Category Archives: Talking Dictionaries

Digital Resources, Gregory D. S. Anderson, Language Documentation, Launches and Public Events, Projects, Talking Dictionaries

The Gta’ Dictionary is now up!

Since 2013, we have been steadily working on the documentation of Gta’, an endangered Munda language spoken in India. We are pleased that the Gta’ Talking Dictionary is now online!

We currently have 6800+ words and phrases in the dictionary, with many more to come. Listen to words such as “gusoʔober” (Indian Pangolin) and “ɖweʔ lgoʔ koʔ-ɽeʔ” (long legged greater flamingo) right here: http://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/gta/

Gta’ is also known as Gata’, Didey, Didayi, Didei, Dire, Gataq, Geta’, Getaq, and Gta Asa. The words and phrases were collected, annotated and transcribed by Gregory D. S. Anderson and Opino Gomango.

This project was in part made possible by Grant Award PD 50025-13 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

To see more from the Gta’ documentation project, visit our complete Gta’ archive available on PARADISEC.

Endangered Language Activism, Enduring Voices Project, Gregory D. S. Anderson, Indigenous Language Activists, K. David Harrison, Language Hotspots, Support Endangered Languages, Talking Dictionaries, Workshops

Micronesia Language Revitalization Workshop

by K. David Harrison and Gregory D. S. Anderson

A Language Revitalization workshop was held over 4 days in July 2013 in Kolonia, Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) hosted by the Island Research Education Initiative (IREI) and the FSM National Dept. of Education and Special Education Program. Greg Anderson and David Harrison of the Living Tongues Institute led the workshop, which aimed to leverage new digital technologies in support of Micronesian languages. Yvonne Neth of IREI was the local coordinator and partner.

The fifteen participants in the workshop represented eight indigenous language communities: Pohnpeian, Pingelapese, Kapingamarangi, Nukuoro, Namolukese (dialect of Mortlockese), Yapese, Mokilese, and Kosraean. Language activists taking part in the workshop included Johnny Rudolph, Maynard Henry and Kurt Erwin representing the Nukuoro language; Danio Poll, Jason Lebehn and Monique Panaligan representing Mokilese; Yapese language activist Caroline Dabugsiy; Namolukese language activist
John Curley; Leilani Welley-Biza and Darlene Apis representing Pingelapese; Howartson Heinrich, Kapingamarangi language speaker; Arthur Albert representing Kosraean; and Pressler Martin and Mario Abello representing Pohnpeian.

We covered a variety of topics, including audio recording techniques, word and sentence elicitation, photo elicitation, lexicography, and building talking dictionaries. Further, the participants began building nine new Talking Dictionaries, and beta-tested a new interface that allows speakers to edit and record lexical items directly via their web browsers.

The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages team that ran the workshop consisted of five members with the following division of labor:

  • Dr. Greg Anderson—co-leader of workshop, linguistic documentation
  • Dr. David Harrison—co-leader of workshop, linguistic documentation
  • Jack Daulton—Ethnographic interviewing and photography
  • Roz Ho—Technology advising
  • Oliver Anderson—videography

The participants were energized by the workshop and delighted to be taking part. As Johnny Rudolph, Nukuoro language expert, put it: “The workshop was a great one and everybody did enjoy it very much and most importantly…[it] guided us to see and understand the importance of preserving our languages before losing them.” Johnny continued: “As for our Nukuoroan language, I feel very enthusiastic and enlightened with what we’ve learned… I chose to move forward and continue to build the Nukuoroan Lexicon into the computer system while inserting sounds, photos and perhaps to start teaching others how to use the Nukuoroan Lexicon on the internet while holding Nukuoroan language classes in either in public school or in other special educational learning settings.”

The nine dictionaries created during the workshop currently have nearly 12,000 lexical entries, many with soundfiles, and some with cultural photos. Community members will continue to expand these in the near future, and will use them in language revitalization efforts.

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Link to all dictionaries: http://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/workshop.php

Following the workshop, the team visited remote Mwoakilloa Atoll, a landmass of only 0.8 square miles located in the outer reaches of Pohnpei State in the FSM. Here we continued work on the Mokilese language and collected words, sentences and folk stories from both elder and younger speakers in Mokilese. These will be added to the Mokilese Talking Dictionary and our YouTube video channel in coming months. We observed and conducted interviews about oral history, traditional foodways, fishing, outrigger canoe building, and navigation technology.

Mwoakilloa represents a unique and endangered speech community within Micronesia, as the Atoll has a permanent population of under 100 people. With most Mowoakilloans living away from the atoll, the language is vulnerable. At the same time, the community has mounted ambitious efforts, including a new Bible translation, children’s books, and the Talking Dictionary in an attempt to stabilize the language. We are grateful to Roz Ho and Jack Daulton for providing financial and technical support during the expedition. Jeremy Fahringer at Swarthmore College developed nine new Talking dictionaries for the workshop. Taking part in both the workshop and the trip to Mwoakilloa was Yvonne Neth, Vice-Director of IREI.

Screen Shot 2013-10-18 at 6.34.20 PMJack Daulton and Roz Ho elicit and record Pingelapese words with Leilani Welley-Biza.
Photo K. David Harrison.

Screen Shot 2013-10-18 at 6.36.28 PMMario Abello (Pohnpeian), and David Harrison with Nukuoro language team Kurt Erwin,
Johnny Rudolph, and Maynard Henry. Photo Jack Daulton.

Screen Shot 2013-10-18 at 6.37.40 PMCaroline Dabugsiy, Yapese speaker, interviews with Pressler Martin (Pohnpeian), David
Harrison and Oliver Anderson. Photo Jack Daulton.

Screen Shot 2013-10-18 at 6.38.46 PMDay 3 of the workshop, at the FSM Department of Education. Photo Jack Daulton.

Screen Shot 2013-10-18 at 6.40.12 PMIchiro John, Mwoakilloan elder, interviews with Greg Anderson and David Harrison.
Photo Jack Daulton.

Screen Shot 2013-10-18 at 6.41.16 PMCaroline Dabugsiy, Yapese speaker, records with Greg Anderson. Photo Jack Daulton.

Howartson Heinrich builds the Kapingamarangi Talking Dictionary.Howartson Heinrich builds the Kapingamarangi Talking Dictionary. Photo Jack Daulton.

Kapingamarangi women in Pohnpei making traditional handicrafts.Kapingamarangi women in Pohnpei making traditional handicrafts. Photo Jack Daulton.

Micronesia-7Maria Matthias and Carolina Joel shelling clams they harvested from Mwoakilloa lagoon.
Photo Jack Daulton.

Micronesia-8Traditional Mwoakilloan outrigger canoe (war), built by Abram Joel. Photo Jack Daulton.

Endangered Language Activism, Enduring Voices Project, Indigenous Language Activists, K. David Harrison, Launches and Public Events, Media and Publicity, Support Endangered Languages, Talking Dictionaries

Press Release: Smithsonian Folklife Festival Program to Raise Awareness of Global Language Loss

The United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization estimates that of the more than 7,000 languages in the world, nearly half of them are in danger of becoming extinct by the end of this century. The Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival program “One World, Many Voices: Endangered Languages and Cultural Heritage” will focus attention on this urgent issue of global language loss by bringing together communities from around the world that are fighting to save their native tongues and cultural traditions.

“One World, Many Voices” is produced in collaboration with UNESCO, the National Geographic Society’s Enduring Voices Project and the Smithsonian’s Recovering Voices Initiative.

The Festival will be held Wednesday, June 26, through Sunday, June 30, and Wednesday, July 3, through Sunday, July 7, outdoors on the National Mall between Seventh and 14th streets. All events are free. Festival hours are from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day with evening events such as concerts and dance parties beginning at 6 p.m. The Festival is co-sponsored by the National Park Service.

“Language is a vital part of our human heritage and it is important to the culture and history of the people that speak it,” said program co-curator Marjorie Hunt. “The Festival provides a powerful platform for speakers of different languages to share their cultures and worldview with a large public audience on the National Mall.”

Hunt is co-curating the program with K. David Harrison, professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College, and author of When Languages Die. Harrison has spent his career documenting and helping to revitalize languages.

Festival visitors will get the chance to hear and learn from participants representing 15 cultures working to preserve their languages. Musicians, storytellers, singers, dancers, poets, culinary experts, and craftspeople will share how language embodies cultural knowledge, identity, values, technologies and arts. The program will include performances, craft demonstrations, interactive discussion sessions, community celebrations and hands-on family activities.

Native Hawaiians will demonstrate hula and discuss the role language has played in passing down the dance to the next generation. Native Americans from the Maine’s Passamaquoddy tribe will demonstrate how basket weaving is used to keep language alive, while participants from the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in Oregon will perform the traditional Feather Dance and discuss how an online talking dictionary is helping to revitalize the tribes’ language.

Indigenous groups from Colombia—including the Wayuu, Palenque and Kamsá—will demonstrate native crafts, music and poetry while the Koro people of India will build bamboo spirit houses and share with visitors how they help ensure a good harvest. Internationally known Klezmer pioneer Michael Alpert will perform for visitors during the Festival.

Sponsors

Major support for “One World, Many Voices: Endangered Languages and Cultural Heritage” is provided by the Dr. Frederik Paulsen Foundation, the Microsoft Local Language Program, the Embassy of Colombia in Washington, D.C., the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, the Caro y Cuervo Institute, the U.S. State Department Fund for Innovation in Public Diplomacy, the United States Embassy in Bolivia, the Inter-American Foundation, the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the University of Hawaii System and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

About the Festival

The 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will feature three programs. In addition to “One World, Many Voices: Endangered Languages and Cultural Heritage,” the programs are “Hungarian Heritage: Roots to Revival” and “The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style, and Identity.”

The Folklife Festival, inaugurated in 1967, honors people from across the United States and around the world. With approximately 1 million visitors each year, the Festival unites presenters and performers in the nation’s capital to celebrate the diversity of cultural traditions. It is produced by the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

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Media Only

Amy Kehs (202) 390-5543; kehsa@si.edu

Becky Haberacker 202) 633-5183; haberackerb@si.edu

Media website

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Digital Resources, Endangered Language Activism, Gregory D. S. Anderson, Indigenous Language Activists, International Mother Language Day, K. David Harrison, Language Hotspots, Launches and Public Events, Media and Publicity, Support Endangered Languages, Talking Dictionaries, Workshops

Thank you to all of our donors!

Without you all, our Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for Talking Dictionaries in Papua New Guinea would not have been a success. We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to all of our donors:

Tarek Milleron, Dave Prine, Jessica Illman, Anna Belew, Michael A. Hall, Allison Taylor-Adams, Laetitia Chaneac, Julie Kanakanui, Barbara Partee, David Robinson, Arpiar Saunders, Eric Raimy, Molly Allison-Baker, Robert Munro, Nori Heikkinen, David Nolin, John Ziker, Lee Wilson Ballard, Emily Gref, Mikael Siren, Ryan Henke, Robert Wessling, Sarah Truesdale, Katherine Vincent, Claire Catania, Ulrike Christofori, Boise State Linguistics Lab, Walid Saleh, Chris Donlay, Debbie Anderson, Carla Hurd, Fran Osborne, Laurence Cotton, Sema Balaman, Kimberly Jackson, Sarah Laskin, Audrey Van Herck, James Glenz, Edward Hess, Carley Hydusik, Tamra Wysocki-Niimi, Carl Franco, Bryony Rigby, William Graeper, Tania Reino, Ilona Staples, Nancy Mariano, Stephen Holt, Alex Francis, Alex Sinton, Carole Smith, Bewenca, M. Skelly, Les and Janice Lederer.

THANK YOU!