构造语言(conlang)在小说和电视中有着悠久而传奇的历史. From Klingon to Dothraki, 康朗语已经成为一种将观众带到新大陆的手段, introducing them to new cultures, and serving as a definitive indicator of otherness.
But Jannah Martin sees conlangs, and her own constructed language in particular, 作为一种将不同文化融合在一起，缩小差异性差距的手段. Martin, a senior communication arts and sciences major at Penn State Berks, 完成一篇史瑞尔荣誉学院的论文是通过构建一种作为桥梁语言的语言吗. As opposed to the more familiar artistic application of a conlang, 桥接语言充当翻译算法(如Google翻译)的中介语言. When translating from German to English, for example, the algorithm will run the sentence through a bridge language first, 以确保它能够正确理解细微差别并消除偏见.
但这个系统并不完善——谷歌翻译通常会根据某些性别术语在语言中的使用频率选择翻译它们. 这导致了翻译算法中的性别偏见，而这可能会扭曲甚至模糊翻译. “One example,” Martin says, 就是在土耳其语中，“他”或“她”没有不同的说法.’ So if you take the sentence, for example, ‘She is a doctor,’ and translate it to English in Google Translate, it’ll most likely translate it to ‘He is a doctor,，尽管在原始语言中没有任何迹象表明它应该是一个“他”.’”
The conlang Martin is developing, called Katfa’fulan’zhosa (KFZ), is gender neutral, designed specifically to address this bias in the existing algorithms. “If you use a bridge language such as mine, which also doesn’t have genders, it will ensure that English is encoding it as ‘they’ or ‘he or she,’” she explains. This elimination of bias, and therefore minimization of translation errors, is a key component of the thesis project Martin plans to present. The thesis will include descriptions of conlangs as concepts, historical precedence, plans for the application of the language, 然后是词典和用法指南——几乎就像一本语言旅游指南.
As a part of the Schreyer Honors College, 马丁有机会选择一篇适合她的兴趣和技能的论文. While a thesis paper is the most recognizable exponent of the process, some students choose creative projects such as plays and artwork. 建立在语言学和语言人类学的长期兴趣, the conlang path seemed a natural course for Martin. “At its heart, it’s a creative project. 这对做论文的人来说是一种可能性——这是一个探索不同事物的机会. I’m doing research, 但我也在创造一些新的东西，而不仅仅是报道一些已经建立起来的东西.”
施赖尔荣誉学院协调员桑迪·范斯坦说，当詹娜问她是否可以把论文的重点放在构建一门语言上时，她并不感到惊讶. In her first semester at Berks in Honors Freshman Composition, Jannah wrote about being interested in cryptography, and, in another class, she created a cryptogram.“马丁开发KFZ已经有三四年了，写论文也有两年了. 她将语言学和语言人类学的研究纳入了她的许多课堂项目中——她说，她之所以能够做到这一点，是因为她与教授们建立了私人关系. “由于班级规模较小，学生与教授之间有很多互动. I’ve had professors that I’d go up to and ask, ‘There’s something specific with linguistics I want to do a project on, can I work that into this project on gender? Can I work that into this project on biology?“大学里所有的教授都允许我自由地专注于我在他们的课程中发现的有趣的东西，并按照自己的方向发展。.”
马丁说，有两门课特别帮助她开发了她的conlang项目. “Language, Culture and Communication,” taught by Kesha Morant Williams, 关注方言和文化差异对语言的影响. 马丁说:“这帮助我创造了一种基于虚构背景的更自然的语言流, which informs pronunciation, written variations and word order.”
她认为影响她构建语言的另一门课是“非言语交际”,” taught by Cheryl Nicholas. “Learning how things like tone, appearance, physical position, etc. 可以作为沟通，帮助我了解剧本的美学成分，”马丁解释说. “它还影响了某些单词的发音方式，以及如何根据音调来解释这些声音。, and how word order can suggest importance or significance.”
马丁的传播艺术与科学教授和论文导师并不是唯一对她在《十大正规赌博平台大全》中的作品印象深刻的人, 她被授予十大正规赌博平台大全博克人文学部的青年研究者奖, Arts and Social Sciences. Presented to one student in each of the college’s academic divisions, 青年研究者奖表彰那些在实习期间表现出杰出的奖学金和表现或不同寻常的成就的学生, co-op, or research. 马丁说，她非常荣幸能获得这个奖项，并希望向教职员工展示她如何应用他们教给她的东西，以及她如何利用他们的信任和支持来追求她的项目.
The Ephrata, Pennsylvania, Native计划毕业时获得传播艺术与科学专业的文学学士学位. And after that? “我很想找到一种方法继续研究语言学，可能是在学术意义上.”
About the Schreyer Honors Program
Through the Schreyer Honors College and the Berks Honors Program, 赌博平台大全为成绩最好的学生提供独特的机会. The Schreyer Honors College's overall enrollment of 1,800名学者只占十大正规赌博平台大全本科生总数的2%.
