At a time when many of the world's languages are at risk of extinction, the imperative to document, analyse and teach them before time runs out is very great. At this critical time new technologies, such as visual and aural archiving, digitisation of textual resources, electronic mapping and social media, have the potential to play an integral role in language maintenance and revitalisation. Drawing on studies of endangered languages from around the world - Europe, Asia, Africa and North and South America - this volume considers how these new resources might best be applied, and the problems that they can bring. It also re-assesses more traditional techniques of documentation in light of new technologies and works towards achieving a practicable synthesis of old and new methodologies. This accessible volume will be of interest to researchers in language endangerment, language typology and linguistic anthropology, and to community members working in native language maintenance.
Arvustused
'This volume presents groundbreaking work on the opportunities and challenges of using technology in the study and revitalization of endangered languages and is sure to become a foundational work in this field.' Lenore A. Grenoble, University of Chicago 'In an age of language endangerment crisis and rapid technological developments, this volume sets the tone for future discussions on technologies for endangered languages and can serve as a stepping-stone for future research as technology develops and the field of endangered language studies grows.' Tihomir Rangelov, Language in Society
Muu info
This book explores how new technologies have the potential to revolutionise the documentation, analysis and revitalisation of endangered languages.
Introductory essay. Endangered languages in the new multilingual order
per genus et differentiam Nicholas Ostler; Part I. Creating New Technologies
for Endangered Languages:
1. The Kiranti comparable corpus: a prototype
corpus for the comparison of Kiranti languages and mythology Aimée
Lahaussois;
2. European dialect syntax: towards an infrastructure for
documentation and research of endangered dialects Sjef Barbiers;
3. Keyboard
layouts: lessons from the Mephaa and Sochiapam Chinantec designs Hugh
Paterson, III;
4. Rule-based machine translation for Aymara Matt Coler and
Petr Homola;
5. Data management and analysis for endangered languages
Dorothee Beermann;
6. Endangered languages, technology and learning:
immediate applications and long-term considerations Russell Hugo; Part II.
Applying New Technologies to Endangered Languages:
7. Digital curation and
event-driven methods at the service of endangered languages Bernard Bel and
Médéric Gasquet-Cyrus;
8. 'Allant contre vent et mathée': Jèrriais in the
twenty-first century Anthony Scott Warren and Geraint Jennings;
9. The use of
new technologies in the preservation of an endangered language: the case of
Frisian Tjeerd de Graaf, Cor van der Meer and Lysbeth Jongbloed-Faber;
10.
Language description and documentation from the native speaker's point of
view: the case of the Tundra Yukaghir Cecilia Odé;
11. American Indian sign
language: documentary linguistic methodologies and technologies Jeffrey E.
Davis.
Mari C. Jones is Reader in French Linguistics and Language Change at the University of Cambridge and Fellow in Modern and Medieval Languages at Peterhouse, Cambridge. A highly experienced fieldworker, she has published extensively on language obsolescence and revitalisation in relation to Insular and Continental Norman, Welsh and Breton. Her recent publications include Keeping Languages Alive (2013, edited with Sarah Ogilvie).
