. The TextLink Action will run from 11 April 2014 to 10 April 2018.
The TextLink Action is open to all researchers, industrial partners and other stakeholders working in the area of Discourse Relational Devices and their applications. To join us, please use the contact link here.
The link to the official website of the Action at the COST office is: www.cost.eu/domains_actions/isch/Actions/IS1312