Smartphone app could help save Australian Aboriginal language from extinction (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

*Smartphone app could help save Australian Aboriginal language from
extinction*

The Iwaidja language is currently spoken by fewer than 200 people.

By John PlattWed, Nov 14 2012 at 4:20 PM EST
AUS

Around the world nearly 3,000 languages are facing extinction. At least 100
of those endangered languages are in Australia, where one, Iwaidja, now has
fewer than 200 fluent speakers. The language is only used on Croker Island,
a 130-square-mile island off the coast of Northern Australia that is home
to a regional group of indigenous Australian Aboriginals.

Losing a language like Iwaidja can rob a people of their culture and the
world of their history and accumulated knowledge. But saving a language can
be a time-intensive project, involving recording equipment and the presence
of a trained linguist. That takes both money and labor, which are in short
supply.

Access full article below:
http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/gadgets-electronics/stories/smartphone-app-could-help-save-australian-aboriginal-language
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