OLAC Role Vocabulary

Role is an attribute of both the Creator and Contributor elements. (Please note that Dublin Core now discourages the use of the Creator element, recommending that all Role information be associated with Contributor elements.) This document specifies the controlled vocabulary of the Role attribute used by OLAC. This attribute specifies the functional role of the entity named in the creation of a given resource.

Promoted to candidate status, with a call for review by those who have put the document into practice.

This refers to someone who creates a single resource with multiple parts, such as a book of short stories, or a person who produces a corpus of resources, which may be archived separately.

A compiler of a book of short stories or a CD with several songs on it; a collector of a corpus of recordings in some language or on a given topic; a person who assembles a suite of software tools.

This term is commonly used by field linguists for the native speakers who work with them in describing and analyzing a language. They contribute their expertise in their native language to the resource, although their speech, sign, or writing may not appear directly in the resource. In some parts of the world the preferred term for this role is "informant".

A software programmer, designer, or analyst; a designer of a questionnaire or research task.

This role includes anyone whose role was editorial in nature, such as proof-readers, debuggers, testers, etc. It may overlap the Compiler role in some cases.

The choice between 'interpreter' and 'translator' may depend on the dynamics of the resource creation event or process. Generally, if the participant is translating 'live'; that is, while the speaker or signer is speaking or signing, she or he should be identified as an interpreter. Also, some discourse genres include a participant who interprets or explains a performance of some kind.

A person translating from English to ASL during a speech; a Kuna chief who interprets a chant that another chief has just performed, thus completing the ceremony.

This role is intended for minor participants such as audience members or other peripherally-involved participants in the event. These interlocutors need not have been physically present. They could be participants in some form of long-distance communication, such as lurkers in an online discussion, or they may have participated in general sense of having allowed the creation event to take place, such as the mayor of an indigenous community.

It is recommended that this term be used only for creative participants whose role is not better indicated by a more specific term, such as 'speaker', 'signer', or 'singer'.

A person performing a ceremony or delivering an oration or a sermon; native speakers re-enacting a traditional genre of speech, such as ritual greetings or insults; an actor or musician.

This person's voice can be heard (or their words can be read) in the resource, typically saying the language-appropriate equivalent of "uh-huh", "amen", "you don't say", etc. This role is sometimes referred to as a "yes-sayer", "backchanneler, or "co-conversant".

Signers are those whose gestures predominate in a recorded or filmed resource. (This resource may be a transcription of that recording.)

Participants in a recorded conversation, elicitation session, or informal narration would be termed Signers. Audience members who do not participate beyond the occasional backchannel would be termed Responders.

Speakers are those whose voices predominate in a recorded or filmed resource. (This resource may be a transcription of that recording.)

Examples: Participants in a recorded conversation, elicitation session, or informal narration would be termed Speakers. Audience members who do not participate beyond the occasional backchannel would be termed Responders.