Publications
Here is a comprehensive list of publications, research technology contributions, and conference / workshop talks. When possible, links to full text, slides, or other content is linked.
Published Works
Borges, Robert and Margot van den Berg. 2023. "Language variation in parliamentary speech in Suriname". In Korhonen Minna, Haidee Kotze & Jukka Tyrkkö (eds) Exploring Language and Society with Big Data: Parliamentary discourse across time and space, (TO APPEAR). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Gast, Volker & Robert Borges. 2023. Nouns, Verbs and Other Parts of Speech in Translation and Interpreting: Evidence from English Speeches Made in the European Parliament and Their German Translations and Interpretations. Languages 8(1): 39. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8010039.
Borges, Robert. 2022. Sourcing Data from Wikipedia for the Study of Language Contact: the csbwiki. Academic Journal of Modern Philology 18: 7–22. DOI: 10.34616/ajmp.2022.18. Link.
Borges, Robert & Tymoteusz Król. 2019. The relationship between literature and language revitalization: "RewiTEATRalizacja" in Wilamowice. Multiethnica 39: 25–37.
Borges, Robert. 2019. Rapid Automatized Picture Naming as a Proficiency Assessment for Endangered Language Contexts: Results from Wilamowice.. Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends 1(1): 1–25.
Olko, Justyna, Robert Borges, and John Sullivan. 2018. Convergence as the driving force of typological change in Nahualt. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung / Language Typology and Universals 71(13): 467-507. Link.
Borges, Robert. 2017. "The People and Languages of Suriname". In Yakpo, Kofie and Pieter Miusken (eds) Boundaries and Bridges: Language Contact in Multilingual Ecologies, 21-54. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Link.
Borges, Robert. 2017. "The Maroon Creoles of the Guyanas: Expansino, Contact, and Hybridization". In Yakpo, Kofie and Pieter Miusken (eds) Boundaries and Bridges: Language Contact in Multilingual Ecologies, 87-129. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Link.
Borges. Robert, Pieter Muysken, Sofie Villerius, and Kofi Yakpt. 2017. "The tense-mood-aspect systems of the languages of Suriname". In Yakpo, Kofie and Pieter Miusken (eds) Boundaries and Bridges: Language Contact in Multilingual Ecologies, 311-362. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Link.
Borges, Robert. 2016. Ritual Language Formation and African Retentions in Suriname: the Case of Kumanti. OSO — tijschrijft voor de Surinamistiek en het Caraïbisch gebied [Journal for the study of Suriname and the Caribbean Area] 35(1-2): 225-245.
Borges, Robert. 2016. "Language Shift among the Coppename Kwinti: the Role of Social Factors and Adstrate Languages". In Olko, Justyna, Tomasz Wicherkiewicz, and Robert Borges (eds) Integral Stragegies for Language Revitalization, 483-522. Warsaw: Warsaw University Press. Link.
Olko, Justyna, Tomasz Wicherkiewicz, and Robert Borges (eds). 2016. Integral Strategies for Language Revitalization. Warsaw: Warsaw University Press. Link.
Borges, Robert. 2015. Amerindian-Maroon Interactions in Suriname and the Linguistic consequences. Languages in Contact : 99-115. Link.
Muysken, Pieter, Norval Smith, with assistance from Robert Borges (eds). 2015. Surviving the Middle Passage: The West Africa-Surinam Sprachbund. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Yakpo, Kofi, Margot van den Berg, and Robert Borges. 2015. "On the Linguistic Consequences of Language Contact in Suriname: the case of convergence". In Eithne Carlin, Isabelle Léglise, Bettina Migge, and Paul Tjon Sie Fat (eds) In and out of Suriname, 164-195. Leiden: Brill.
Borges, Robert. 2014. The Life of Language: dynamics of language contact in Suriname. Utrecht: LOT Publications.
Borges, Robert. 2014. The role of extralinguistic factors in linguistic variation and contact induced language change among Suriname’s Kwinti and Ndyuka Maroons. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 45(2): 1-19.
Borges, Robert. 2014. Particle verbs in Suriname's creole languages. Journal of Germanic Linguistics 26(3): 223-247.
Borges, Robert. 2013. Linguistic Archaeology, Kinship Terms and Language Contact in Suriname. Anthropological Linguistics 55(1): 1-35.
Research Technology Contributions
MOREDAT — Modular Remote Data Collection Toolkit
MOREDAT is an open-source template infrastructure for creating web-based, remote data collection websites.
Open-Ancestry-Web
A Django template for private genealogy collaboration. Open source release in 2022.
RASPARQ
A Python script for scraping whole collections of genealogy-related archives from tombo.pt and related Portuguese municipal archival collections on the web. https://github.com/BobBorges/rasparq
E_Karttunen
This is a GUI application for F. Karttunen's 1992 Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl
Elan_Floyd-merge
This is a Python program to perform end-to-end merge two or more Elan projects with identical tier structure.
Europarl Speech-Recognition Pipe
This is a program (Bash and Python) that automates processing of mp4 recordings of sessions from the EU parliament. It (a) extracts embedded audio track (one per EU language), (b) chunks audio tracks by utterances, (c) recognizes whether each audio chunk is natural speech or a simultaneous translation, (d) processes each chunk with Speech to Text software (supported languages, all but Maltese = 19/20), and (e) populates an Elan (.eaf) document with a set of tiers for each language – transcription with time-aligned utterance chunks, SR confidence score per chunk, and 'is translation' bool per chunk.
Nahuatl NLP
Python module for analysis of Nahuatl textual data. Tokenize, parse morphology, and eventually gloss and POS-tag.
Speech Recognition to Elan Pipe
This is a set of programs (Bash and Python) that will (a) chunk by utterance, and (b) speech recognize chunks of a media file given a specified language. The output is populated into a time aligned (by chunk) Elan (.eaf) file.
Short-wav_to_elan
This is a set of bash scripts for efficiently managing audio data that need to be available to Elan in customary nested folder structure, and for other purposes that require non-nested structures. Nest, de-nest files; automated creation of .eaf documents; extract annotations to txt, populate annotations from txt.
Wymysorys Pro Keyboard Layout (Linux)
This is a Linux-friendly (X11) keyboard layout for writing in the Wymysorys language (and all your standard European languages).
Wymysorys Pro Keyboard Layout (MacOS)
This is a MacOS-friendly keyboard layout for writing in the Wymysorys language (and all your standard European languages). Last tested on OS 10.12.
Talks and Lectures
Borges, Robert. 2023-03. Entrenchment and Conventionalization in Language Contact Scenarios. Paper given at the International Conference on Multilingualism and Language Acquisition. University of Helsinki, Finland.
Borges, Robert. 2023-01. Revisiting remote fieldwork: challenges and opportunities. Paper given at the Fieldwork in Anthropology and Linguistics (FAL) workshop: Revisiting Research Practice. Uppsala University.
Gast, Volker & Robert Borges. 2022-09. A triangular translation corpus, and a case study of nominal compounds in English and German. Paper given at the Translation in Transition 6 conference. Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
Borges, Robert. 2022-05. Sourcing Data from Wikipedia for the Study of Language Contact: the csbwiki. Paper given at the Beyond Language 2022 conference. (Online) Wrocław, Poznań, Kraków, Rome, Bucharest.
Borges, Robert. 2022-03. MoReDaT — Modular Remote Data Collection Toolkit. Paper given at the Digital Humanities in the Nordic and Baltic Countries Conference (DHNB 2022). Uppsala University.
Borges, Robert. 2021-06. New Speakers of Minority Languages: emergent grammar and linguistic entrenchment as a catalyst for language change. Paper given at the Institute of Slawic Studies lecture series in Linguistics. Warsaw, Poland.
Borges, Robert. 2021-04. All About Fieldwork. Paper given at the Uppsala Språkvetarsällskap. Uppsala University.
Borges, Robert and Volker Gast. 2021-02. Europarl: A Multimodal Corpus of Parliamentary Speech. Paper given at the Department of English and American Studies regular lecture series. Friedrich Schiller University Jena.
Borges, Robert. 2019-12. Rapid Automatized Picture Naming as a Proficiency Assessment for Endangered Language Contexts: Results from Wilamowice. Paper given at the Hugo Valentin Centre Advanced Lecture Series. Uppsala University.
Borges, Robert. 2019-10. Documenting Language Change: New Speakers, “Language Activism” and Multilingual Practice in Wymysoü and Kaszëbë. Paper given at the Uppsala Language Documentation Group’s Workshop on language documentation: multilingual settings and technological advances. Uppsala University, Uppsala.
Borges, Robert and Margot van den Berg. 2019-10. Automating Corpus Construction for Documentation of Regional Varieties and Multilingual Praxis: Surinamese Dutch in the Parliament. Paper given at the Uppsala Language Documentation Group’s Workshop on language documentation: multilingual settings and technological advances. Uppsala University, Uppsala.
Borges, Robert and Margot van den Berg. 2019-06. Language contact and language choice in parliamentary speech in Suriname. Paper given at the Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics’ summer meeting. University of Lisbon, Lisbon.
Borges, Robert. 2019-05. Wymysorys – Recreating a Speech Community. Paper given at the Uppsala Language Documentation Group's 'Vetenskap på kvällen: Minoritetsspråk i Sverige och världen' [Science in the evening: minority languages in Sweden and the world]. Uppsala University.
Borges, Robert. 2019-01. Automated spoken-language corpus building: code mixing in De Nationale Assemblée. Paper given at the Department of Linguistics and Philology, Working Group for Empirical Linguistics. Uppsala University.
Borges, Robert. 2018-12. Rapid Automatized Picture Naming as a Proficiency Assessment for Endangered Language Contexts: Results from Wilamowice. Paper given at the Department of Linguistics and Philology, Working Group for Empirical Linguistics. Uppsala University.
Borges, Robert. 2018-11. "New Speaker" varieties: documenting language change. Paper given at the Uppsala Language Documentation Group’s "Kickoff" Workshop. Uppsala University.
Borges, Robert. 2018-10. Language acquisition or change...or both?: Gender and case in new speaker varieties of Wymysorys. Paper given at the Institute of Slawic Studies lecture series in Linguistics. Warsaw, Poland.
Borges, Robert. 2018-06. Language contact, proficiency, or “normal” language change: case and gender in New Speaker varieties of Wymysorys. Paper given at the Language Contact Workshop. Uppsala University, Uppsala.
Borges, Robert. 2018-05. From Attitudes to Proficiency and Use: Identity and Language Practices among New Speakers of Wymysorys.. Paper given at the Hugo Valentin Open Lecture Series: "Combatting Language Endangerment and Death". Uppsala University.
Borges, Robert. 2017-11. New Speakers and methodological approaches to measuring the success of revitalization in Wilamowice. Paper given at the Engaged Humanities in Europe: preserving and revitalizing endangered languages and cultural heritage.. Faculty "Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw.
Borges, Robert. 2017-09. The new speakers of Wymysorys: the reconstitution of the local language and sociolinguistic identity in Wilamowice. Paper given at the Hugo Valentin Centre Advanced Lecture Series. Uppsala University.
Chromik, Bartek, Robert Borges, Justyna Olko, Tymoteusz Król. 2017-05. Field School in Wilamowice: seeking a model of collaboration between academia, minority cultures and local communities in support of the revitalization of endangered languages. Paper given at the Minor Cultures in Dialogue: Resisting Homogenization through Exchanging Experiences and Collaboration,. Silesian University in Katowice.
Borges, Robert and Justyna Olko. 2017-05. Locus of Marking in Nahuatl and Spanish: contact-induced morphological change. Paper given at the Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society. University of Chicago.
Borges, Robert and Justyna Olko. 2017-05. Head and Dependent marking in Nahuatl: the influence of Spanish on the morphysyntactic profile of Nahuatl. Paper given at the Northeastern Conference of Nahuatl Studies. Yale University.
Borges, Robert. 2017. Methodological approaches to the study of five centuries of language change in Nahuatl. Paper given at the ENAHUATL2017. Faculty "Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw.
Borges, Robert. 2016-12. Maroon multilingualism in the Guianas: formation of social and geographic language spaces. Paper given at the Language documentation and linguistic diversity, pre-conference session on small-scale multilingualism and linguistic diversity. SOAS, University of London.
Olko, Justyna and Robert Borges. 2016-11. Typological change in Nahuatl. Paper given at the Europe and America: Multiples faces of contact. Faculty "Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw.
Borges, Robert. 2016-09. Cultural contact and fieldworker considerations: anecdotes from fieldwork in Suriname. Paper given at the ENGHUM Fieldschool in Wilamowice. Organized by Faculty "Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw.
Borges, Robert. 2016-05. (Plenary) Beyond words: structural and distributional effects of language contact. Paper given at the Languages in Contact. Highter School of Philology in Wrocław.
Borges, Robert. 2015-07. The problem of Songhay classification as a (post)creole revisited. Paper given at the Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics' summer conference. Graz University.
Borges, Robert. 2015-05. Songhay languages: a post-Creole language family or a genetic explanation?. Paper given at the Guest lecture. Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen.
Borges, Robert. 2015-04. Songhay languages: a post-Creole language family?. Paper given at the Creolistics X. Aarhus University.
Borges, Robert. 2014-10. Creolization and language contact in Suriname. Paper given at the Guest lecture. Highter School of Philology in Wrocław.
Borges, Robert. 2014-09. Amerindian-Maroon interactions in Suriname and the linguistic consequences. Paper given at the Język Kultura Komunikacja [Language, culture and communication]. Opole University of Technology.
Borges, Robert. 2014-06. Kumanti in contact: Creation of a Ritual Vernacular. Paper given at the Guest lecture. CNRS Paris.
Borges, Robert. 2014-05. Ritual Language formation and African Retentions in Suriname: the case of Kumanti. Paper given at the Languages in Contact. University of Wrocław.
Borges, Robert. 2013-08. Creoles and beyond: agents and directionality in the Surinamese contact setting. Paper given at the Special workshop on Creole Languages. Organized by Radboud University Nijmegen.
Borges, Robert. 2012-12. Kumanti: a ritual / spirit language among Suriname’s Ndyuka maroons. Paper given at the Secret and Ritual Language Workshop. Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie Van Wetenschappen [Dutch Royal Institude of Science], Amsterdam.
Borges, Robert. 2012-11. The Dutch Influence on Suriname’s creole languages. Paper given at the Towards a Social Typology of Language Contact and Genesis in the (post-)Colonial Context Using the Example of Overseas Dutch-based Varieties. Free University of Brussels.
Borges, Robert. 2012-10. The role of extralinguistic factors in contact induced language change among Suriname’s maroons. Paper given at the Contact and Convergence in Suriname: Theoretical Approaches and Case Studies. Workshop in the Bijlmermeer organized by Radboud University of Nijmegen.
Borges, Robert. 2012-04. Recreolization of Coppename Kwinti: the influence of adstrate languages on a Surinamese Maroon Creole. Paper given at the Creolistics IX. Aarhus University.
Borges, Robert. 2012-02. Recreolization of Coppename Kwinti: the influence of adstrate languages on a Surinamese Maroon Creole. Paper given at the Language in Time and Space (LiTS) lecture series. Radboud University Nijmegen.
Borges, Robert, Kofi Yakpo and Stanley Hannenberg. 2011-09. Fieldwork In Suriname. Paper given at the Languages in Contact (LinC) Colloquium. Radboud University Nijmegen.
Borges, Robert. 2011-08. Ritual Language formation and African Retentions in Suriname. Paper given at the Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics' conference. University of Ghana.
Borges, Robert. 2011-06. (Poster) Structural (dis)similarity and recipient language agentivity in Suriname. Paper given at the Rethinking Contact induced Change. Leiden University.
Borges, Robert. 2011-05. Field report: data collection in Suriname. Paper given at the Languages in Contact (LinC) Colloquium. Radboud University Nijmegen.
Borges, Robert. 2010-08. Working with a ritual language: Kumanti. Paper given at the Kréyòl: graduate seminar on pidgin and creole linguistics. Workshop in Groesbeek organized by Radboud University Nijmegen.
Borges, Robert. 2010-03. Working with a ritual language: Kumanti. Paper given at the Language in Time and Space (LiTS) lecture series. Radboud University Nijmegen.
Borges, Robert. 2009-11. Kinship semantics and linguistic archaeology: Digging for traces of contact in Suriname. Paper given at the Language in Time and Space (LiTS) lecture series. Radboud University Nijmegen.
Borges, Robert. 2009-07. Kinship semantics and linguistic archaeology: Digging for traces of contact in Suriname. Paper given at the Amazon Fringe Workshop. Workshop in Berg en Daal organized by Radboud University Nijmegen.
Borges, Robert. 2008-11. The Songhay problem: contact or misclassification?. Paper given at the Friday Afternoon Lecture Series in Linguistics. Leiden University.