TY - GEN
T1 - A scalable method for preserving oral literature from small languages
AU - Bird, Steven
PY - 2010/8/16
Y1 - 2010/8/16
N2 - Can the speakers of small languages, which may be remote, unwritten, and endangered, be trained to create an archival record of their oral literature, with only limited external support? This paper describes the model of "Basic Oral Language Documentation", as adapted for use in remote village locations, far from digital archives but close to endangered languages and cultures. Speakers of a small Papuan language were trained and observed during a six week period. Linguistic performances were collected using digital voice recorders. Careful speech versions of selected items, together with spontaneous oral translations into a language of wider communication, were also recorded and curated. A smaller selection was transcribed. This paper describes the method, and shows how it is able to address linguistic, technological and sociological obstacles, and how it can be used to collect a sizeable corpus. We conclude that Basic Oral Language Documentation is a promising technique for expediting the task of preserving endangered linguistic heritage.
AB - Can the speakers of small languages, which may be remote, unwritten, and endangered, be trained to create an archival record of their oral literature, with only limited external support? This paper describes the model of "Basic Oral Language Documentation", as adapted for use in remote village locations, far from digital archives but close to endangered languages and cultures. Speakers of a small Papuan language were trained and observed during a six week period. Linguistic performances were collected using digital voice recorders. Careful speech versions of selected items, together with spontaneous oral translations into a language of wider communication, were also recorded and curated. A smaller selection was transcribed. This paper describes the method, and shows how it is able to address linguistic, technological and sociological obstacles, and how it can be used to collect a sizeable corpus. We conclude that Basic Oral Language Documentation is a promising technique for expediting the task of preserving endangered linguistic heritage.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77955453740&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-642-13654-2_2
DO - 10.1007/978-3-642-13654-2_2
M3 - Conference Paper published in Proceedings
AN - SCOPUS:77955453740
SN - 3642136532
SN - 9783642136535
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 5
EP - 14
BT - Role of Digital Libraries in a Time of Global Change - 12th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2010, Proceedings
A2 - Chowdhury, Gobinda
A2 - Koo, Chris
A2 - Hunter, Jane
PB - Springer Nature
T2 - 12th International Conference on Asia-Pacific Digital Libraries, ICADL 2010
Y2 - 21 June 2010 through 25 June 2010
ER -