Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 1
is now available online

University of Hawai‘i Press
ISBN 978-0-8248-3309-1
2007

Documenting and Revitalizing Austronesian Languages

edited by D. Victoria Rau and Margaret Florey

Front cover pdf
Front matter pdf
Table of contents pdf
Contributors pdf

Chapter 1. Introduction: Documenting and revitalizing Austronesian languages
Margaret Florey

This chapter provides an overview of the issues and themes which emerge throughout this book. It begins with a brief description of language revitalization activities which are taking place in the Pazeh, Kahabu and Thao aboriginal communities in the mountains and plains of Taiwan. The activities of elders in these communities exemplify the growth of language activism. These case studies lead to a discussion of changes in the field of linguistics and the alliances which are being built between linguists and community language activists. The 11 chapters in the book are then reviewed within the key themes of international capacity building initiatives, documentation and revitalization activities, and computational methods and tools for language documentation.

PART I. INTERNATIONAL CAPACITY BUILDING INITIATIVES

Chapter 2. The language documentation and conservation initiative at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
Kenneth L. Rehg

Since its inception in 1963, the Department of Linguistics at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) has had a special focus on Austronesian and Asian languages. It has supported and encouraged fieldwork on these languages, and it has played a major role in the development of vernacular language education programs in Micronesia and elsewhere. In 2003, the department renewed and intensified its commitment to such work through what I shall refer to in this chapter as the Language Documentation and Conservation Initiative (LDCI). The LDCI has three major objectives. The first is to provide high- quality training to graduate students who wish to undertake the essential task of documenting the many underdocumented and endangered languages of Asia and the Pacific. The second is to promote collaborative research efforts among linguists, native speakers of endangered and underdocumented languages, and other interested parties. The third is to facilitate the free and open exchange of ideas among all those working in this field. In this chapter, I discuss each of these three objectives and the activities being conducted at UHM in support of them.

Chapter 3. Training for language documentation: Experiences at the School of Oriental and African Studies
Peter K. Austin

Since 2003 the Endangered Languages Project at SOAS has been involved in various types of training for documentation of endangered languages, ranging from one-day workshops through to MA and PhD post-graduate degree programmes. The training events have been attended by specialists, research grantees, students, and members of the general public, and have covered a wide range of topics and involved delivery in a range of contexts and delivery modes, including hands-on practical sessions and e-learning in the Blackboard framework. We have covered both theory and practice of language documentation and endangered language support, including the development of multimedia and curriculum materials for language teaching, some of it experimental and, we think, quite innovative.

In this chapter I discuss some of our experiences in developing and running these training workshops and courses, reporting on the models, and successes (and failures) over the past three and a half years. My goal is to share our accumulated knowledge and experience with others with similar interests, and in doing so to advance our understanding of the possibilities for language documentation training.

Chapter 4. SIL International and endangered Austronesian languages
J. Stephen Quakenbush

SIL International has been partnering with Austronesian language communities in language development for over fifty years. This chapter briefly reviews that history, situates it in the current environment of international concern for the documentation and revitalization of endangered languages, and looks at ways in which SIL might assist endangered Austronesian language communities of today. Two aspects of language development are considered—one more “academic” in nature, focusing on products primarily of interest to linguists and other researchers; the other more “development” in nature, focusing on language resources and competencies of greater interest and relevance to language communities. The chapter summarizes some recent studies related to language endangerment/vitality, and considers how language development relates to language revitalization and documentary linguistics. SIL can continue to learn from and link with others in describing and documenting endangered Austronesian languages, in providing consulting and training at the request of language communities and others, and in designing and developing affordable language software to help accomplish related tasks.

PART II. DOCUMENTATION AND REVITALIZATION ACTIVITIES

Chapter 5. Local autonomy, local capacity building and support for minority languages: Field experiences from Indonesia
I Wayan Arka

This chapter discusses the complexity of language/cultural maintenance and revival, highlighting the significance of building and supporting long-term local capacity. These complex issues are discussed in the current context of rapid political change towards greater local autonomy in Indonesia. After some background on aims and regulations of decentralization, the Balinese in Bali and Rongga in Flores are compared and discussed based on the author’s field experiences. It is argued that capacity building and support must include more than simply developing human resources. Strengthening, reforming, and/or restoring relevant institutions, particularly in relation to customary adat systems, are equally important. While a macro perspective must be adopted, priority must be given to a community- based approach and to long term capacity building and support at the most local level. The comparison of the Rongga and Balinese helps clarify how a range of inter-related socio-political and economic variables at the local and regional levels play a significant role in providing and/or inducing good conditions for bottom-up community-based initiatives in language/cultural maintenance and revival.

Chapter 6. Documenting and revitalizing Kavalan
Fuhui Hsieh and Shuanfan Huang

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a two-dimensional approach to language documentation (Hi mmelman 1998). In addition to building a database, we also conducted a sociolinguistic survey des igned to document the state of health of a language in a particular spatio-temporal frame. Our goa l is to share our fieldwork experience of documenting Kavalan, a seriously endangered language in sou theastern Taiwan now spoken by fewer than just a few dozen speakers. We first discuss our field exp eriences in working with speakers of Kavalan in Sinshe village, the only significant Kavalan set tlement left in Taiwan, and the state of the Kavalan language, based in part on Huang and Cha ng’s (19 95) earlier sociolinguistic survey, and in part on a recent more in-depth village-wide survey of lan guage use in the community.

Next, we introduce the NTU Corpus of Formosan Languages, part of which incorporates our corpus data in Kavalan. The NTU Corpus of Formosan Languages aims to establish a standard for the creation of linguistic corpus databases through the application of information technology to linguistic research. The creation of this linguistic database enables us both to preserve valuable linguistic data and to provide a systematic recording of these languages, for the benefit of future linguistic research.

Chapter 7. E-learning in endangered language documentation and revitalization
D. Victoria Rau and Meng-Chien Yang

This chapter analyses the application of e-learning in the revitalization of endangered languages. It outlines the areas in which e-learning is efficacious, the attitudes of the indigenous language teachers to e-learning, the feelings of the Yami community toward this kind of pedagogy, and the reactions of the users, mostly young and adolescent learners of Yami.

The findings are based on the results of surveys and in-depth studies in the Yami community and also on surveys made in a nation-wide seminar that enrolled teachers of the majority of the still-spoken aboriginal languages in Taiwan. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to gather empirical data to address questions in the following three areas: (1) the contexts of developing e- Learning materials for endangered indigenous languages in Taiwan, (2) the indigenous language teachers’ perceptions of e-Learning in Taiwan, and (3) the attitudes of the Yami community on Orchid Island toward e-Learning.

This chapter provides a model for the many language revitalization projects underway in Taiwan and worldwide to take advantage of e-Learning. It also provides guidelines that enable each project to better understand the kinds of e-Learning that workto make e-Learning acceptable and efficacious.

Chapter 8. Indigenous language–informed participatory policy in Taiwan: A socio-political perspective
Yih-Ren Lin, Lahwy Icyeh, and Da-Wei Kuan (Daya)

This chapter highlights the importance of incorporating indigenous language and its daily practice in the local context of newly transformed indigenous policy in Taiwan. Currently, the official indigenous people’s language policy is relatively confined to curriculum development and certification of indigenous peoples’ language abilities with little consideration of language practices in real socio- political situations. This chapter questions whether the revitalization of endangered indigenous languages can rely only on language policy per se. The participatory action research (PAR) methodology is employed as a main research method in inhabited Atayal communities. This chapter is divided into three main parts: firstly, a brief socio-political history of indigenous people in Taiwan is provided; secondly, two socio-political official projects related to traditional territory sovereignty are analyzed: their failure is revealed due to the neglect of indigenous language and local participation; thirdly, a case from an Atayal village, Smangus, is provided to show how indigenous languages can be revitalized through combining the villagers’ daily practices and participation. In conclusion, this chapter argues for a combining of language policy with other socio-political policies so as to create environments in which indigenous peoples can speak their own languages.

Chapter 9. Teaching and learning an endangered Austronesian language in Taiwan
D. Victoria Rau, Hui-Huan Chang, Yin-Sheng Tai, Zhen-Yi Yang, Yi-Hui Lin, Chia-Chi Yang, and Maa-Neu Dong
This chapter provides a case study of the process of endangered language acquisition, which has not been well studied from the viewpoint of applied linguistics. It describes the context of teaching Chinese adult learners in Taiwan an endangered indigenous language, the teachers’ pedagogical approaches, the phonological and syntactic acquisition processes the learners were undergoing, and applications to other language documentation and revitalization programs. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to address the research questions.

This study demonstrates cogently that language is a complex adaptive system. In phonological acquisition, the trill was the most difficult phoneme to learn. Systematic variations for the variables (ŋ) and (s) were found to be constrained by both markedness and interference. Furthermore, learners also tended to interpret Yami orthography based on their knowledge of English. In word order acquisition, learners performed much better than expected, partially because the present tense, coded by the SV word order, is the norm in Yami conversations. However, students still inaccurately associated word order with sentence type rather than with tense distinction.

The Yami case provides an integrated model for endangered language documentation, revitalization and pedagogical research, which would be of interest to people working with other languages and the language documentation field in general.

PART III. COMPUTATIONAL METHODS AND TOOLS FOR LANGUAGE DOCUMENTATION

Chapter 10. WeSay, a tool for engaging communities in dictionary building
Eric Albright and John Hatton

This chapter introduces WeSay, an open source software application designed to involve language community members in the description and documentation of their language. Intended for rugged, low-power hardware, WeSay’s simplified user interface removes many barriers that typically prevent the direct involvement of community members.

In this chapter, we describe the dictionary-building features of WeSay that allow a linguist to tailor a sequence of language documentation tasks to engage community members. These tasks reduce a production step to its simplest form, enabling focused training and division of labor. Word gathering tasks use semantic domains, word lists, or patterns of likely words to build up the dictionary. Successive tasks add specific content, such as glosses and example sentences, to the entries. In addition, the program can prepare simple paper publications designed to promote community support for the effort and can transfer the raw data to the linguist for further processing with tools that are more powerful.

Chapter 11. On designing the Formosan multimedia word dictionaries by a participatory process Meng-Chien Yang, Hsin-Ta Chou, Huey-Shiuan Guo, and Gia-Pyng Chen

Digital archiving is important work for an endangered language, because if an endangered language disappears, associated cultural assets will disappear altogether. Several digital archiving projects are being conducted in Taiwan. Many tribal teachers are now involved in these projects. Based on the needs of these tribal teachers, this chapter presents an easy-to-use system for digitally archiving Formosan Languages. The proposed approach takes advantage of the Internet and the newly launched Web 2.0 sharing platform. This chapter gives details of the development and structure of the online dictionary system. Currently, several archiving projects in Taiwan are using this system to teach tribal teachers how to develop their own language resources and online dictionaries.

Chapter 12. Annotating texts for language documentation with Discourse Profiler’s metatagging system
Phil Quick

This chapter introduces a systematic and robust way to annotate (or ‘tag’) texts with discourse information. To date there has not been a method for annotating texts for language documentation with discourse-text information. This is the first paper to systematically describe the capabilities and the annotating methodology of the Discourse Profiler’s metatagging system as a means of annotating endangered languages’ texts in a Toolbox database. Since there is a division of labor between Toolbox and Discourse Profiler, the Toolbox database can be the basis for the archival tasks, whereas the Discourse Profiler software is a computer assisted discourse-text analytical tool that mines the Toolbox discourse-text annotated database in order to produce two primary capabilities: (1) to create a representative interactive compressed representation or ‘map’ of the structure and elements of a text, and (2) to quantify texts based on this special metatagging system with an array of sixteen different possible statistical outputs (including both referential distance and topic persistence statistics).

Although the main focus of this chapter is on the multipurpose annotation system, I will introduce the basics of the Discourse Profiler software in order to illustrate the range of analytical possibilities that this annotation system incorporates.

ARTICLES

Natqgu Literacy: Capturing Three Domains for Written Language Use
Brenda H. Boerger

This article is a field report on the results of the Santa Cruz, Solomon Islands, Natqgu Language Project that encourages the Natqgu-speaking community to begin using the written vernacular in three domains where English and/or Solomon Islands Pijin were already well established: church, school, and home, and where written Natqgu had rarely been used. Ten factors contributed to recovering significant portions of these domains for written Natqgu over a twenty year period: a new orthography, literacy courses led by a national, sufficient vernacular literacy materials, vernacular literacy classes in two primary schools, a desire to learn song lyrics, later island-wide involvement of teachers and the distribution of literacy materials to their schools, the addressing of perceived language inferiority, promoters of written Natqgu in spheres of influence, computer technology, and friendly competition to gain reading fluency. A model incorporating analogous factors could contribute to language conservation efforts elsewhere in the world. The use of written Natqgu can be expected to continue on the island, since the domains that have been established for its use represent three major arenas of Santa Cruz society. It is also expected that increased use of written Natqgu will undergird spoken Natqgu and contribute to its long-term stability and vitality.

The Use of Perception Tests in Studying the Tonal System of Prinmi Dialects: A Speaker-centered Approach to Descriptive Linguistics
Picus Sizhi Ding

Contrary to previous description based on the Mandarin model of syllable-tone system, Xinyingpan, a dialect of Prinmi (a Tibeto-Burman language of China), has been discovered to possess a melody-tone system (or “pitch-accent” system) akin to that of Japanese. Targeting the crux of the unusual characteristics of this melody-tone system, where neutralization of two tonal categories in citation form is possible, this study uses perception tests to explore (dis)similarities among the tonal system of Xinyingpan Prinmi and those of other dialects. The perception tests consist of several minimal pairs of words contrasting solely by tone in a sentence frame. Results from more than twenty native speakers of fifteen Prinmi dialects from Ninglang, Lanping, and Yulong counties in Yunnan show that at least three minimal pairs of words in other dialects use the same tonal patterns for contrast in connected speech as in Xinyingpan. Evidence for the contrastive status of the pairs of words was attained directly from speakers who helped to prepare materials for the perception tests. This paper will also discuss some effects of language shift, such as linguistic attrition, observed in the empirical study.

The Gbe Language Continuum of West Africa: A Synchronic Typological Approach to Prioritizing In-depth Sociolinguistic Research on Literature Extensibility
Angela Kluge

For large language continua, such as Gbe of West Africa, a major challenge stakeholders concerned with language planning issues are facing is the question of the extensibility of written materials. To adequately inform language development program decisions in terms of literature extensibility, ideally, in-depth sociolinguistic studies would be conducted in all of the varieties involved, an undertaking that proves rather unfeasible for large continua.This paper proposes that when applying a multifaceted approach to linguistic data interpretation, such in-depth sociolinguistic studies may be unnecessary. This paper compares the findings of synchronic analyses of lexical and grammatical features elicited among 49 Gbe varieties to the outcomes of more recent Rapid Appraisal sociolinguistic surveys, and the findings of two diachronic studies. In considering the different approaches as complementing rather than contradicting each other, the proposed multifaceted approach exemplifies how different outcomes from various studies may be used to inform focused in-depth sociolinguistic research. Such research would in turn directly influence language program development decisions as to the extensibility of already existing literature to the remaining speech communities of the continuum.

Bislama into Kwamera: Code-mixing and Language Change on Tanna (Vanuatu)
Lamont Lindstrom

People throughout Vanuatu frequently mix Bislama (that country’s national Pidgin) into their vernaculars. Extensive code-mixing is an obvious indicator, and sometime cause, of language change or even language replacement. This paper discusses several sorts of Bislama code-mixing on Tanna among speakers of that island’s Kwamera language. It assesses levels and kinds of Bislama use in four village debates, tape-recorded in 1982 and 1983. Among other uses, Kwamera speakers mix Bislama when interjecting, reiterating, reporting speech, neutralizing marked vernacular terms, and qualifying what they say. The paper concludes with some remarks on the phonological, morphological/syntactic, and lexical/semantic consequences of recurrent language mixing—on how Islanders’ insertions of Bislama into their oratorical and everyday talk may or may not be effecting linguistic change in Kwamera. Bislama, so far at least, has enriched more than it has impoverished Tanna’s linguistic ecology. Speakers’ frequent Bislama mixes have not yet seriously undermined their vernacular.

Fostering the Growth of Budding Community Initiatives: The Role of Linguists in Tokelauan Maintenance in Hawai‘i
Yuko Otsuka and Andrew Wong

This paper discusses our involvement in the language revitalization project initiated by the Tokelauan community in Central O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. Nearly 1,000 people of Tokelauan descent live in Hawai‘i. Several elders have observed that a language shift from Tokelauan (Polynesian) to English and/or Hawai‘i Creole English is taking place in the community. Our involvement in the project illustrates several fundamental issues about language revitalization: (1) the need for collaboration not only between linguists and community members, but also among linguists with different areas of expertise, (2) the significance of balancing the needs of the community with those of researchers, (3) the importance of publicizing our research, and (4) the question of who is responsible for protecting the language right of immigrant populations.

Collaborative Linguistic Fieldwork: Practical Application of the Empowerment Model
Racquel-Maria Yamada

Academic linguists working to document and describe minoritized and endangered languages share with speech community members a devotion to the language of study. For the academic, language provides a window into cognition and the capacity of the human mind. For the speech community member, language represents cultural heritage and, for many, a tie to place and a sense of identity. Both parties have a vested interest in the documentation, description, and preservation of lesser-spoken languages as a way to perpetuate global linguistic and cultural diversity and maintain ties to heritage. Many who conduct linguistic fieldwork with endangered languages have noted that the needs and desires of the speech community are often subordinated in favor of those of the academic linguist. Some academics fear that time spent meeting community needs diminishes the field-worker’s academic productivity. This paper describes several collaborative, community-based projects that address the needs of both academics and the speech community, using case-study examples from the author’s own fieldwork with a Kari’nja community in Suriname. In discussing each project, emphasis is given to practical methods of meeting needs of both the academic and speech communities, and to how this ensures more balanced participation of each in the linguistic fieldwork endeavor.

TECHNOLOGY REVIEWS

Review of EUDICO Linguistic Annotator (ELAN)
Reviewed by Andrea L. Berez

Review of Audiamus 2.3
Reviewed by Amanda Brotchie

Review of LexiquePro
Reviewed by Valérie Guérin and Sébastien Lacrampe

Review of Fontographer
Reviewed by: Mia Kalish

BOOK REVIEWS

Review of A Hausa-English Dictionary
Reviewed by William R. Leben

Review of When Languages Die
Reviewed by Keren Rice

ARTICLES

Endangered Sound Patterns: Three Perspectives on Theory and Description
Juliette Blevins

In this essay, I highlight the important role of endangered language documentation and description in the study of sound patterns. Three different perspectives are presented: a long view of phonology, from ancient to modern traditions; an areal and genetic view of sound patterns, and their relation to theory and description; and a practical perspective on the importance of research on endangered sound patterns. All perspectives converge on a common theme: the most lasting and influential contributions to the field are those with seamless boundaries between description and analysis.

Solar Power for the Digital Fieldworker
Tom Honeyman and Laura C. Robinson

This article discusses the technical aspects of a solar power setup for remote field situations. It guides the reader through estimating power consumption and setting up a basic solar kit. The authors address picking a solar panel, using a charge regulator, and choosing a battery based on estimated power consumption and availability. They discuss two different types of power adaptors, how to connect the equipment, and the benefits and drawbacks of using multi-meters. They address the use of rechargeable batteries and finally, caution against too heavy a reliance on solar power.

Copyright Essentials for Linguists
Paul Newman

This paper addresses copyright issues that linguists confront in their capacity as users and creators of scholarly work. It is organized in a simple question-answer format. Questions 1–3 present the basics of U.S. copyright law, including the fundamental nature of copyright as a bundle of intellectual property rights and the role of registration. Questions 4–5 treat issues of copyright notice. Questions 6–8 explain licenses, especially Creative Commons licenses, and the function of an Author’s Addendum. Questions 9–10 look at copyright in the context of online open access publishing. Question 11 discusses the concept of Fair Use. Question 12 analyzes the problem of what are called Orphan Works. Questions 13–19 explore issues of copyright ownership, including Work for Hire, joint authorship, and attribution. Questions 20–22 deal with copyright with specific reference to fieldwork situations and indigenous rights. The paper concludes with a brief presentation of key sources for further study and clarification.

Managing Fieldwork Data with Toolbox and the Natural Language Toolkit
Stuart Robinson, Greg Aumann, and Steven Bird

This paper shows how fieldwork data can be managed using the program Toolbox together with the Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK) for the Python programming language. It provides background information about Toolbox and describes how it can be downloaded and installed. The basic functionality of the program for lexicons and texts is described, and its strengths and weaknesses are reviewed. Its underlying data format is briefly discussed, and Toolbox processing capabilities of NLTK are introduced, showing ways in which it can be used to extend the functionality of Toolbox. This is illustrated with a few simple scripts that demonstrate basic data management tasks relevant to language documentation, such as printing out the contents of a lexicon as HTML.

Ethics and Revitalization of Dormant Languages: The Mutsun Language
Natasha Warner, Quirina Luna, and Lynnika Butler

Language revitalization (either increasing the use of an endangered language or bringing back a language with no speakers) brings up many ethical issues, beginning with whether it is even legitimate to attempt such revitalization. Language communities and linguists must address these issues if revitalization is to succeed in any of its goals. In this paper, we discuss the ethical issues we have encountered and the choices we have made about them during revitalization work with the Mutsun language (a dormant Costanoan language of California). We argue that language revitalization is a useful and legitimate application of linguistic knowledge.

Writer’s Workshops: A Strategy for Developing Indigenous Writers
Diana Dahlin Weber, Diane Wroge, and Joan Bomberger Yoder

This paper discusses how writers’ workshops can be used to develop writers from indigenous language groups. It considers how such workshops fit into the greater context of a community literacy program, and describes both the practical and instructional components of workshop design. Of particular importance is the principle of teaching writing as a process. Examples from Papua New Guinea demonstrate the role writers’ workshops play in developing indigenous orthographies and materials that contribute to culturally relevant educational curricula. Finally, the merits and weaknesses of such training are discussed, and questions for further research are raised.

TECHNOLOGY REVIEWS

Review of TshwaneLex Dictionary Compilation Software
Reviewed by Claire Bowern

Review of Fieldworks Language Explorer (FLEx)
Reviewed by Lynnika Butler and Heather van Volkinburg

Review of Computerized Language Analysis (CLAN)
Reviewed by Felicity Meakins

BOOK REVIEWS

Review of A Grammar of South Efate: An Oceanic Language of Vanuatu
Robert Early

Review of Kerresel a klechibelau: Tekoi er a Belau me a omesodel: Palauan language lexicon
Robert E. Gibson