PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Ave.
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
Email: hq@naasr.org
Web:
DIRECTOR OF ONLINE ARMENIAN LEXICON AND LIBRARY TO SPEAK AT NAASR
Dr. Michele Sigler, founder and director of the Armenian Lexicon and
Library Online and a visiting research fellow at the Centre for
Computing in the Humanities at King’s College, London, will give a
presentation entitled "Digital Western Armenian: The Armenian Lexicon
Project" on Thursday, July 23, 2009, at 8:00 p.m., at the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center, 395
Concord Ave., Belmont, MA.
The Armenian Lexicon Project is the work of a group of scholars from the
U.S., Lebanon, and Armenia. It is based at the Center for Computing in
the Humanities at King’s College, University of London, and also
involves other experts in Armenian linguistics.
The project’s immediate goal is to create two online resources for
Western Armenian: a Western Armenian-English lexicon and a digital
library of Western Armenian texts. Unlike dictionaries in print, the
project’s lexicon will be comprehensive, detailed, accessible, and free.
The library will likewise be free to users, and will contain digitized
versions of works of Western Armenian literature. The website is
designed to be used by language learners, teachers, translators, and
academic researchers.
Dr. Sigler has a BA in philosophy from Princeton, and a Ph.D. in
linguistics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she
encountered a Western Armenian-speaking graduate student completely by
chance. The language has remained the focus of her research since that
fortuitous encounter.
In addition to her research interests-syntax, morphology, and lexical
semantics-Sigler is committed to helping to document and revitalize
Western Armenian. She is inspired by the work of her advisor at MIT,
Kenneth Hale, who devoted his life to endangered languages. A native of
Chicago, Michele has lived in London for twelve years with her husband
and two sons.
Admission to the lecture at NAASR is free. The NAASR Center is located
opposite the First Armenian Church and next to the U.S. Post Office.
Ample parking is available around the building and in adjacent areas.
The lecture will begin promptly at 8:00 p.m.
More information about the lecture is available by calling 617-489-1610,
faxing 617-484-1759, e-mailing hq@naasr.org, or writing to NAASR, 395
Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.