Using Technology to Preserve Endangered Tribal Languages, Culture (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Using Technology to Preserve Endangered Tribal Languages, Culture
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/505883/

Newswise — Efforts to help preserve native languages through the use of
technology can be considered a "matter of life and death." Thanks to
the work of Native Americans from the Colorado River Indian Tribes
(CRIT), the University of Arizona and funding from the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, two more languages are closer to preservation.

Susan Penfield, of the UA department of English has devoted more than 30
years of her professional life to working with endangered languages.
More recently, she has been the principle investigator in a project
funded since January 2003 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to
train tribal members in the use of selected technologies that support
language revitalization.

This grant has provided funds for the collaboration between the CRIT and
the UA. The CRIT Reservation is located on the Colorado River, just
south of Lake Havasu on the Arizona/California border. CRIT is home to
four culturally and linguistically different tribes: Mohave,
Chemehuevi, Hopi and Navajo. Goals include the training of CRIT
speakers of Mohave and Chemehuevi in the use of software and Internet
tools which will support preservation and instruction related to these
languages.

Mohave, a Yuman language, is spoken by 33 fully fluent speakers at CRIT.
Most of these speakers are at least age 70 or older. Chemehuevi is
spoken by only about 10 fluent speakers who are 60 years or older.

"The need to take action on these two most critically endangered
languages of the four CRIT cultures was apparent," says Penfield. While
the preservation of native languages ultimately rests with the members
of the tribes themselves, Penfield and a group of specialists from the
UA have initiated a project to train tribal members from the CRIT
communities in the use of computer software and other technologies to
help tribal members in this task.

As part of the project, six fluent speakers of Mohave and Chemehuevi
learned how to record, preserve and digitally manipulate samples of
their language with the help of special software installed on the
laptops purchased with the grant money. Participants were already
involved with language work either as teachers, librarians or
consultants who were available to train on the UA campus.

One of the first sessions was on the use PowerPoint® and Audacity® to
create language lessons. Pictures from coloring books of Mohave and
Chemehuevi were scanned and transformed into electronic images which
were later combined with sound files created by the participants with
the help of Audacity®. These skills and language lessons encouraged the
native speakers to learn additional computer skills and to use more
complex software such as MaxAuthor, used for rarely taught languages
and the MOO developed at the UA for multi-user conference space
accessed through the Internet.

While the grant money is running out and funds are needed to continue
the work, Penfield says that the project "has met its goals of training
members from CRIT to develop a model for the use of technology-enhanced
language revitalization. I'm very grateful to the participants from
CRIT who interrupted their lives and work to train with us and who
continue to fight for their languages. We learned a lot from them and
the experience of working together was enriching for everyone."

Penfield would like to establish a one-week computer camp on the UA
campus which would provide three units of credit in indigenous
languages and technology. Also, more assistance is needed for
additional hardware and software development. She says that "it's vital
to recognize that the field of indigenous languages and technology is
new and largely untapped."

"Computers, video cameras and recorders can't save languages; only
people can do that," says Penfield, "but technology can support
revitalization efforts."

Compiled from various sources and edited by Julieta Gonzalez, News
Services.