NoLoR: An ASR-Based Framework for Expedited Endangered Language Documentation with Neo-Aramaic as a Case Study

TL;DR

This paper introduces NoLoR, an ASR-based framework designed to accelerate the documentation of endangered languages, demonstrated through a case study on Neo-Aramaic, aiming to preserve linguistic heritage before extinction.

Contribution

It presents a novel ASR framework, NoLoR, specifically tailored for endangered language documentation, with a generalizable strategy beyond Neo-Aramaic.

Findings

Developed an ASR model for Neo-Aramaic

Framework generalizes to other endangered languages

Facilitates rapid language documentation

Abstract

The documentation of the Neo-Aramaic dialects before their extinction has been described as the most urgent task in all of Semitology today. The death of this language will be an unfathomable loss to the descendents of the indigenous speakers of Aramaic, now predominantly diasporic after forced displacement due to violence. This paper develops an ASR model to expedite the documentation of this endangered language and generalizes the strategy in a new framework we call NoLoR.