Category Archives: Digital Resources

Presentation at LISPRUL 2022

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Gregory D. S. Anderson and Dr. Luke Horo presented their work at the conference, Linguistic Issues in Speech Processing Research of Under-Resourced Languages (LISPRUL 2022) on March 2-3, 2022. The title of their presentation is “Under-resourced Languages and Documentation in India: The Living Tongues Approach.” Their abstract can be read below.

View all presentations and slides

ABOUT LISPRUL 2022

From the conference website: “There are 22 scheduled languages in India and several hundreds of under-resourced languages. Development of speech technologies like speech recognition, machine translation, speech synthesis and speech to speech translation systems for these languages is a resource and time intensive task. Apart from technology development, speech and language data collection in the under-resourced languages may also be aimed towards creating linguistic archives for community use and for linguistic analysis in digital, easily usable and open access manner. In this workshop, we intend to learn how linguistic data archiving, analysis and technology development can be accomplished in a synergetic manner.

Eminent researchers from all over the world, specialising in the fields of speech and language processing, linguistic analysis, archiving and technology development will share their experience and expertise in this workshop. Apart from in-depth discussions, the sessions are designed to have ample time for the participants to have open discussions with the speakers.”

LISPRUL Flyer
Official LISPRUL Flyer

TITLE OF PRESENTATION
“Under-resourced Languages and Documentation in India: The Living Tongues Approach”

by Gregory D. S. Anderson and Luke Horo

ABSTRACT
In this presentation we offer some details about our work documenting the under-resourced languages of India. We begin with a discussion of the two sets of languages we have worked on over the past decades in India which belong to the Munda and various subgroups of the Trans-Himalayan (Tibeto-Burman) language families. We then draw attention to how we have gone about classifying these languages and situate this against computational phylogenetics based on Swadesh lists that dominate the field today. We then give an overview of the Munda Languages Initiative and detail the types of data we collect and how we analyze it and why we feel this is the correct way to do so. We then detail some of the past and ongoing scientific and applied outcomes of this work including an introduction to a powerful tool the Living Dictionary app that we have developed that aids linguists and citizen-scientists alike in creating high-quality and free documentation records. We conclude with a look to ongoing and future projects and ways that interested and qualified participants can find roles in the furthering of these projects and the development of skills in best practice in language documentation.

The Living Dictionaries platform now includes an Assamese interface

We are pleased to announce that our Living Dictionaries online dictionary-builder now includes an Assamese interface. This will help people in Assam (India) use the website entirely in Assamese as well as browse dictionaries for local indigenous languages such as Sora (spoken in Assam and elsewhere).

We want to be sure that the platform’s functionality is not just English-centric but accessible to people coming from many different linguistic backgrounds. You can now navigate and build dictionaries directly the platform using interface languages such as Assamese, French, Spanish, Russian, KiSwahili, Bengali, Hebrew, Malay, Bahasa Indonesia and Portuguese. Several others are coming soon!

Below are some snapshots of the Sora Living Dictionary using the new Assamese interface.

 

Living Dictionaries - Assamese interface 1

 

Living Dictionaries - Assamese interface for Sora Living Dictionary 1

 

Living Dictionaries - Assamese interface for Sora Living Dictionary 2

 

Thank you to the many volunteer translators who contributed to the Assamese version of the platform: Palash Nath, Luke Horo, Kapil Medhi, Dr. Seuji Sharma, Dr. Gitanjali Bezbaruah, Biren Baruah, Khagendra Nath Medhi, Pranab Sharma, Dhanmani Baishya, Chan Mohammad Ali, and Rahul Choudhary.

 

Living Tongues team members Anna Luisa Daigneault and Luke Horo coordinated these translation efforts and Diego Córdova Nieto implemented the translations onto the website.

 

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful, multilingual day.

Looking Back On Conferences In 2021

With many international conferences going virtual in 2021, it was a good year for researchers at Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages to participate in virtual gatherings around the world. Our teams presented their work at many fascinating scientific conferences and language activism events.

From the documentation of endangered Munda languages in India, to the creation of Living Dictionaries for under-documented languages around the world, we were very active in disseminating the results of our ongoing research projects.

Some of the conferences we presented at in 2021 included:

  • The International Conference on Language Documentation & Conservation (ICLDC 2021)
  • The 9th International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics (ICAAL9)
  • New Contexts for the Use of Minoritized Languages (NEWCON 2021)
  • Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (SEALS 2021)
  • The 13th International Austronesian and Papuan Languages and Linguistics conference (APLL 13)
  • Contribuling 2021
  • The 10th World Congress of African Linguistics (WOCAL10)
  • Stabilizing Indigenous Languages 27
  • RightsCon 2021 (human rights in the digital age)
  • International Indigenous Resistance Conference
  • The 1st International Conference on Tone and Intonation (TAI)
  • eLex: Electronic lexicography in the 21st century
  • Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium
  • The 53rd Foundation Day Lecture Series at the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL Mysore)

    …and others!

Check out this YouTube playlist to see a diverse array of our video presentations from 2021. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4eA20iK0XI9DoP7CgenPZgMnlg7NyKqV

We are including some screenshots from various conferences and related proceedings below.

 

 

 

 

 

1st International Conference on Tone and Intonation (TAI) 2021

Collaboration with the Skarure Woccon to develop the first-ever Woccon Living Dictionary

Woccon is a dormant Eastern Siouan language that is currently being revived by the Cape Fear Band of the Skarure and Woccon Indians (who reside in the Cape Fear coastal region of North Carolina, USA). They are a tribal nation with a long, rich history concentrated in and around Brunswick, Bladen, Columbus and Pender Counties of Cape Fear. Their tribe is also known by the name “Skarure Woccon of the Cape Fear.”

The Woccon language closely resembled Catawba, and was considered one of two Catawban languages, which are part of the Siouan language family. Woccon itself is attested only in a vocabulary of approximately 140 words, originally published in John Lawson’s “A new voyage to Carolina” in 1709.

At Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, we have been working closely with Chief Lovell Eagle Elk and Teneia Blue Feather of the Skakure Woccon nation to help bring awareness to the Woccon language and to upload these words to create the first-ever Woccon Living Dictionary. Linguistic anthropologist Anna Luisa Daigneault and linguist Gregory D. S. Anderson from Living Tongues Institute have both helped lead efforts to process data and obtain all available archival materials that can inform this work. Our involvement with the tribe is listed on their website. 

Screenshot from the Woccon Living Dictionary

The next phase of work will include working with Siouan linguistics specialists to determine the correct pronunciation of the Woccon terms. In October 2021, we obtained drafts of unpublished, in-depth linguistic analysis on Catawba from the Smithsonian that will help inform future work on Woccon because it is a closely related language.

Participants at the 2021 Skarure Woccon Harvest Festival

We live in a pivotal time for language documentation and language revitalization, and most people in the broader American public have no idea what’s at stake when indigenous languages are lost, and what it takes to revive them. Many dedicated activists (including local indigenous cultural experts, students, researchers, linguists and anthropologists) work tirelessly to collect cultural data that can be used as a basis for creating language revival programs for local Native American communities. 

Why is this work part of an urgent public conversation? Languages transmit centuries of accumulated wisdom related to human adaptation and survival. They contain vital information related to land management, subsistence patterns, kinship and social relationships, local customs, cosmology and much more. Every language represents a unique way of interpreting and conveying the human experience in a specific cultural and environmental context. It is important for all Americans to welcome the views and expressions of the indigenous people who were the first to inhabit this land we all live on today.  

Researchers from Living Tongues and members of the Skarure Woccon nation also collaborated during the online event “Stories of Endangered Language Activism” sponsored by PEN America.

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Read more:
Lawson, John, 1709. “A vocabulary of Woccon” in A New Voyage to Carolina; Containing the Exact Description and Natural History of That Country: Together with the Present State Thereof. And a Journal of a Thousand Miles, Travel’d Thro’ Several Nations of Indians. Giving a Particular Account of Their Customs, Manners, &c. View online.

Carter, R. 1980. The Woccon Language of North Carolina: Its Genetic Affiliations and Historical Significance

Rudes, B.A., 2000. Resurrecting coastal Catawban: The reconstituted phonology and morphology of the Woccon language. Southern Journal of Linguistics 24: 228-244.

  1. Woccon Living Dictionary. Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. https://livingdictionaries.app/woccon