User:Euna/Graduation

Project Proposal

Working Title

Linguistic criminals in the looking-screen world

What to make

Ai become smarter and smarter. Grammarly corrects my sentence, recommends a better word, and google translation makes fewer errors. This exaggerates the distinction between "correct" and "wrong" language and lowers the poetic charm of mistranslation. I felt a necessity to arrange a shelter for linguistic criminals like me who have made grammatical errors which they are not ashamed of, and a playground with plenty of poetic licenses.

For my graduation project, I’m making a virtual space(web), the looking-screen world where any linguistic variation, so-called, pidgin or linguistic error, is not considered as "wrong". In the reality, people make a social promise around the use of language and we use it obeying this linguistic rule. But in this looking-screen world, this process will be reversed. Like Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking-Glass of Louis Carroll, linguistic criminals will create collectively (further explanation about collaboration in 2-1) our alternative language and visitors of the looking-screen world should use it. I call this language Frabjousish, Frabjous (invented word by Louis Carroll, fair + joyous) + ish (suffix meaning relating to).

How to make

The difference between Frabjousish and English is its use of the word and its sentence structure that second language users are often troubled with. (I may not talk about the pronunciation problem, due to time limit and the relevancy with my thesis.) As benefits the official language of the looking-screen world, those mistakes are considered as standard. These replace English that especially Grammarly and Google translation believe.

e.g) I confused the word "overalls" (saloppette in French) with "Slut" (salope in French). So all the "overalls" is replaced by "Slut".

e.g2) In Korean, we don't use "I" and the basic sentence structure is S+O+V. So for "I like cat", the filter convert it to "Cat like"

With the mouse hovers ono the converted word and sentence, user can open a tooltip about the originally intended word and related explanation appears. And the click leads to its dictionary webpage. hackpact : file:///Users/euna/Desktop/hp/hp3.html

I regard Frabjousish as a linguistic filter firstly, for the reason of how it functions. And I imagine its ultimate form is Chrome Extension But, considering the time limit and my technical capacity, I may not manage it. Instead, I'm creating a spaces for textual activities in Frabjousish (further explanation on 2-2).

Collaborative creation of Frabjousish

As Frabjousish is nourished by linguistic crimes, I'm collecting those crimes from different people and this is why I said: "collaborative creation".

• Sentence structure*

A Dutch artist Nicoline van Harskamp collected typical grammar mistakes of second language speaker of English, Distorters (2013-16) which I may use as a source. (I'll ask her for her permission)

e.g) create verb with adjective.(She slowly olds.), apply gendered pronoun to refer to noun.(I lost my key so I must find her.)

• Choice of word*

I'm collecting this type of slip of the tongue case by three methods: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/slip_tongue

workshop It will happen on 29th Nov. at BuitenBoel. Also, other online workshops will be held. We will have a small conversation table and the output will voice-records of participant's responses.

Frabjousish dictionary Whoever wants to contribute to this project, can come to this website. The biggest advantage is no time-space limit to participate. Also, their inputs are directly transferred to JSON file(storage of data), so, user's contribution update Frabjousish in real-time.

confession box A small box left at school/BuitenBoel/Leeszaal (need to ask for their permission) with questionnaires and pens. A suitable form for shy linguistic criminals!

• People are asked to respond to these questions:*

Have you ever committed a linguistic crime when you use a second (or third) language? Did you want to say A, but you said B? Don't be shy, please confess it!

Your initial name?

What was A?

What was B?

In which context?

Textual activities in Frabjousish

• chatroom*

An anonymous chatting happens. Each person is given 6-digit number, like a criminal. Inevitably, everyone commits a linguistic crime in this chatroom as their text is translated in Frabjousish.

• reading room

people read books translated into Frabjousish. There are "Through the looking-mirror", "The book of sand", etc.

• poetry room (?)

A space for interactive computational poetry (taking the syllable "si" which means 'poetry' in Korean as a starting point.)

• Dictionary (HTML made with Flask)

this is where the online database contribution happens. People can submit their anecdotes and take a look at other's experiences. It is a publishing platform and an archive at the same time. https://hub.xpub.nl/sandbot/~eunalee/flask/

Aside from language, this project shows my interest in collective writing. Both are the reflection of my belief "Anyone can make voice" against the hegemonic notion, the standard language and the concept of 'the author'.

Personal Context

From my bachelor’s degree in graphic design in France, the language and its interpretation are the center of interest of my projects. To be an editorial designer, I learned to understand visual and textual language, and how it could be perceived by readers. And as a foreign speaker, every day I’ve encountered the linguistic collision between Korean, French, and English; especially the homonym between different languages. For this reason, I enjoy testing the limits of language.

• Si (2018, printed book of poetry)*

Poems about homonyms between French and Korean

• Vegetable section (2019 two-player board game)*

There are ten shape cards and nine vegetable names written on the board. One chooses an image and a vegetable name and convinces their relation. For example, I believe a red circle is a banana because I saw a red banana in Cambodia and this image is its cross-section. If the other admits, you get 1 point. In the end, the winner obtains the right to name the last image.

• Merchandise Poetry (2019 online poetry website)*

I codified numbers underneath the barcode to alphabet letters. (1->e, 2->a...). Each product gets its own short sentence. Then, google translated it in every available language on google. When those outputs are connected, they make a poetry. With a barcode scan of a merchandise on the website, the user can get the poetry on the receipt.

• Standart Dictionary (2021 dictionary website)*

During SI18, the radio, I did voice performances and encountered difficult words to pronounce. I thought to make a "neutral voice" machine, but rapidly, I recognised how the idea of "neutral" is hegemonic. So, I turned my gaze on making a virtual space where my pronunciation is considered as Standard. Each word has five version of pronunciations for (french like, french-korean like, korean like, korean-american like, american like.) When the pronunciation button is pressed, one of my pronunciation is played randomly. And my last project during this Special issue was to invite my friends to pronounce like I did.

I learned Flask to use a random function on the website. Later, I discovered its 'submit' function to the data storage file. That means, finally I can invite others to share their linguistic experiences online. It was not possible with the printed materials and flat HTML.

Larger Context

Esperanto is made to reduce the division and friction between different language user in Poland in early 1880. According to What is Esperanto? from the Virtual Esperanto Library, the second effect of this auxiliary language is the protection of the minority languages, which would have a better chance of survival than in a world dominated by a few powerful languages. Both Frabjousish and Esperanto are a counter-hegemonic linguistic gesture and an attempt to protect the language of minority.

Derrida's theory, différance(French term coined by Derrida, means difference and deferral of meaning.) and the computational poetry as its artistic response in 1965 feed my project. By Derrida, a simple word can signify lots of ideas, so a text is undecidable. The random generating function of the computer fits well to realise this "undecidability" of text and that's why computational poetry emerged. Even more, through studying how computational poetry changes after the popularisation of the personal computer and the internet from 1995, which means the readers can participate actively, I understand the necessity of user's intervene in my project.

Methodology

Research keyword

collective writing computational poetry translation language pidgin Participatory art

Who can help

Aymeric, Manetta and Michael for conceptual and technical matters. Natasha for collaborative writing Nicoline van Harskamp as she works on Pidgin Participants from various backgrounds to nourish my database. Angeliki for references about voice

Timeline

I should contact as many second-language user as possible to nourish my database. -> contact language school*

• oct

- workshop in Leeszaal : A small round around / I pronounced 시 [si] and participants gave me their lexical(or personal) meaning. -> from the smallest linguistic piece, syllable, each person imagine different thing.

• nov

- make a dictionary page (basic structure + submit function) (-> should figure out if it's possible, otherwise another platform for archive) - test words and sentence structure convert function in Python -> at least, make small word converter - 29th nov workshop : conversation around slip tongue experience

• dec*

- contact Nicoline van Harskamp -> show my project(dictionary + hackpact of convertor), interview and propose her a collaboration - connect dictionary database to python

• jan

- make poetry writing room - make a index.html where hosts subordinate rooms

• feb

- chatroom making

Reference

Read

Carroll, L. (2011) Through the Looking-Glass (Penguin Classics), Penguin. Flusser V., Poster, M., Nancy Ann Roth and Ebrary, I. (2011) Does writing have a future?, University Of Minnesota Press. Rettberg, S. (2014) 'Collaborative Narrative' in The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media, Johns Hopkins University Press https://elmcip.net/critical-writing/collaborative-narrative Funkhouser, C. (2007). Prehistoric digital poetry : an archeology of forms, 1959-1995, The University Of Alabama Press Glazier, L. P. (2002). Digital poetics : the making of E-poetries, The University Of Alabama Press Van Harskamp, N (2020) My Name Is Language, Archive Books Hancher, M. (1981) 'Humpty Dumpty and Verbal Meaning' in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Autumn, 1981), pp. 49-58 (10 pages), Wiley Multiple authors of Akademie Schloss Solitude (2021) Untranslatable Terms of Cultural Practices, Archive Books Goldsmith, K. (2011) Uncreative writing, Columbia University Press Dworkin C. D. and Goldsmith, K. (2011). Against expression : an anthology of conceptual writing. Evanston Illinois: Northwestern University Press.

Project

I love E Poetry, http://iloveepoetry.org/?p=11968 Antoni Muntada, The file Room, https://rhizome.org/editorial/2016/nov/17/antoni-muntadas-the-file-room/ ParlezVous1016 https://www.parlezvous1060.be/fr/w/Allumette.html Exquisite corpse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse Nicoline van Harskamp, PDGN and Distorters Esolang, the esoteric programming languages wiki https://esolangs.org/wiki/Esoteric_programming_language

• contact list of Language school

CIEF Dijon, professors proposed to their students -> waiting for result CPU Lyon Leeszaal Dutch class (Cafe NL) Dutch Courses Rotterdam -> setting the schedule Language & Training Centre (LTC) Rotterdam International Secondary School Dutch courses for non Dutch in The Hague masterclassdutch in Rotterdam CBE Language school in Rotterdam tulp educatie in Rotterdam

Thesis Outline

Working Title

How to protect my right to write in digital space: Dangers that my text is in and some suggestions of countermeasures.

Introduction

The development of technology has changed our writing. Everyone has acquired the right to become a writer and writing itself became much easier: Thanks to Google translation and Grammarly, despite my humble English, I can write a long essay in English. Google Smart Compose and Apple Auto-Correction liberate me from typing every single word and finally, I can easily publish it on the web. Those new tools in the web environment lessen my writing work, but they cause other threats; AI tools believe that they know better what I want to say, modify my text as he please. As a result, I accidentally commit linguistic errors, such like wrong word choice, inappropriate tone and lots of writing content.

These tool and the actual web environment are favorable to western languages, Especially English. So, It might be looked like that I'm insisting on the downfall on the downfall of English in digital writing. But what I truly want to say through this thesis, is that we need more diversity of language in digital text to recover my right to write.

This thesis consists of two chapters. The first is to clarify the threats through my digital writing exercise. And the second is dedicated to potential strategies against these menaces.

Chapter1.

In this chapter, I will demonstrate the writing process of my invitation letter to The looking-screen world in English. Firstly I will publish the letter in Korean on the html format and gradually apply linguistic writing tools; Apple auto-correction, Google translation, and Grammarly. For each layer, I'll explain what kind of arrogance AI makes and the differences in detail between my original text and AI-generated one. And this chapter will finish with the well-translated version in English.

1-1. Invitation letter in Korean I'll show my letter in Korean.

1-2. Publishing my letter in Korean on HTML This part is to talk about inconveniences of non-latin alphabet language, including Korean, in html format and pressure to use/learn English to write html command lines. No more authority of the author, but there's the authority of Standard English users [1].

1-2-1. letter in Korean converted in unreadable ASCII CODE

1-2-2. English based command line Some programmers proposed computer languages based on non-latin alphabet. But, they are hard to be generalized due to economic reasons.[2]

1-3. Letter generated by AI 1-3-1. Auto correction Especially this application changes proper nouns as it likes. [3]

1-3-2. Google translation I will criticize its limit of literal translation and an unnecessary liberall translation.

1-3-3. Grammarly changes writing style [4]

1-4. Intended message There will be the message that I truly wanted to hand. From the look of generated letter part, I can conclude this chapter that we need something more than these AI-based tools.

Chapter2.

In the second chapter, I consider some strategies against the existing linguistic hegemonic that I have presented in chapter 1.

2-1. alternative dictionary I will propose an alternative dictionary as a first strategy against the linguistic hegemonic. This is a space for all the untranslatable vocabularies in other languages [5], like Eunoia project [P2] Its contents come from the people of various nationalities. The subtility of vocabulary is out of the capacity of AI, so people are encouraged to contribute to enriching this dictionary.

Sometimes, one word carries more than just the meaning of one object and it is a reflection of one culture. For example, "Hyonyeo" is a Korean word which means a devoted/good daugther. But we cannot know the expected devotion level is "a girl who doesn't get married to care her parents and who starves but offer her food to her parents". And her attitude is taken for granted in Korea, a Confucian society.

With this dictionary, writers don't need to write a long explanation about "Hyonyeo" in English or lose the surrounding stories around this word. They just use "Hyoneyo" and the readers can come to take a look.

2-2. collective translating Sadly, my intention cannot be communicated through a few vocabularies. I need a smart translator who can detect the context and who can give life to my writing style. This is not what AI can do nor one translator can achieve. Each translator makes different output. [6] For this reason, we need a translation platform where multiple people participate in translation [7]. Soap by Fabio Morais about 'reading and translation groups on independent editorial work' is a good example. This translation method permits the writer to select the most matching tone by themselves.

2-3. collective writing Translation of poetry requires as much effort as writing poetry. [8] For me, translation is similar to a fan fiction and Renga, Japanese traditional poetry which multiple poets compose a poem together in the open air, each poet writes 3 lines about same subject (normally nature) and has to follow the structure of previous previous person. Inspired from the same world; untranslated text, fiction, and landscape relatively, each writer shows a different interpretation. Through collective writing, I'm able to discover my intention that I wasn't aware! [9]

Bibliography

1. Mikanowski, J (2018) Behemoth, bully, thief: how the English language is taking over the planet in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jul/27/english-language-global-dominance

2. Chung, H (2020) 'English Linguistic Imperialism in Programming' in PagerDuty https://www.pagerduty.com/eng/english-linguistic-imperialism-programming/

3. Van Harskamp, N (2020) My Name Is Language, Archive Books.

4. Bliszczyk, A (2019) 'You sound worried': would you let an AI change the tone of your emails?' in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/nov/07/you-sound-worried-would-you-let-an-ai-change-the-tone-of-your-emails

5. Multiple authors of Akademie Schloss Solitude (2021) Untranslatable Terms of Cultural Practices, Archive Books

6. Goldsmith, K (2011) Uncreative writing, Columbia University Press

7. Sauer, S (2021) Floor Cloth Complex: On Co-Translating Fabio Morais’ ‘Soap' in another Chicago magazine https://anotherchicagomagazine.net/2021/07/13/floor-cloth-complex-soap-by-fabio-morais-translated-from-the-portuguese-by-the-grupo-de-leitura-e-traducao/

8. Junqueirain, I (2012) 'Is poetry untranslatable?' in Estudos Avançadosv26 n76 https://www.scielo.br/j/ea/a/S9Pwr4Y6Ck5nL3FnBWvpZWm/?format=pdf&lang=en

9. Rettberg, S (2014) 'Collaborative Narrative' in The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media, Johns Hopkins University Press https://elmcip.net/critical-writing/collaborative-narrative

10. Foucault, M (1969) 'What is an Author?' in Essential Works of Foucault, (ed.) Paul Rabinow (1998), The new press

11. Barthes, R (1969) 'La mort de l'auteur (the death of the author)' in la revue Mantéia n.5, Mantéia

Project

1. esoteric programming languages wiki https://esolangs.org/wiki/Main_Page

2. Eunoia: Words That Don't Translate https://eunoia.world