DOCSLIB.ORG

LARA in the Service of Revivalistics and Documentary Linguistics

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
LARA in the Service of Revivalistics and Documentary Linguistics LARA in the Service of Revivalistics and Documentary Linguistics: Community Engagement and Endangered Languages∗ Ghil‘ad Zuckermann Sigurður Vigfússon The University of Adelaide The Communication Centre for the Deaf Australia and Hard of Hearing, Iceland [email protected] [email protected] Manny Rayner Neasa Ní Chiaráin FTI/TIM, University of Geneva Trinity College, Dublin Switzerland Ireland [email protected] [email protected] Nedelina Ivanova Hanieh Habibi The Communication Centre for the Deaf FTI/TIM, University of Geneva and Hard of Hearing, Iceland Switzerland [email protected] [email protected] Branislav Bédi The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, Iceland [email protected] Abstract under threat. Given a particular language we care about, what can we do to improve its prospects? We argue that LARA, a new web platform that supports easy conversion of text into an on- To underline our commitment to this positive line multimedia form designed to support non- perspective, we will situate the discussion within native readers, is a good match to the task of the emerging trandisciplinary field of Revivalis- creating high-quality resources useful for lan- tics (Zuckermann, 2020), a neologism which com- guages in the revivalistics spectrum. We illus- bines the notions of “revival” and “linguistics”. trate with initial case studies in three widely This in no way should be read as playing down different endangered/revival languages: Irish (Gaelic); Icelandic Sign Language (ÍTM); and the importance of language documentation, which Barngarla, a reclaimed Australian Aboriginal for obvious reasons is an essential component of language. The exposition is presented from a the enterprise. Rather, we want to view documen- language community perspective. Links are tary linguistics through a revivalistic lens, docu- given to examples of LARA resources con- menting the language so that the material we pro- structed for each language. duce can directly help community members who are trying to strengthen their linguistic abilities but 1 Introduction may not be linguistically sophisticated. In this pa- When talking about languages with small, shrink- per, we argue that LARA (Learning And Reading ing or non-existent speaker bases, we can adopt a Assistant; (Akhlaghi et al., 2019)), an open source positive or a negative attitude. If we say “endan- web platform that supports easy conversion of text gered” or “dead” languages, the terms predisposes into multimodal form, offers functionality that fits us towards a negative, deficit point of view: per- surprisingly well with the goals of revivalistics, haps the most important thing is to try to document and makes available a plethora of possibilities for the language as well as we can while information rapid creation of useful online teaching materials. about it is still available. In this paper, we will In the rest of the paper, we start in §2 by giving in contrast accentuate the positive. All languages, a brief introduction to revivalistics, as here con- except those where 100% of the children in the ceptualised, and to LARA. In §§3–5, we present relevant group grow up speaking the language, are case studies showing how we have used LARA *∗ Authors in reverse alphabetical order. to construct resources for three widely different 13 Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on the Use of Computational Methods in the Study of Endangered Languages: Vol. 1 Papers, pages 13–23, Online, March 2–3, 2021. endangered/Sleeping Beauty (“dead”) languages: The basic approach is in line with Krashen’s in- Irish (Gaelic); Icelandic Sign Language (ÍTM); fluential Theory of Input (Krashen, 1982), sug- and Barngarla, a reclaimed Australian Aboriginal gesting that language learning proceeds most suc- language. The final section concludes and outlines cessfully when learners are presented with inter- ongoing work. esting and comprehensible L2 material in a low- anxiety situation. LARA implements this ab- 2 Background: Revivalistics and LARA stract programme by providing concrete assistance to L2 learners, making texts more comprehensi- 2.1 Revivalistics ble to help them develop their reading, vocab- Revivalistics is defined by Zuckermann (2020) ulary and listening skills. In particular, LARA as “a new global, trans-disciplinary field of en- texts include translations and human-recorded au- quiry surrounding language reclamation, revital- dio (video, in the case of sign languages) attached ization and reinvigoration”. Zuckermann consid- to words and sentences, and a personalised concor- ers these terms as different points on a “revival dance constructed from the learner’s reading his- cline or spectrum”. Here, Reclamation is the tory. An important point is that the concordance revival of a no-longer spoken language (“Sleep- is organised by lemma, rather than by surface ing/Dreaming Beauty”), the best-known case be- form; this requires the LARA text to be marked ing Hebrew; Revitalization is the revival of a up so that each word is annotated with its associ- severely endangered language, for example Ad- ated lemma, a process which for many languages nyamathanha of the Flinders Ranges in Australia; can be performed semi-automatically with an in- and Reinvigoration is the revival of an endan- tegrated third-party tagger/lemmatizer doing most gered language that still has children speaking it, of the work (Akhlaghi et al., 2020). for example the Celtic languages Irish and Welsh. From the user perspective, the consequence of Zuckermann argues at length that it is helpful to the above is that the learner, just by clicking or adopt a broad perspective, both when consider- hovering on a word, is always in a position to an- ing the above as instances of a single set of is- swer three questions: what does it mean, what sues, and when considering revivalistics as an in- does it sound like (look like, in the case of sign herently trans-disciplinary field of inquiry, which languages), and where have I seen some form of by its nature involves not only linguistics and lan- the word before. Figure1 shows an example for an guage technology but also anthropology, sociol- Irish text. Students can test their knowledge of a ogy, politics, law, mental health and other disci- text using several kinds of automatically generated plines. To help a language that is under threat, it is flashcards, with a new set of flashcards created on necessary to consider why it is under threat, what each run (Bédi et al., 2020). the consequences are for the (current and poten- tial) speakers of the language, what their motiva- Related platforms, from which the project has tion is, if any, for wanting to strengthen the lan- adapted some ideas, include Learning With Text3 guage, and what in practice can be done. and Clilstore4. The LARA tools are accessed In this paper, we will be most immediately con- through a free portal, divided into two layers. The cerned with language and language technology, core LARA engine consists of a suite of Python but the other aspects are also implicitly present. modules, which can also be run stand-alone from the command-line; on top, there is a web layer 2.2 LARA implemented in PHP. Comprehensive online doc- umentation is available (Rayner et al., 2020). LARA1 (Learning and Reading Assistant) is a collaborative open source2 project, active since In the following sections, we describe how mid-2018, whose goal is to develop tools that LARA is being used to create resources for the support conversion of plain texts into an interac- three languages which are our main focus in this tive multimedia form designed to support devel- paper. opment of L2 language skills by reading online. 1https://www:unige:ch/callector/lara/ 2https://sourceforge:net/projects/ 3https://sourceforge:net/projects/lwt/ callector-lara/ 4http://multidict:net/clilstore/ 14 Figure 1: Example of Irish LARA content, Fairceallach Fhinn Mhic Cumhaill, (‘Fionn’s burly friend’). A ‘play all’ audio button function is included at the top of the page to enable the listener to hear the entire story in one go (1). The text and images are in the pane on the left hand side. Clicking on a word displays information about it in the right hand pane. Here, the user has clicked on bhí = “to be (past tense)” (2), showing an automatically generated concordance; the lemma bí; and every variation of bí that is in this text (3). Hovering the mouse over a word plays audio and shows a popup translation at word-level. Clicking on a loudspeaker plays audio for the entire sentence as well as showing a popup translation (4). The back-arrows (5) link each line in the concordance to its context of occurrence. A link to the document can be found on the LARA content page. 3 Irish (Gaelic) language teaching in this context poses numerous challenges. Some are discussed here, as a pre- 3.1 The context lude to discussion of how LARA can help address Irish belongs to the Goidelic branch of the Celtic them. languages. It is community language spoken in relatively small regions (Gaeltacht regions), pri- 3.2 Challenges in the teaching of Irish marily in the West of Ireland, with daily speaker A major challenge is that the teachers are typ- numbers of about 20,586, or 0.43% of the Irish ically second language learners themselves, and population (CSO, 2016). Note, however, that there their own command of the language (or their con- are no monolingual communities, and even in the fidence in it) can be problematic. Teachers of- Gaeltacht, English is increasingly dominant. Out- ten feel overburdened with the major responsibil- side these rather small and scattered communities, ity placed on them in the revitalisation and main- Irish is spoken as a first language in individual tenance initiative, but report inadequate resources households, mostly in urban areas.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 2019 Magazine
    T h e R o b e rt A . A n d S A n d ra S . b o R n S J ew i S h S T u d i e S P Ro g ra m Annual Magazine I Volume 47 I Fall 2019 From the Director “Continuity and change” might serve as the title for almost any year in the life of a Jewish Studies Program (JSP). Every year, we bid a sad farewell to wonderful graduating majors — like our remarkable seniors Harry Aaronson, Michelle Bennett, Naomi Farahan, Jordan Schiff and Margo Wagner. And every year, we are excited at the prospect of new majors entering the program; this fall, we’re particularly pleased that eight talented young individuals — many of them supported with generous scholarships — will be joining the JS B.A. class of 2023 from all over the USA, from Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Nebraska, and Washington. But this year, “continuity and change” has a deeper resonance for the Program than usual. I can’t think of a stronger symbol of continuity than our celebration of Alvin Rosenfeld’s 50 years at IU. To prepare my remarks for the event, generously hosted by Sandra and Bob Borns in the gorgeous Grand Hall at Union Station – Crowne Plaza in Indianapolis, I looked back through the JS archives. I was struck again by what a remarkable achievement it was to invent this world-leading program in south central Indiana. Of course, it wasn’t Alvin’s work alone – many friends, donors, faculty, and staff played a part — and in April, so many of them were on Mark Roseman hand to share in the moment and to witness President Michael McRobbie bestowing on our founding director the President’s Medal for Excellence, IU’s most prestigious award.
    [Show full text]
  • Publications for Michael Walsh 2019 2018 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008
    Publications for Michael Walsh 2019 2012 Sivak, L., Westhead, S., Richards, E., Atkinson, S., Richards, J., Walsh, M. (2012). The Murinyapata Language of North-West Dare, H., Zuckermann, G., Gee, G., Wright, M., Rosen, A., Australia. Muenchen,Germany: Lincom-Europa. <a Walsh, M., et al (2019). "Language Breathes Life"- Barngarla href="http://lincom-shop.eu/epages/57709feb-b889-4707-b2ce- Community Perspectives on the Wellbeing Impacts of c666fc88085d.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/57709feb-b889- Reclaiming a Dormant Australian Aboriginal Language. 4707-b2ce- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public c666fc88085d/Products/%22ISBN%209783862880942%22">[ Health, 16(20), 1-17. <a More Information]</a> href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203918">[More Information]</a> 2011 2018 Walsh, M. (2011). A Neo-Colonial Farce? Discourses of Deficit in Australian Aboriginal Land Claim and Native Title Cases. In Walsh, M. (2018). 'Language is like food..': Links between Christopher N. Candlin and Jonathan Crichton (Eds.), language revitalization and health and well-being. In Leanne Discourses of Deficit, (pp. 327-346). Basingstoke: Palgrave Hinton, Leena Huss and Gerald Roche (Eds.), The Routledge Macmillan. <a Handbook of Language Revitalization, (pp. 5-12). New York: href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230299023_18">[More Routledge. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315561271- Information]</a> 2">[More Information]</a> Zuckermann, G., Walsh, M. (2011). Stop, Revive, Survive: 2016 Lessons from the Hebrew Revival Applicable to the Reclamation, Maintenance and Empowerment of Aboriginal Walsh, M. (2016). Introduced Personal Names for Australian Languages and Cultures. Australian Journal of Linguistics, Aborigines: Adaptations to an Exotic Anthroponymy. In Guy 31(1), 111-127.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Contents Editor's Welcome 2 AAJS Executives Directory 3 Gilman
    Contents Editor’s Welcome 2 AAJS Executives Directory 3 Gilman Announced as AAJS Keynote Speaker 4 AAJS Conference Registration Forms 5-6 In Memoriam: Professor Colin Tatz OA 7 Report: Australasian Association of Holocaust Organisations (AAHO) Conference 7-8 Zuckermann’s New Revivalistic Release 9-10 Hebrew Video Pilot a Strategic Education Winner 10 Twentieth Anniversary of the Freilich Project, ANU 11 Jewish Studies Teaching Excellence Award Success at Sydney University 12 AAJS Member Essay: 13-16 Vacancies in Jewish Studies 17-18 Upcoming Conferences & Calls for Papers 18-19 Grants & Other Opportunities 20-21 Recent Books of Interest 22-24 Call for Submissions, AAJS Newsletter No 76 20 1 Editor’s Welcome publications to special events and teaching Welcome to the last 2019 AAJS Newsletter accolades. Reports are offered from several issue: a Chag Chanukah Sameach to all recent events. Our member essay is from members! The Australian summer is in full Patrick Casiano (Universities of Munich and swing, our 2020 Conference presenters are Tel Aviv), a Yiddish translator and language hard at work on their papers, and with teacher, who shares a story he uncovered in his research and translated on the bushfire season upon us early here in transmission of Yiddish into Ethiopia in the Australia, and at extreme levels in many parts 1960s. of the country, we hope fervently that our members remain safe and free from disaster. For those using the summer to seek new opportunities to develop their research and Planning for our 32nd annual Australian career this summer, we include details of new Association for Jewish Studies conference, to vacancies in Jewish studies, including be held in February 2020 at the Sydney Jewish postdoctoral schemes, Assistant Museum, is well under way.
    [Show full text]
  • Considerations for Non-Dominant Language Education in the Global South
    FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education Vol. 5, Iss. 3, 2019, pp. 12-28 LANGUAGE-IN-EDUCATION POLICIES AND INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION EFFORTS IN CANADA: CONSIDERATIONS FOR NON-DOMINANT LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH Onowa McIvor1 University of Victoria, Canada Jessica Ball University of Victoria, Canada Abstract Indigenous languages are struggling for breath in the Global North. In Canada, Indigenous language medium schools and early childhood programs remain independent and marginalized. Despite government commitments, there is little support for Indigenous language-in-education policy and initiatives. This article describes an inaugural, country- wide, federally-funded, Indigenous-led language revitalization research project, entitled NE OL EW̱ (one mind-one people). The project brings together nine Indigenous partners to build a country-wide network and momentum to pressure multi-levels of government to honourȾ agreementsṈ enshrining the right of children to learn their Indigenous language. The project is documenting approaches to create new Indigenous language speakers, focusing on adult language learners able to keep the language vibrant and teach their language to children. The article reflects upon how this Northern emphasis on Indigenous language revitalization and country-wide networking initiative is relevant to mother tongue-based education and policy examples in the Global South. The article underscores the need for both community level initiatives (top-down) and government level policy and funding (bottom up) to support child and adult Indigenous language learning. Keywords: Indigenous language practices, language-in-education policies, policy reform, First Nations, Indigenous, Canada, Global North, Global South 1 Correspondence: Dr. Onowa McIvor, C/O Dept. of Indigenous Education, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria BC V8W 2Y2; Email: [email protected] O.
    [Show full text]
  • Academic Journal Modern Philology
    ACADEMIC JOURNAL OF MODERN PHILOLOGY ACADEMIC JOURNAL MODERN PHILOLOGY OF Justyna Alnajjar, Sieci komunikacji w korporacjach w ujęciu lingwistyczny / 7 e-ISSN 2353–3218 ISSN 2299–7164 Vol. 7 (2018) Miguel Luis Poveda Balbuena, Origins of the French lexical borrowings in late Middle English weaponry / 21 Magdalena Bator, Marta Sylwanowicz, Early English Recipes—Development of the Text Type / 29 Katarzyna Buczek, Germanic Women in the Eyes of Law / 55 Zuzanna Bułat Silva, Gamilaraay, a Sleeping Language of New South Wales, Australia / 67 Academic Rafael Jiménez Cataño, Social Virtues in Taking Care of the Image of Others / 79 Anna Ciechanowska, On Zoosemic Tendencies in the Vocabulary of Prison Slang / 89 Aleksandra Deskur, „Wielka teoria piśmienności” – podstawowe założenia, krytyka i problemy metodologiczne / 109 Ewa Kębłowska-Ławniczak, From Peritext to Text: Constructing Authorship in David Journal Hare’s Selected Plays / 119 Prezi, Ịzọn narratives: Nengi-Ilagha’s Condolences, and Okara’s The Voice and “Little Snake and Little Frog” / 131 Matthias Urban, Towards a Semantically Organized Meaning List for Cognate Searches / 141 Ewa Ziomek, Sinister Vision of the Future in the TV Series Black Mirror / 159 of Piotr P. Chruszczewski, RECENZJA• Gaude, Mater Polonia? • Emilia Wąsikiewicz-Firlej. On (De)constructing Corporate Identity • Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM: Poznań, 2017 / 167 Dominik Dworniczak, Classics have another quality too (…) they do not need to be true – o rewizjonizmie Williama Doyle’a / 179 Katarzyna Łobaza, Zróżnicowane i niedookreślone funkcje animatorów społeczno- kulturalnych / 195 Alan Żukowski, Autonomicznym Systemie Responsywnym – perspektywa Modern postmodernistyczna / 203 Philology Academic Journal Polish Academy of Modern of Sciences KOMISJA KOLEGIUM Philology NAUK MIĘDZYOBSZAROWYCH Wroclaw Branch FILOLOGICZNYCH STUDIÓW INDYWIDUALNYCH Academic Journal of Modern Philology Academic Journal of Modern Philology ISSN 2299-7164 Vol.
    [Show full text]
  • La Terminologia Nella Traduzione Istituzionale: Il Caso Di Termcoord.Eu (Terminology Coordination Unit – European Parliament)
    La terminologia nella traduzione istituzionale: il caso di TermCoord.eu (Terminology Coordination Unit – European Parliament) Rossella Ferraro Milano, 2016 Indice Introduzione 3 Capitolo 1 Il sito TermCoord: per un’analisi dei contenuti tematici Introduzione 5 1.1 Traduzione e terminologia in ambito UE: conferenze e seminari 5 1.1.1 IATE 11 1.1.2 Multilinguismo 12 1.1.3 Neologismi 13 1.1.4 Traduzione 14 1.2 Interviste a specialisti di terminologia 19 1.3 Lingua e linguistica: consulenze e approfondimenti per il traduttore/terminologo 32 1.3.1 Lingua inglese 38 1.3.2 Neologismi 40 1.3.3 Preservazione lingue minoritarie 41 1.3.4 Varianti linguistiche 42 1.3.5 Video Fix 44 1.4 Formazione in terminologia 48 1.4.1 Collaborazioni universitarie 57 Capitolo 2 Il sito TermCoord: pratiche e applicazioni per la terminologia e la traduzione specialistica Introduzione 59 2.1 Traduzione, CAT tools e mediazione culturale 59 2.1.1 Traduzione automatica 70 2.2 Database terminologici 74 2.2.1 Inter-active Terminology for Europe 79 2.3 I glossari 82 2.3.1 Nuove proposte 88 2.4 Dalla site map alle analisi svolte 90 Capitolo 3 IATE Term of the Week: da un corpus a un glossario 1 3.1 Nascita del database terminologico 93 3.2 Iate Term of the Week 95 3.3 Il glossario 96 3.4 Analisi dei dati censiti 115 Capitolo 4 Le interviste ai protagonisti di TermCoord Introduzione 116 4.1 Term extraction 117 4.1.1 IATE 118 4.1.2 Validazione e definizioni 119 4.1.3 Proactive terminology 120 4.2 La comunicazione e la scelta dei contenuti in TermCoord 120 4.2.1 Le interviste 121 4.3 L’importanza della terminologia al Parlamento Europeo 122 4.3.1 L’attività di TermCoord 123 4.3.2 EurTerm 125 4.4 I supporti tecnologici per la traduzione 128 4.5 Trainees’ terminology projects 130 Conclusioni 132 Bibliografia 134 2 Introduzione Il sito web del Parlamento Europeo TermCoord.eu è lo strumento di promozione e divulgazione dell’attività della Terminology Coordination Unit, che opera presso la sede dell’Unione Europea a Lussemburgo.
    [Show full text]
  • Revivalistics Is Not Documentary Linguistics
    ISSN 2335-2019 (Print), ISSN 2335-2027 (Online) Darnioji daugiakalbystė | Sustainable Multilingualism | 18/2021 https://doi.org/10.2478/sm-2021-0001 Ghil’ad Zuckermann University of Adelaide, Australia REVIVALISTICS IS NOT DOCUMENTARY LINGUISTICS Summary. This article introduces a new field of enquiry called revivalistics, and explores its trans-disciplinarity and various ethical, aesthetic and utilitarian benefits. Revivalistics is an emerging global, trans-disciplinary field of enquiry studying comparatively and systematically the universal constraints and global mechanisms on the one hand (Zuckermann, 2003; 2009; 2020), and particularistic peculiarities and cultural relativist idiosyncrasies on the other, apparent in linguistic reclamation, revitalization and reinvigoration across various sociological backgrounds, all over the globe (Zuckermann, 2020; Zuckermann & Walsh, 2011; 2014). The article focuses on the crucial differences between revivalistics and documentary linguistics. It provides examples from the field that demonstrate the complexity of the revivalist’s work and how the revivalist’s work is distinct from that of the documentary linguist. Too many documentary linguists mislead themselves to believe that they can easily be revivalists too. But there are two crucial differences between revivalistics and documentary linguistics, which are at war between themselves: (1) Whereas documentary linguists put the language at the centre, revivalists put the language custodians at the centre. (2) Whereas in documentary linguistics the Indigenous/minority people have the knowledge of the language, in revivalistics the revivalist is the one with that knowledge. Given that the Aboriginal/minority people are the language custodians, and given that the language custodians are at the centre of the revivalistic enterprise, the revivalist must be extremely sensitive.
    [Show full text]
  • PROFESSOR GHIL'ad ZUCKERMANN Prof of Linguistics & Endangered Languages School of Humanities Faculty of Arts
    PROFESSOR GHIL'AD ZUCKERMANN Prof of Linguistics & Endangered Languages School of Humanities Faculty of Arts Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability. Professor Ghil'ad Zuckermann, D.Phil. (Oxon.), Ph.D. (Cantab.) (titular), is Chair of Linguistics and Endangered Languages, a tenured Full Professor (Level E), at the University of Adelaide. He is chief investigator in an NHMRC project assessing the correlation between language revival and mental health. He is a leading expert of (1) Revivalistics, a new trans-disciplinary field of enquiry surrounding language reclamation (e.g. Barngarla), revitalization (e.g. Adnyamathanha) and reinvigoration (e.g. Irish), (2) the study of language, culture, identity and wellbeing, (3) multiple causation, cross-fertilization and horizontal gene transfer in languages, (4) contact linguistics, (5) sources of lexical expansion and camouflaged borrowing, and (6) lexicography. Professor Zuckermann is the President of the Australian Association for Jewish Studies (AAJS) (2017-) and past President of the Australasian Association for Lexicography (AUSTRALEX) (2013-2015). Professor Zuckermann is the author of "Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond" (Oxford University Press, New York, 2020) (ISBN 978–0–19–981279–0 (pbk), ISBN 978–0–19–981277–6 (hbk); https://global.oup.com/academic/product/revivalistics- 9780199812790?lang=en&cc=us ; 30% Discount Promo Code: AAFLYG6), the revolutionary bestseller "Israelit Safa Yafa" (Israeli - A Beautiful Language) (ISBN: 978-965-13-1963-1, Am Oved, Tel Aviv, 2008, and "Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew" (ISBN: 1-4039-1723-X, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003). Professor Zuckermann has been Distinguished Visiting Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China), Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel) and Middlebury College (Vermont, USA).
    [Show full text]
  • Decolonising Speech and Language Technology
    Decolonising Speech and Language Technology Steven Bird Northern Institute Charles Darwin University Abstract After generations of exploitation, Indigenous people often respond negatively to the idea that their languages are data ready for the taking. By treating Indigenous knowledge as a commodity, speech and language technologists risk disenfranchising local knowledge authorities, reenact- ing the causes of language endangerment. Scholars in related fields have responded to calls for decolonisation, and we in the speech and language technology community need to follow suit, and explore what this means for our practices that involve Indigenous languages and the communities who own them. This paper reviews colonising discourses in speech and language technology, and suggests new ways of working with Indigenous communities, and seeks to open a discussion of a postcolonial approach to computational methods for supporting language vitality. 1 Introduction So much of the templates, the guidelines, the university courses, have been created along the lines of a colonising language. Our task is to figure out how to be able to speak our languages, how to teach our languages, how to maintain our languages, how to normalise our languages, from our ways, from our perspective, from our point of view. – Lil’watul Lorna Williams, Lil’wat First Nation This is how Lorna Williams addressed 300 people at Language Technologies for All (Williams, 2019). We had been summoned to the UNESCO headquarters in Paris with these words: Everyone should have the possibility to get access to Language Technologies in his/her native languages, including Indigenous languages. The challenge is twofold: (i) preserving culture through language while (ii) allowing communication across languages.
    [Show full text]
  • Gamilaraay, a Sleeping Language of New South Wales, Australia
    Academic Journal 67 of Modern Zuzanna Bułat Silva Philology Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Instytut Filologii Romańskiej ISSN 2299-7164 Gamilaraay, a Sleeping Language of New South Wales, Vol. 7 (2018) s. 67–77 Australia Abstract The main aim of this paper is to present the situation of Gamilaraay, an Aboriginal language spoken in New South Wales, Australia, currently undergoing a revitalization (Giacon 2007) . After discussing the classification of the world’s languages according to their vitality, the author presents the language situation in Australia and offers a definition of revival linguistics (see Zuckermann & Walsh 2011), a new branch of linguistics as yet little known in Poland, justifying its relevance to the revitalization of Aboriginal languages. Special attention is given to the language situation in New South Wales, and to the specific revivalistic attempts undertaken by linguists there (Troy & Walsh 2010). Some morphological, syntactical and lexical features of Gamilaraay are described in order to show the complexities of language revival and problems revivalists have to face. Keywords: sleeping language, Gamilaraay, revival linguistics, language reclamation, linguistic diversity, language endangerment Acknowledgments I would like to sincerely thank John Giacon whose perceptive comments helped a lot to improve the final draft of this paper. Introduction The main aim of this paper is to present the situation of Gamilaraay, an Aboriginal language of Pama- Nyungan family once spoken in New South Wales and in southern Queensland, Australia, currently undergoing a revitalization (Giacon 2007, 2010, 2014). The methodological context for presenting Gamilaraay will be a new field of study calledrevival linguistics (Zuckermann & Walsh 2011, Zuckermann et al. 2014).
    [Show full text]
  • Revivalistics from the Genesis of Israeli To
    1 Ghil'ad Zuckermann. Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. Reviewed by Norman Simms This is a very important technical and contentious book, yet it is also a very funny, punny tome. It is technical in its approach to linguistics and language history, contentious because it argues that modern Hebrew spoken in Israel today is not the continuation of ancient or medieval Hebrew but rather a language created by secular European, mostly Yiddish- speaking Jews who pioneered the settlement of Palestine at the close of the nineteenth century, and only then became a spoken language, Israeli. Revivalistics is also technical in the way it looks at revived languages elsewhere, such as Aboriginal tongues that have lain dormant since native speakers were silenced and then were awakened like Sleeping Beauty into something new and modern or as New Zealand Maori brought into the post-colonial world after almost dying out with its population and then blending regional dialects, creating a lexicon for the new urban age of mechanization, and adapting to the dialectical era and the culture shaped by American Black rappers and political activists. And it is a funny punny book (as might be seen letter which only needs a dot in the (פ) if Hebrew characters were used, especially the feh/peh middle (like a belly button) to go from one to the other sound. The volume is chock-a-block with jokes, or what my father used to call “amusing anecdotes” based on the different intonations, voicing of non-vowel written ivrit, and other verbal confusions, situational mix- ups and deliberate obfuscations.
    [Show full text]
  • Heritage and Exchanges
    Heritage and Exchanges Heritage and Exchanges Scientific Committee DEYRICH Marie Christine PR 7e et 11e LACES Bordeaux 4 NARCY COMBES Marie Françoise PR 11e CRINI Nantes OLLIVIER Christian PR 7e ICARE Réunion PRABHAKARA RAO J PR CALTS Hyderabad Inde ROLLAND Yvon PR 11e CCLC Réunion SYLVOS Françoise. PR 9e CCLC Réunion TUPIN Frédéric PR 70e ICARE Réunion WATBLED Jean Philippe PR 7e LCF Réunion WICKRAMASINGHE NK PR Leyden Pays Bas WILLIAMS WANQUET Eileen PR 11e CCLC Réunion ADDE Amélie MCF 14e CCLC Réunion ALLAOUI Driss MCF 70e ICARE Réunion CATROUX Michèle MCF 11e LACES Bordeaux 4 DUMONTEIL Julie MCF 12e CCLC Réunion DUPUIS Marie MCF 73e LCF Réunion GAILLAT Thierry MCF 7e ICARE Réunion KANTE Issa MCF 11e CCLC Réunion REPUSSARD Catherine MCF HDR 12e EA1341 Études Germaniques Strasbourg TAMPOE Vilasnee MCF HDR 11e CCLC Réunion Heritage and Exchanges: Multilingual and Intercultural Approaches in Training Context Edited by Yvon Rolland, Julie Dumonteil, Thierry Gaillat, Issa Kanté and Vilasnee Tampoe Heritage and Exchanges: Multilingual and Intercultural Approaches in Training Context Edited by Yvon Rolland, Julie Dumonteil, Thierry Gaillat, Issa Kanté and Vilasnee Tampoe This book first published 2015 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2015 by Yvon Rolland, Julie Dumonteil, Thierry Gaillat, Issa Kanté, Vilasnee Tampoe and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
    [Show full text]