ELL: Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Conference 2000
Keren Rice
rice at chass.utoronto.ca
Tue Jul 13 22:08:37 UTC 1999
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Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 18:08:37 -0400
From: Keren Rice <rice at chass.utoronto.ca>
Organization: University of Toronto
To: endangered-languages-l at carmen.murdoch.edu.au
Subject: ELL: Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Conference 2000
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Seventh Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Conference
.anguage Across the Community.May 11-14, 2000, The Toronto Colony Hotel,
Toronto, Canada
The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of
Toronto
For six years now this conference has provided a unique opportunity
for
people world-wide to come together to work on practical issues,
problems, and solutions to the challenges facing all indigenous
languages. Elders, other community leaders, front-line workers,
researchers, administrators, educators, students, media specialists,
and
advocates are invited to come and meet fellow workers, and take part
in
plenary sessions, workshops, and presentations about many kinds action
to promote, preserve, and supports indigenous languages. There will
be
hands-on workshops, descriptions of educational projects of many
kinds,
demonstrations of materials that have been produced, and talks by
experienced leaders in the field.
This year. theme is .anguage Across the Community. which
will
emphasize the many ways in which all community members can
become
involved in indigenous language activities. As always, it
is expected
that SCHOOL PROGRAMS will play an important part, with
discussions and
demonstrations related to various roles that the
indigenous language can
play in the school, such as subject of instruction,
immersion programs,
dual language programs, cooperation among schools, and so
on. Along
with this always comes discussion of teacher education and
professional
development, and materials and activities development.
Special issues
of administration for schools in which an indigenous
language plays a
role will come up. We expect to have a whole section of
the program
devoted to immersion programs.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT is essential, not only to
support school programs
(recruit teachers, support teachers, involve
parents, make materials,
link language and culture, and so on) but also
create and celebrate real
language use in all aspects of life. So, topics
like language camps,
language in sports and other community recreation,
language at work,
language in religion and culture, language and the
media, and language
in community historical and cultural research can
be discussed with
examples. Adult literacy in the indigenous
language, for example, is a
growing activity.
SUPPORT RESEARCH will be covered in workshops and
talks by people who
are making dictionaries, studying effective ways
of teaching indigenous
languages, linking history and culture to
language, planning policies
and good administrative practices, and creating
centers for language
research and promotion. Conference goers can make
their own contacts
with people they would like to learn more from,
and information will be
available about organizations which help link
people involved with
indigenous language work.
We also hope that you will be attracted
to the opportunity to visit
beautiful Toronto, with our attractive
exchange rates, breakfast with
the Mayor, and excellent entertainment
by local Aboriginal groups.
Timetable
Thursday, May 11, 2000 7 p.m.
Opening reception and plenary
Friday, May 12 8:30 a.m. - 5
p.m. Plenaries, concurrent
sessions,
luncheon
Saturday, May 13 8:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Plenaries, concurrent sessions,
banquet
Sunday, May 14 8:30 a.m. - 1
p.m. Plenary, concurrent sessions,
closing
Presentations Formats
- Presentations - 45 minute time block
to present information about any
issues related to the conference topic,
leaving about 10 minutes for
audience questions
- Workshops - 90 minute time block to
talk about some indigenous
language related project with
activities to involve the audience in
learning about or how to do the project
- Roundtables - 45 or 90 minute blocks
for facilitators or panels to
lead discussion with the audience on a
relevant topic
- Poster Sessions - 90 minute time
block in which presenters can display
visuals and/or materials about their
project and conference participants
can circulate and ask questions
individually.
Registration Form
Seventh Annual Stabilizing Indigenous
Languages Conference
May 11-14, 2000, Toronto Colony Hotel
Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education of the University of Toronto
Registration Rates: before March 31,
2000 $125 Canadian $100
U.S.
after March 31, 2000
$150 Canadian $125 U.S.
Student rates (with proof of full-time
enrolment) $50 Canadian $40 U.S.
Payment by cheque or money order
payable to Stabilizing Indigenous
Language Conference
- credit card __ Mastercard ;__Visa;
card # ______________________;
expiry date______
signature
__________________________
Name:
First Nation/Tribal Affiliation:
Title:
Department:
Organization:
Address:
Province/State, Country, and Postal
Code:
Phone: Fax:
E-mail address:
Proposal for Presentation
Deadline for submission: March 31, 2000
Please submit: (1) a completed registration form (as above)
(2) title of presentation
(3) a 250 word abstract of the presentation
for inclusion in
conference program
(4) a 25 word summary for
conference publicity
(5) a 50 word
biographical
sketch of
(all)
presenter(s)
(6)
check
one:
presentation
___;
workshop____;
roundtable____;
poster
session
(7)
will
this
presentation
be
in
a
language
other
than
English:
yes____;
no____
Submit
All
Forms
to:
Barbara
Burnaby,
Modern
Language
Centre
OISE/UT
252
Bloor
Street
West
Toronto,
Ontario,
Canada
M5S
1V6
Fax:
(416)926-0469
E-mail:
silc at oise.utoronto.ca
After
October,
check
our
website
http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/MLC/SILC
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=========================================================================
Date:
Wed,
14
Jul
1999
10:32:11
+0200
To:
endangered-languages-l at carmen.murdoch.edu.au
From:
Trond
Trosterud
<Trond.Trosterud at hum.uit.no>
Subject:
Re:
ELL:
On
software
for
Basque
and
other
lgs
("support")
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Date:
Wed,
14
Jul
1999
10:32:11
+0200
To:
endangered-languages-l at carmen.murdoch.edu.au
From:
Trond
Trosterud
<Trond.Trosterud at hum.uit.no>
Subject:
Re:
ELL:
On
software
for
Basque
and
other
lgs
("support")
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endangered-languages-l at carmen.murdoch.edu.au
>Marion
Gunn
wrote:
>
>>
Scr.bh
Trond
Trosterud
<Trond.Trosterud at hum.uit.no>:
>>
>...
>>
>Seen
in
this
perspective
the
question
of
who
paid
for
what
is
subordinate.
>>
>All
other
lgs
with
small
or
poor
user
communities
should
be
glad
for
the
>>
>achievements
of
Basque
and
Icelandic
this
spring. I
would
like
to
see
some
>>
>concrete
discussion
on
this
list
as
to
#how#
this
was
achieved,
and
#how#
>
>I
have
nothing
against
MS
or
whatever
other
company. But
this
is
not,
in
my
>opinion,
the
best
way
to
promote
the
use
of
endangered
languages
through
the
>use
of
telematic
means. If
all
the
promotional
actions
are
to
subcontract
big
>companies
to
translate
their
almost
"monopolistic"
tools,
forget
your
national
>lg
industries,
if
ther
is
any.
Lgs
do
not
have
industries,
countries
do,
and
industry
owners,
gr.ders,
etc.
May
I
remind
you
about
basic
statistics:
Lgs,
ordered
acc
to
speakers,
lg. nr:
1-100:
more
than
6
mill
speakers
100-1000:
more
than
90000
speakers
1000-2000:
more
than
15000
sp.
-4000:
more
than
1000
sp
the
rest
less
than
1000
sp
How
many
of
these
speaker
communities
are
able
to
make
#their
own
software
industry#?
And,
if
they
had
had
the
resources,
why
on
earth
should
they
do
anything
as
dull
as
inventing
a
word
processor,
when
we
already
have
plenty
of
them?
The
few
resources
that
are
avilable
must
be
used
wisely,
small
lgs
are
fighting
an
uneven
enough
battle
as
it
is.
I
do
not
want
to
streghten
ms.s
monopoly
situation. But
the
way
ms.s
products
are
organised today is good: The natural lg commands are separated
from the program code, which makes translation easy. Otherwise it is not
easy. msword is so huge and complex and #expensive# that most poor min lg
communities probably want to prefer linux-based os-s (or other free
solutions) and lighter software (provided that lighter, linux-based
software separated text and code in a more transparent way, thereby making
translation easier).
>Minority lgs need a clear strategy to survive developing their own industries
>with the help, or not, of big companies and with the help, by sure, of their
>local administrations.
Countries, counties and communities need develop their industry, that is
for sure. When it comes to lg-related software industry I would suggest
that you started producing the following products:
localisation (characters and keyboards, already present for basque, I guess)
large computer corpora (text collections) in your own lg
hyphenation algorithms
spell checker programs (I will present a report on own work within this
area shortly)
synonymy programs, thesauri
morphology and syntax parsers
information retrieval programs etc.
translations of existing programs into your own lg
(and of course general tools: monolignual dictionaries, grammars, reverse
dictionaries, etc)
This should be done in a way that makes it easy (both legally and
technically) to use these basic tools in different end products (different
spreadsheets, word processors, etc)
This is what only the lg community (and partly also outsider linguists) can
do. Never mind fixing the bugs that makes your word processor interpret rtf
and gif correctly, and stacking endnotes right. If basque and other people
want to make money on making word processors for the world marked, that is
fine with me. But if they want to do work to strengthen their lg, they
should rather go through the list above (among other things, of course).
>As far as I know, most of endangered lgs lack of local administrations able
to
>help them, so, are they condemmned to loose their technology train and also
>their lg?. For, as far as I see, they will not able to subcontract a big
>company and neither to promote their own industry.
This is exactly my point. We must thus suggest to vendors of cheaper
products (and shareware and freeware hackers) that they streamline their
software for multilingual conversion. Thereafter, even the poorest lg
community is rich enough to spend the most basic capital: #time#. native
linguists may translate the shareware into their own lg, and there yor are.
>Rapid convergence of hitherto separate technologies are already changing the
>nature of work and organisations. Versatile applications of existing and
>emerging technologies are being demonstrated in educational and training
>situation and it is no longer possible to ignore serious consideration of
>their
>deployment in the minority languages.
???
One example of this was reported by Jeff: a basque version of an existing
application of a well-known technology (windows 95) was made. So where is
the disagreement?
And again: Although we on this list deal with computers daily, perhaps even
make programs or use alternative technologies, for min lg administrations
(like the S.i one here in Norway) it is important to use exactly the same
programs as the rest. And I do not want the lack of microsoft products to
be used as an argument against min lgs. Disney videos in min lgs would be a
good idea, as would pornography magazines, etc.
>We, in GAIA, based on our experience in this field and according to the
>lack of
>beneficial results in the different program implementation for minority
>languages, have based our strategy in those three different lines:
>
>1. Marketing of Minority Languages.
>2. Concretion of the role of the Education Centres.
>3. Build up an important industry sector of marketable IT and Multimedia
>products addressed to minority languages.
Splendid, all of this.
But again, when it comes to your third line, there are other "marketable IT
and Multimedia products" on the marked, and the largest of them are
precisely the ones that are "adressed to" (i.e. translated into) the
largest number of languages. Thus, large efforts to conquer parts of this
marked on an international scale could draw your attention away from your
primary goal: strenghening the basque lg, making products for basque (or
even more general: making the lg component of software products).
>This approach does not mean to subcontract any tool. That means short term.
??
The best must not be the enemy of the good.
Personally, I see the advantages of both the short and the long terms. At
least, I do not want to tell #any# min lg revitalisation administration
that "unfortunately you must delay the writing of your lg for a couple of
years, until we have developed a long-term software solution".
So, for short vs. long, I say: Yes, please, both of them! (Winnie-the-Pooh).
>Our language has survived to a lot of problems, among them a strong
>dictatorship, we are taking advantage of different programmes to finance our
>activities in that field. And it if is not easy for us, eventhough we can
>count
>with our administration, what about other languages?.
Precisely. Any solution is a good solution. Thereafter, better solutions
are better than worse.
>We look forward hearing about other experiences and also about other
>institutions eager to participate in our different lines of working.
>Jokin
As I see it, there is no disagreement when it comes to your strategy.
Whatever is possible to do should be done, except perhaps from reinventing
the wheel.
As I already mentioned, I will present experiences from work on S.i, that
can be transferred to other lgs as well, shortly.
Trond.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Trond Trosterud t +47 7764 4763
Finsk institutt, Det humanistiske fakultet h +47 7767 3639
N-9037 Universitetet i Troms. Noreg f +47 7764 4239
Trond.Trosterud at hum.uit.no http://www2.isl.uit.no/trond/index.html
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