Internet-Linguistics

"Language is the SOUL of a nation." Chief Oren Lyons, Onondaga Nation

Photo: © Dan Budnick The Indigenous Language Institute, founded in 1992, is dedicated to the preservation, revitalization and perpetuation of languages. Its mission “recognizes the imminent loss of indigenous peoples' languages and acknowledges the individuality of indigenous communities. ILI facilitates innovative, for successful community-based initiatives for language revitalization through collaboration with other appropriate groups and organizations, and promotes public awareness of this crisis.” "Language is the SOUL of a nation." Chief Oren Lyons, Onondaga Nation

Digital race to save languages By Andy Webster in Melbourne Researchers are fighting against time to save decades of data on the world's endangered languages from ending on the digital scrap heap. Computer scientist and linguist Professor Steven Bird of Melbourne University says most computer files, documents and original digital recordings created more than 10 years ago are now virtually irretrievable. Linguists are worried because they have been enthusiastic digital pioneers. Attracted by ever smaller, lighter equipment and vastly improved storage capacity, field researchers have graduated from handwritten notes and wire recordings to laptops, mini-discs, DAT tape and MP3. "We are sitting between the onset of the digital era and the mass extinction of the world's languages," said Prof Bird. "The window of opportunity is small and shutting fast."

UNESCO encourages Governments to participate in the next meeting of ICANN 06-06-2008 (Paris) © iStock UNESCO encourages Governments to participate in the next meeting of the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), to be held in Paris from 22 to 26 June 2008, in Le Meridien Montparnasse (19, rue du Commandant Mouchotte, 75014 Paris). The GAC plays a key role in guiding public policy issues discussed within ICANN, particularly with regard to the development of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). IDNs are the Internet domain names that could contain letters with diacritics, such as accent marks, or characters from non-Latin scripts. Currently the Internet domain names, for example “unesco.org" or “louvre.fr”, can contain only Latin scripts. UNESCO is committed to actively participating in the development of IDNs as part of its broader commitment to promote universal access to information, and cultural and linguistic diversity in cyberspace. Membership of the GAC is open to all representatives of Governments, public authorities as well as intergovernmental organizations. For more information on ICANN and GAC, and to register for the Paris meeting, please click here

ICTs in Education Prize: call for nominations 23-05-2008 (Paris) © iStock "Digital Opportunities for All: Preparing Students for 21st-Century Skills" is the theme of the 2008 UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of ICTs in Education. Funded by the Kingdom of Bahrain, the US$50,000 prize is divided between two winners. Every year, this prize rewards activities that demonstrate best practice as well as creative use of ICTs to enhance learning, teaching and overall educational performance. Submissions for candidature must reach UNESCO via the governments of Member States, in consultation with their UNESCO National Commissions, or by international non-governmental organizations which maintain formal relations with the Organization. The deadline for submissions is 31 August 2008. Winners will be celebrated at an award ceremony on 14 January 2009 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

Ofelia Zepeda's work to inspire appreciation of the Tohono O'odham language is among her many efforts to preserve and revitalize the world's many endangered languages. She is considered one of the ...

Internet Strategies for Empowering Indigenous Communities in Teaching and Learning

Short Documentary for Unesco on Endangered Languages

On-Line Research DIGITAL DREAMING: A National Review of Indigenous Media and Communications Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission http://www.atsic.gov.au/Programs/broadcasting/Digital_Dreaming/default.asp Guidelines for Strengthening Indigenous Languages Adopted by Assembly of Alaska Native Educators. Anchorage, Alaska, February 6, 2001 Alaska Native Knowledge Network http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/standards/Language.html The Role of the Computer in Learning Ndjébbana Glenn Auld. Language Learning & Technology. Special Issue, Technology and Indigenous Languages. Volume 6, Number 2, May 2002. http://llt.msu.edu/vol6num2/default.html Internet Strategies for Empowering Indigenous Communities in Teaching and Learning Ron Aust, Brian Newberry, and Paul Resta. INET, 1996. http://www.isoc.org/isoc/whatis/conferences/inet/96/proceedings/h4/h4_4.htm Charter Schools Keep Native Language Alive by Rhoda Barton. Northwest Education Magazine, Vol. 9, No.3, Spring 2004. http://www.nwrel.org/nwedu/09-03/charter.php Saving a Language with Computers, Tape Recorders, and Radio Ruth Bennet. 2003. In Nuturing Native Languages. Reyner, J., Octaviana V. Trujillo, Roberto Luis Carrasco, and Louise Lockard. Northern Arizona University. http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/NNL/NNL_5.pdf Reversing Russia's Indigenous Languages Shift in View of International Experience: A Policy Brief for the FSA Contemporary Issues Fellowship Program. Tamamara Borgoiakova. http://www.irex.org/programs/ci/spotlight/03-feb-jun/Borgoiakova.pdf CAN THE WEB HELP SAVE MY LANGUAGE?Laura Buszard-Welcher. Published in Leanne Hinton and Ken Hale, eds. (2001) The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice. Pp. 331-48. San Diego: Academic Press. http://www.potawatomilang.org/Reference/endlgsweb4.htm

NO VIDEO, just the songThis song is taken from the album Spiritual Songs, chants, flute music of the America [Doppel-CD, released 1997] If you want to know more about meanings of humming bird to native american people please visit this pagehttp://www.aaanativearts.com/article1...regards

A "Northwest Indian News" story about using "Technology to perpetuate Indigenous Language".

A clip abot the endangered language Naso in Panama. Property of The Discovery Channel.

[PDF] The internet as a Rescue Tool of Endangered Languages: SardinianFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTMLFor the status of Sardinian as an endangered language, see also the ... Ultimately, the Internet site serves to reinforce the linguistic consciousness of ...www.gaia.es/multilinguae/pdf/Guido.PDF - Similar pages - Note this

Glossary

Biao Min Case Study: From Notecards to the Web

California Indians gather in Berkeley to learn how to save dying languagesBy Matt O'Brien Contra Costa TimesArticle Launched: 06/13/2008 06:19:38 PM PDT var requestedWidth = 0; Click photo to enlarge Leanne Hinton, professor emeritus of linguistics at U.C. Berkeley, discuss the Native American...«12345» viewer_currentlySelected = 1; viewer_lastIndex = 5; viewer_images = ['http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2008/0613/20080613__ecct0614indian~1_Viewer.JPG','http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2008/0613/20080613__ecct0614indian~2_Viewer.JPG','http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2008/0613/20080613__ecct0614indian~3_Viewer.JPG','http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2008/0613/20080613__ecct0614indian~4_Viewer.JPG','http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2008/0613/20080613__ecct0614indian~5_Viewer.JPG']; viewer_widths = ['88','89','200','192','103']; viewer_heights = ['140','140','114','139','140']; viewer_captions = [" Leanne Hinton, professor emeritus of linguistics at U.C. Berkeley, discuss the Native American..."," Ernestine Ygnacio-DeSoto , a member of the Barbarine tribe from the Santa Barbara area,..."," Julia Bogany, Virginia Carmelo and Jacob Gutierrez, react to a language lesson in the Konkow..."," Lori Laiwa, giving a language lesson in the Central Pomo dialect at the Breath of Life..."," A language lesson in the dialect of the Monterey Ohlone native americans, presented as a one act..."]; viewer_galleryUrl = '/portlet/article/html/render_gallery.jsp'; viewer_articleId = '9580467'; viewer_siteId = '571'; viewer_isPreviewing = 'false'; viewer_isEmbedded = ''; viewer_activeButtonLead = 2; viewer_visibleButtonCount = 5; viewer_allowEnlargement = !isEmpty(viewer_galleryUrl); selectImage(1); displayOn('control_box'); function addToDimension(dim, val){ index = dim.indexOf('px'); if(index != -1){ dim = dim.substring(0, index); } dim = parseInt(dim) + val; return dim; } if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("MSIE") != -1){ $('photoviewer').style.width = addToDimension($('photoviewer').style.width, 2); $('caption').style.height = addToDimension($('caption').style.height, 2); } requestedWidth = 202; if(requestedWidth > 0){ document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.width = requestedWidth + "px"; document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.margin = "0px 0px 10px 10px"; } BERKELEY — The first time Barbara Pineda came into contact with a linguist, she was wary about what he wanted.An academic researcher from UC Berkeley was visiting her grandmother's home in Mendocino County in the early 1960s, taking notes as her family shared words from their Northern Pomo language."I thought he came to steal it," said Pineda, who was about 8 years old at the time. "My grandmother called me over and said, 'It's OK. He's a friend.'"Pineda, 53, is now trying to salvage the endangered language that her grandmother helped document decades ago. She is one of dozens of California Indians who gathered in Berkeley from across the state this week in hopes they can learn from the university, and from each other, how to preserve languages threatened with extinction."I'm trying to find the notes on her," Pineda said. "That's what inspired me to come here. It's coming back. What they took is coming back, in a good way."

July/August 2008 Atlantic Monthly What the Internet is doing to our brains by Nicholas Carr Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Formosan Language Archive Formosan Corpus Language GIS Bibliography Help Links Home BACKGROUND The Formosan Language Digital Archive is part of the Language Digital Archive developed within the Academia Sinica under the auspices of the National Science Council. The conceptaul design of the Formosan Language Archive has been made under the direction of Elizabeth Zeitoun. The aims of this project are to collect, conserve, edit and disseminate via the world wide web a virtual library of language and linguistic resources permitting access to recorded and transcribed Formosan data collections. The Formosan languages belong to a widespread language family called "Austronesian", which include all the languages spoken throughout the islands of the Pacific and Indian Ocean (Madagascar, Indonesian, the Philippines, Taiwan, New Guinea, New Zealand, Hawaii and the islands of Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia). A few languages are found in the Malay peninsula and in the Indo-Chinese peninsula (Vietnam and Cambodia). The Formosan languages exhibit very rich linguistic diversity and the variations that oppose different dialects/languages are enormous. These languages are extremely useful in comparative work but though they have been known to be on the verge of extinction for years, Formosan languages, Formosan linguistics as a specific field has bloomed only very recently, with the participation of more scholars adopting different contemporary linguistic approaches to investigate individual languages or establishing cross-linguistic comparisons.  Unlike Chinese, the Formosan languages do not have any writing system and the lack of written records dampen our knowledge of extinct languages. Today, while elders are still able to speak their mother tongues fluently, the young cannot, as a result of migration in the cities and the prevalence of Mandarin Chinese in every day life.