In this chapter, based on Prys et al. (2022), an update to the META-NET White Paper (Evas 2014), we present Language Technology (LT) for the Welsh language, providing an overview of the status of Welsh in Wales and a summary of the Welsh writing system and typology. We describe key tools and our recommendations for Welsh LT and associated resource development.
BackgroundA strong consensus exists for a systematic approach to linguistic validation of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) and discrete methods for assessing their psychometric properties. Despite the need for robust evidence of the appropriateness of measures, transition from linguistic to psychometric validation is poorly documented or evidenced. This paper demonstrates the importance of linking linguistic and psychometric testing through a purposeful stage which bridges the gap between translation and large-scale validation.FindingsEvidence is drawn from a study to develop a Welsh language version of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and investigate its psychometric properties. The BDI-II was translated into Welsh then administered to Welsh-speaking university students (n = 115) and patients with depression (n = 37) concurrent with the English BDI-II, and alongside other established depression and quality of life measures. A Welsh version of the BDI-II was produced that, on administration, showed conceptual equivalence with the original measure; high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.90; 0.96); item homogeneity; adequate correlation with the English BDI-II (r = 0.96; 0.94) and additional measures; and a two-factor structure with one overriding dimension. Nevertheless, in the student sample, the Welsh version showed a significantly lower overall mean than the English (p = 0.002); and significant differences in six mean item scores. This prompted a review and refinement of the translated measure.ConclusionsExploring potential sources of bias in translated measures represents a critical step in the translation-validation process, which until now has been largely underutilised. This paper offers important findings that inform advanced methods of cross-cultural validation of PROMs.
This paper describes the on-going project on Digitization, E-publishing and Electronic Corpus (DECHE). It also describes the building of a common infrastructure and portal for displaying and disseminating other Welsh language and bilingual Welsh/English text corpora. An overview is given of other corpora included in the on-line corpus portal, as well as corpora intended for future publication through the portal site. This is done within the context of developing resources frugally and efficiently for less-resourced languages.
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