A Summary of the First Workshop on Language Technology for Language Documentation and Revitalization

TL;DR

This paper summarizes a workshop that brought together linguists, technologists, and community members to discuss and prototype language revitalization technologies for nine endangered languages, highlighting current challenges and solutions.

Contribution

It presents a collaborative effort to develop practical language technology prototypes aimed at supporting language documentation and revitalization.

Findings

Discussion of key issues in language technology for revitalization

Prototype technologies developed for nine endangered languages

Identification of challenges and future directions in the field

Abstract

Despite recent advances in natural language processing and other language technology, the application of such technology to language documentation and conservation has been limited. In August 2019, a workshop was held at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to attempt to bring together language community members, documentary linguists, and technologists to discuss how to bridge this gap and create prototypes of novel and practical language revitalization technologies. This paper reports the results of this workshop, including issues discussed, and various conceived and implemented technologies for nine languages: Arapaho, Cayuga, Inuktitut, Irish Gaelic, Kidaw'ida, Kwak'wala, Ojibwe, San Juan Quiahije Chatino, and Seneca.