ARC Discovery Program Funding Awarded to HCSNet Members for 2009

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This page lists some of the research projects belonging to HCSNet members which received support from the 2009 ARC Discovery Program funding round. These members have agreed to have their HCS-related projects listed here. If you are an awardee of a current or continuing HCS-related research grant and would like to have it listed on our website please let us know at info@hcsnet.edu.au.

 

Projects

 

Doing great things with small languages: Safeguarding Indigenous language material of Australia's region by clever use of new technology

Grant IDDP0984419InstitutionThe University of MelbourneFunding
2009: $122,000
2010: $150,000
2011: $155,000
2012: $167,000
2013: $125,000
RFCDLinguisticsRecipientsDr R Nordlinger; Dr NA Thieberger
Funding BodyARCYear of Award2009
Recording Indigenous languages using the best current techniques means that linguistic research advances while also providing adequate records of those languages for future generations. This project will design research methods that respond to both community needs and the analytical needs of academic linguists. It will also provide detailed linguistic resources for four endangered languages of Australia's region, based on primary fieldwork with the respective language communities.

 

 

Cognitive and neural causes of language impairment in autism

Grant IDDP0984666InstitutionMacquarie UniversityFunding
2009: $88,000
2010: $90,000
2011: $95,000
2012: $100,000
2013: $49,285
RFCDCognitive Science RecipientsDr J Brock; Dr BW Johnson; Dr G McArthur
Funding BodyARCYear of Award2009
Autism is a lifelong disorder affecting the ability to interact and communicate with other people. Despite recent scientific advances, its causes remain poorly understood. This project focuses on causes of language impairment in autism. Our main objective is to produce a coherent account linking language deficits to their underlying cognitive mechanisms and then to functional and structural brain abnormalities. We also aim to determine why some individuals with autism have more severe language impairments than others; and to investigate the overlap between autism and a separate disorder, specific language impairment. The outcomes of this research will significantly improve understanding both of autism and of language impairment in general.

 

 

Stuttering in childhood: Patterns of recovery and persistence

Grant IDDP0984833InstitutionThe University of MelbourneFunding
2009: $115,000
2010: $121,000
2011: $98,000
RFCDClinical SciencesRecipientsA/Prof EL Bavin; Dr SL Block; Mr AP Vogel; Dr O Ukoumunne; Dr PA Eadie; Prof M Prior; A/Prof MA Wake; Dr A Packman; Prof M Onslow; Prof S Reilly
Funding BodyARCYear of Award2009
Stuttering disrupts and prevents normal verbal communication by interfering with social interaction. 1 in 20 Australian children are affected. In our groundbreaking research we documented the onset of stuttering and ascertained that putative risk factors were not associated with onset. Significantly, onset was not associated with shyness or language delay. In our new study we will describe how stuttering progresses into the school years and document the presence of and relationships between stuttering and co-morbid conditions. We will benefit children, parents and health professionals by providing evidence-based information about stuttering and contributing new knowledge of theoretical significance.

 

 

Phonological development in child speakers of mixed language

Grant IDDP0985395InstitutionUniversity of WollongongFunding
2009: $69,804
2010: $69,804
2011: $67,612
2012: $23,137
RFCDLinguisticsRecipientsDr C Jones
Funding BodyARCYear of Award2009
Learning words is easier when their sound system (phonology) is similar to the typical phonology of the learner's native language. Child speakers of mixed language varieties in northern Australian Aboriginal communities are taught English and sometimes traditional languages at school, yet we know little about the sound system of their mixed language and how it relates to these other languages. In this project we describe the phonological similarities and dissimilarities along several dimensions between these languages and investigate the impact on children's ability to learn words in English and traditional languages.

 

 

A new theory of visual word recognition and reading aloud

Grant IDDP0985680InstitutionMacquarie UniversityFunding
2009: $102,000
2010: $90,000
2010: $90,000
RFCDPsychologyRecipientsProf M Coltheart
Funding BodyARCYear of Award2009
The aim of this project is to develop a new theory of how skilled readers recognize the words they see, and how they read aloud. This will be a theory that is written as an actual computer program so that it can be very thoroughly tested. The outcome will be a much deeper understanding of what skilled reading is than currently exists. This will help us understand what children have to learn when they are learning to read, and why some of them find this so hard.

 

 

Expecting the Unexpected: Learning Complex Temporal and Rhythmic Relations

Grant IDDP0986394InstitutionUniversity of Western SydneyFunding
2009: $61,000
2010: $62,000
2011: $63,000
RFCDPsychologyRecipientsDr B Tillmann; A/Prof CJ Stevens; Dr PE Keller
Funding BodyARCYear of Award2009
Learning to anticipate events as they occur in time is fundamental to human behaviour. We investigate plasticity of the adult cognitive system to acquire new, culturally unfamiliar temporal relations. Cross-cultural music provides the basis for construction of controlled material for presentation of complex rhythms and metres. Hypotheses include that: knowledge of unfamiliar uneven metres can be acquired by implicit learning; rhythm production facilitates development of temporal expectancies; exposure to new metres in music generalizes to improved segmentation of related metrical structures in unfamiliar spoken language. Implicit learning represents one way that music promotes inter-cultural contact and understanding.

 

 

Comprehensive support for collaborative writing: Visualising argument, text and process structures

Grant IDDP0986873InstitutionThe University of SydneyFunding
2009: $110,000
2010: $80,000
2011: $80,000
RFCDEducation StudiesRecipientsDr RA Calvo; Dr K Yacef; Prof P Reimann
Funding BodyARCYear of Award2009
This project aims to develop a comprehensive support system for computer-mediated collaborative writing (CW) and to assess the impact of three kinds of scaffolds and feedback on the process and outcomes of CW. Feedback will be assessed on the argument structure, features of the text, and on the process of writing. Software tools to provide the scaffolding, and algorithms to calculate the respective information will be tested and integrated into a web-based writing platform. Visualisations will be developed to convey feedback to the users. Empirical studies will assess the effect of the scaffolds and visualisations on the writing process, the writing outcome (document quality), and team parameters such as satisfaction with the team process.

 

 

Talking with Robots: Evolving Grounded Language for Embodied Agents

Grant IDDP0987078InstitutionThe University of QueenslandFunding
2009: $70,000
2010: $65,000
2011: $65,000
RFCDArtificial Intelligence and Signal and Image Processing RecipientsProf J Wiles; Dr GF Wyeth
Funding BodyARCYear of Award2009
This project develops new methods for interaction with intelligent robots, extending robot-friendly languages in the service of shared tasks. Our robots can currently evolve shared languages to describe locations in space (toponyms) and use simple syntax to refer to places beyond the robots' individual experiences. The new project will extend the methodology to evolve a comprehensive language with 1000 meaningful and useful words for real world objects, places, actions, attributes and relationships, and sufficient syntax to complete shared tasks. The outcomes represent a frontier technology for the growing robotics industry, and breakthrough science for language researchers in our understanding of comprehensive grounded languages.

 

 

Parametric coding of acoustic fields using models of auditory sensitivity

Grant IDDP0987721InstitutionThe University of New South WalesFunding
2009: $120,000
2010: $60,000
2011: $30,000
RFCDArtificial Intelligence and Signal and Image ProcessingRecipientsDr D Sen
Funding BodyARCYear of Award2009
The aim of this project is to compress a parametric representation of acoustic fields, acquired from microphone arrays. The parameters - chosen for their compactness and completeness - are the Fourier-Bessel coefficients, which arise naturally from representing the 3D wave equation as a series expansion using orthogonal basis functions. The superiority and novelty of the proposed approach is due to its foundation in fundamental acoustics. The absence of this foundation in existing coding systems contributes directly to their flawed ability to render accurate spatial audio. Benefitting applications include consumer audio systems, distance education, remote health management and surveillance - thus addressing several National Priority areas.

 

 

Online linguistic exploration: deeper, faster, broader language documentation

Grant IDDP0988242InstitutionThe University of MelbourneFunding
2009: $57,000
2010: $59,000
2011: $60,000
RFCDLinguisticsRecipientsDr TJ Baldwin; A/Prof S Bird
Funding BodyARCYear of Award2009
This project will investigate the workflow of data-intensive linguistics. We will develop models for online grammar development and parsing, and automatically construct a database of over 100 million words of parsed web text in a dozen languages. The research will build on recent work on grammar engineering, statistical parsing, and efficient storage, indexing and query of linguistic databases.