The Language Sustainability Toolkit

From the Wikitongues.org website: “If you’re worried about the future of your language, this toolkit is a great place to start. In partnership with the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, we have identified a set of best practices for launching your own language revitalization.” Toolkit Introduction This Language Sustainability […]

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Technology, the Indigenous and the Revitalization of Languages at Risk of Extinction

This paper aims to analyze the use of technology in indigenous environments as an instrument to preserve their culture and language. We also aimed here to display results of a first version of a cataloguing system we have been developing to store words from the Xacriabá language. We think that […]

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A Crowd-Sourced Knowledge Management Approach to Language Preservation and Revitalization: the Case of Te Reo Māori

Many linguists claim as many as half of the world’s nearly 7,105 languages spoken today could disappear by the end of this century. When a language becomes extinct, communities lose their cultural identity and practices tied to a language and intellectual wealth. Preservation of endangered languages is critical, but a […]

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Digitizing Indigenous History: Trends and Challenges

This is an exciting time for digitizing indigenous history. Leading digital humanists are engaging tribal communities in the creation of powerful online archives. The groundbreaking Mukurtu content management system (CMS), for example, is built on the very premise of indigenous curation or co-curation; it lets indigenous people control exactly what […]

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Indigenous Knowledge Governance Framework (IKGF): A Holistic Model for Indigenous Knowledge Management

The environmental and social conditions that indigenous communities interact with the external environment are characterized by a constantly increasing degree of complexity. The interaction between different cultures can be considered a multifaceted process of negotiation. It is well acknowledged that the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for indigenous […]

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A Mobile Game World for Māori Language Learning

This project involves the research, development and evaluation of a mobile assisted language learning tool that teaches some aspects of the Maori language within a virtual game world. The Maori language has been going through a process of rejuvenation since the mid-1900s. A wide range of multimedia resources have been […]

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Reviving extinct languages the mobile way

Excerpt from source: Sunkanmi Olaleye – a master’s student in computer science – is investigating how novel mobile technology can interface with African digital heritage documents as a way of preserving the extinct |Xam language. “So many languages in Africa are becoming extinct. There’s this craving for English, at the […]

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Indigenous Language Revitalization: Encouragement, Guidance & Lessons Learned

The contents of Indigenous Language Revitalization come from the 14th and 15th annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages conferences. Our subtitle, Encouragement, Guidance & Lessons Learned, comes from Darrell Kipp’s 2008 keynote address. We would like to thank Margaret Noori for making the 14th annual symposium “Working Together We Can Bring Back the […]

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People, Place and Community Memory: Creating Digital Heritage Databases in Remote Aboriginal Communities

In this paper I describe the Northern Territory Library’s, Libraries and Knowledge Centres program and examine some of the ways that digital technologies are being used to improve local access to archival materials in remote Australian Aboriginal communities. The development of community heritage databases gives some communities the opportunity toconstruct […]

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Technology-Enhanced Language Revitalization

This is the second edition of our TELR training manual. The changes are primarily seen in the updating of specific technology and the addition of a tutorial on Publisher. These materials are designed for the true computer beginner who is also an indigenous language practitioner, teacher, student or advocate. In […]

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Sustaining Indigenous Languages in Cyberspace

This paper describes how certain types of electronic technologies, specifically CD-ROMs, computerized databases, and telecommunications networks, are being incorporated into language and culture revitalization projects in Alaska and around the Pacific. The paper presents two examples of CD-ROMs and computerized databases from Alaska, describing how one elementary school produced a […]

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A Lifeline for Endangered Languages

During a gruelling interview at the All Things Digital conference, on May 28th, Walt Mossberg cut off the Apple C.E.O. Tim Cook mid-sentence to raise an uncomfortable subject for the company. “There is a level of control that you exercise—curation, one might say, not just in your app store but […]

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ACORNS Linguistics Project releases new version of software for Indigenous language revitalization

Dan Harvey, Professor of Computer Science at Southern Oregon University, just announced the release of ACORNS 8.0 and the accompanying Sound Editor 2.0. The purpose of the ACORNS project is to support the language revitalization efforts of Native American tribes, hence the name: [AC]quisition [O]f [R]estored [N]ative [S]peech. The acorn […]

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Ojibwe Language Revitalization, Multimedia Technology, and Family Language Learning

Although Indigenous language loss and revitalization are not new topics of academic work nor new areas of community activism (e.g., King, 2001; Grenoble & Whaley, 2006), increased attention has been paid in recent years to the ways that new technology can support efforts to teach and renew endangered languages such […]

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Technology and Language Revitalization: A Conspectus

Increasingly the world’s indigenous people are recognizing the value of using digital environments in the battle against the extinction of their languages and cultures (Hermes & King 2013).  Likewise as indigenous languages become increasingly visible on the internet, perceptions of them as antiquated, irrelevant or anachronistic in the Information Age are […]

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From the Árran to the Internet: Sami Storytelling in Digital Environments

This essay investigates the use of storytelling in the process of cultural and linguistic revitalization through specific contemporary examples drawn from the Internet. By examining instances of adaptation of Sami tales and legends to digital environments, I discuss new premises and challenges for the emergence of such narratives. In particular, […]

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Saving Traditions: The Ngalia people of Western Australia

Excerpt A long running project of the indigenous Ngalia people of Western Australia has adapted a wide variety of technologies in their fight to preserve their traditional knowledge and culture. Back in the 1980s, the indigenous Ngalia people of Western Australia started their own community research project devoted to the […]

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Learning and Knowing in Indigenous Societies Today

The book is organised into three sections. The first addresses the link between indigenous knowledge and indigenous language, and explores the opportunities this interconnection provides for understanding and countering declines in both. The second section examines how the loss of indigenous knowledge due to insensitive school programmes may be countered […]

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Multimedia technology & Indigenous language revitalization: Practical educational tools and applications

Abstract This dissertation reports findings from a study documenting the use of multimedia technology among Indigenous language communities to assist language learners, speakers, instructors, and institutions learn about multimedia technologies that have contributed to Indigenous language revitalization, education, documentation, preservation, and maintenance. The overall study used an adapted technacy framework […]

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Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems (CIKS)

In India, there is a large reservoir of knowledge systems – technologies as well as trained craftsmen and scholars who possess knowledge in various branches of traditional Indian sciences and technologies. These span vast and varied areas like agriculture, architecture, metallurgy, metal working, health care systems and textiles, and also […]

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Cherokee Electronic Dictionary

Critical to the continuing revitalization of the Cherokee language is the need for the development of a “Cherokee Dictionary” of all Cherokee stems, affixes, words and phrases in an easy-to-access electronic computer database. The most important reason for creating an electronic database instead of the typical print dictionary is an […]

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Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA)

AILLA is a digital archive of recordings and texts in and about the indigenous languages of Latin America. Access to archive resources is free of charge. Most of the resources in the AILLA database are available to the public, but some have special access restrictions. The heart of the collection […]

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Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages

The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated solely to the documentation, maintenance, and revitalization of endangered languages globally. It develops and manages linguist-aided, community-led projects that promote the use of digital video, computers, and other modern information technology. Staff members of Living Tongues Institute […]

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The Role of Information Technologies in Indigenous Knowledge Management

Increasingly, communities and organisations around the world are realising the value and significance of Indigenous Knowledge and the importance of preserving it for future generations. Indigenous Knowledge Centres (IKCs) are being established globally, but particularly in Australia, Africa, Latin America and Asia. The capture and preservation of Indigenous Knowledge is […]

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Software Tools for Indigenous Knowledge Management

Indigenous communities are beginning to realize the potential benefits which digital technologies can offer with regard to the documentation and preservation of their histories and cultures. However they are also coming to understand the opportunities for misuse and misappropriation of their knowledge which may accompany digitization. In this paper we […]

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