Judy Kaplan (Science History Institute), "The Information Science of Linguistics"
In 1971, a group of linguists associated with Stanford University launched the Language Universals Phonological Archiving Project (SPA), the “first computerized database of phonological segment inventories” in the world. Led by two young researchers, Donald Sherman and Marilyn Vihman, the Project’s goals were twofold: to identify “adequate descriptive categories for linguistic phenomena,” and to explore “appropriate media and formats for storing, controlling, and accessing descriptive linguistic data.” Marshalling standards that had recently been developed by the Library of Congress for the representation of bibliographic data (MARC), the SPA was intended to merge linguistic and informational ontologies. The project was visionary, if ultimately unsuccessful. Architects sought to balance their need for control against users’ desire for flexibility, anticipating recent developments in the open design of information systems. But the project depended on soft money and the labor of junior scholars, which made it impossible to sustain over time.
In this presentation, I will outline the brief history of the SPA and its digital afterlife to explore a series of interrelated questions. First, I hope to reflect with other participants on the construction and use of disciplinary-specific archives in scientific research. Second, this case study will give us the opportunity to analyze areas of overlap and divergence when it comes to twentieth-century linguistics and information science. Finally, the presentation will motivate a discussion of labor relations in the history of empirical linguistic traditions.
A short 1972 report on the project is attached for your reading pleasure!