<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Re: [ILAT] Handheld 'Phraselator' helps preserve North American native languages</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'><BR>
The Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma has a device similar to what you described <BR>
Though not portable. <BR>
Slide a card with a word or phrase through it and it “speaks” the word.<BR>
The thing may have a function for preserving pronunciation,<BR>
But I'm beginning to see first hand<BR>
That language itself will not return <B>because</B> of any cool technology.<BR>
Technology tends to beget <I>more</I> <I>complex</I> technology <BR>
Technology has in many ways shattered community<BR>
<BR>
Now we no longer NEED one another.<BR>
We no longer NEED to pray together.<BR>
Ceremonies are becoming “our Indian culture events”<BR>
Something we can ADD to our life,if we <I>choose</I> to do so.<BR>
We used to be a tight interdependent unit looking out<BR>
It almost seems we are now on the outside looking in.<BR>
Our own language sounds foreign<BR>
uncomfortable in our Latin-based thinking processes.<BR>
I’ve heard it referred to as “talkin’ ndn”<BR>
<BR>
Our Language will return only when there is a <BR>
NEED to become true and <I>separate</I> community again<BR>
And we just have to be ready when or if that time comes<BR>
We work with HOPE into an uncertain future<BR>
A time when we are rebonded once more till<BR>
we won’t even think we’re “talkin’ ndn”<BR>
<BR>
Richard Zane Smith<BR>
Wyandotte, Oklahoma<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
On 8/27/06 4:54 PM, "William J Poser" <wjposer@LDC.UPENN.EDU> wrote:<BR>
<BR>
<FONT COLOR="#0000FF">> I've seen some information about this. What distinguishes it<BR>
> from any old digital audio player is the interface, which lets you<BR>
> select the utterance that you want to play. The reason that a<BR>
> defense contractor is involved is that the US military is using<BR>
> these things in Iraq. Since most soldiers speak little or no Arabic,<BR>
> they can find the utterance that they need, e.g. "Hands in the air!",<BR>
> and play it back in real Iraqi Arabic. If you just had a long list<BR>
> to scroll through as on many music players, somebody would be dead<BR>
> by the time you found the right phrase.<BR>
> <BR>
> As a means of documenting endangered languages these are not<BR>
> of much interest since they they are much more expensive than<BR>
> regular digital recorders. For language learning again it is cheaper<BR>
> and more versatile to put the recordings on a regular computer.<BR>
> The putative virtue of these things is that language learners can use<BR>
> them to have real conversations. I suspect that they aren't worth the<BR>
> cost. Even with several hundred or thousand utterances on them, they<BR>
> can't cover a very wide range of things that one wants to say,<BR>
> especially in languages with elaborate morphology. My impression is<BR>
> that they get people excited because they can carry around with them<BR>
> some "real language", but that they are actually not very useful.<BR>
> I think that the people pushing this probably have good intentions,<BR>
> but it looks like more "eye candy" to me.<BR>
> <BR>
> Bill<BR>
</FONT></SPAN></FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>