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LaTeX code for American and French Research for the Treasury of the French Language (ARTFL) Project

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	\item \hyperlink{Project_Overview}{1Project Overview}
	\item \hyperlink{History}{2History}
	\item \hyperlink{Purpose_.2F_Audience}{3Purpose / Audience}
	\item \hyperlink{Technologies}{4Technologies}
	\item \hyperlink{References}{5References}
	\item \hyperlink{External_Links}{6External Links}

\subsection{Project Overview}\href{/index.php/File:ARTFL_Website_2010.jpg}{
\includegraphics{/skins/common/images/magnify-clip.png}}Image of ARTFL HomepageThe \href{}{American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language Project} (ARTFL) is the extension of the \textit{Tr??sor de la Langue Fran??aise} (TLF), a database, conceived in 1957 by the French Government, of French texts from the seventeenth through to the twentieth century???s. It was initially built to produce a new dictionary of words, but was later extended to be a database of texts as well. In 1981 the ARTFL project was established by the cooperation of the \href{}{University of Chicago} and the \href{}{\textit{Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique}}, which would oversee the database going online. It has since been available, by subscription, to scholars, researchers, and students all around the world.

The ARTFL project's main corpus, the \href{}{ARTFL-FRANTEXT} database, currently contains nearly 3,000 pieces of work from the last four century???s of French writing, equating to well over 15 Million words. Accompanying the database is a proprietary search tool called \href{}{PhiloLogic} (now hosted by \href{}{Google}, via \href{}{Google Sites}), which was designed to navigate the wealth of texts with relative ease, but also pay homage to the initial intent of the TLF. Other databases available for subscription by the ARTFL project now include, among others, a \href{}{French Women Writers} database, a \href{}{\textit{Proven??al Poetry}} database, as well the \href{}{\textit{Textes de Fran??ais Ancien}} (TFA): a database containing works from the twelfth though to the fifteenth century. A full list of the \href{}{ARTFL databases} and their descriptions can be found on the ARTFL website.

	\item  to include a variety of texts so as to make the database as versatile as possible;
	\item  to create a system that would be easily accessible to the research community;
	\item  to provide researchers with an easy-to-use but effective tool;



The ARTFL project, as it is exists today, began in 1981 as a cooperative project establishment between the \href{}{\textit{Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique}} and the \href{}{University of Chicago}. Its roots, however, date back to 1957, when the French Government held an international colloquium at \textit{Centre de Phililogie Romane of the Facult?? des Lettres} at Strasbourg. It was initiated, after much stressing by lexicographers led by Paul Imbs, that a new dictionary, under the project name \textit{Tr??sor de la Langue Fran??aise}, would be created and that it would be comprehensive in both its synchronic and its diachronic dimensions (Morrissey, 1993, p 93). The government decided that the best way to compile all of the words samples for the new dictionary was to transcribe an extensive selection of French texts for use with a computer. A daunting task, certainly, but also extremely forward thinking, given the first French built computers had only first been made available as little as two years prior (Monier-Kuhn, 1990). Regardless, during its creation, the team responsible for implementing the TLF oversaw the transcription of nearly 1,500 works from the eighteenth through to twentieth century???s, though only a modern (nineteenth and twentieth century) version would be produced, with plans for the previous century version set aside for a later date. What resulted was, perhaps, a lexicographers dream, but a logistical nightmare for everyone else involved. Once it was decided that the appropriate number of works from the modern centuries had be transcribed, the team was able to make relatively limited use of the TLF: they proceeded to generate one giant printed concordance the two modern centuries filling a large room at the headquarters in Nancy with a bound volume of word occurrences and their three line context (Morrissey, 1993, p 93). If a lexicographer desired more context, they could visit a larger room with a matching ???\textit{fiche-texte}:??? an oversized file card with 18 lines of context, or if they were really in need of context, the basement of the building housed typed editions of the works. As it would turn out, many of those who desired the latter amount of context for a word ended up referring to the regular published edition of the text instead.

Surprisingly (or perhaps not given the French obsession with their treasured language), despite constant criticism from the research community in France, the TLC was maintained (and funded) more as a large collection of machine readable text???s than a functional dictionary. Finally in the late 70???s its director, Paul Imbs, was succeeded by Bernard Qu??mada, who ???wished to modernize the technology and open up use of the database to a wider research community and for projects other than the creation of a dictionary??? (Morrissey, 1993, p 94). The TLF was absorbed by the \textit{Institute National de Langue Fran??aise} (INaLF), which would use the technology in ???many aspects of linguistic analysis, distribution of electronic texts, and the creation of dictionary of Middle French??? (Morrissey, 1993, p 94). Unfortunately, it was also about this time that the TLF was starting to show its age and had trouble responding to newer challenges, particularly the issue of providing greater access to the database. As luck would have it, a group of scholars from the University of Chicago were working at the research center for the TLF. Conversations ensued, and the result was the ARTFL project, which mandated to make the TLF corpus available in North America and to develop facilities for querying the database. A few years later, in 1981, ???three members of the INaLF arrived in Chicago, computer tapes in hand??? (Morrissey, 1993, p 94).

Limited technology, by standards of the time, made storing the database online far too costly. Early versions of the database query tools were unfortunately unwieldy as they only allowed access to only a few texts at a time. However, by the mid 1990???s storage techniques and information networks made it possible to not only store the entire database online, but also allow researchers an opportunity to expand it. By the turn of the century, over 2,700 texts populated the ever expanding \href{}{ARTFL-FRANTEXT} database, and the entire system was entirely available on-line with much easier-to-use navigation software, known as \href{}{PhiloLogic}, was designed and implemented.\hypertarget{Purpose_.2F_Audience}{}

\subsection{Purpose / Audience}\href{/index.php/File:ARTFL_TLF_Output.jpg}{


The ARTFL project ??? or rather the TLF before it, was always conceived as being a project involving computers. The computers of the time in France, having been only conceived and delivered two years prior, would likely have had vacuum tubes, with electrical line or ferrite core working memory able to store anywhere from 60 to 256 words, and a backup storage drum able to hold anywhere from 2,000 to 32,000 words depending on the model. Clock speeds would have been in the 100???s of kHz and likely would not have exceeded even half a MHz. The input systems for computers of the time period were almost certainly punch cards, which meant a user would first need to produce the punch card for a text, and then have it fed into the system. For output, a user could make use of either an electronic printer known as a ???\textit{Num??rograph},??? ???\textit{fiche-texte},??? or reels of computer punched tape that only another computer could then read (Mounier-Kouhn, 1990).



Robare, Lori, and Joni Roberts. "ARTFL Project." College \& Research Libraries News 61, no. 10 (November 2000): 942. Education Research Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed September 24, 2010).



Wolff, M. "Poststructuralism and the ARTFL Database: Some Theoretical Considerations." INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LIBRARIES 13, no. 1 (1994): 35. British Library Document Supply Centre Inside Serials \& Conference Proceedings, EBSCOhost (accessed September 24, 2010).\hypertarget{External_Links}{}

\subsection{External Links}

\href{}{American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language Project} (ARTFL) - Home Page

\href{}{ARTFL Database} - University of Alberta Access

\href{}{University of Chicago} - Homepage

\href{}{\textit{Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique}} - Homepage

\href{}{PhiloLogic} Old Homepage

\href{}{PhiloLogic} - New Homepage

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