SP01: Documenting and Revitalizing Austronesian Languages

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ISBN 978-0-8248-3309-1

Editors

D. Victoria Rau, Margaret Florey

Abstract

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

Contents

Front matter

Table of contents

Contributors

Introduction: Documenting and revitalizing Austronesian languages
Margaret Florey

Part 1. International Capacity Building Initiatives

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

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

SIL International and endangered Austronesian languages
J. Stephen Quakenbush

Part 2. Documentation and Revitalization Activities

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

Documenting and revitalizing Kavalan
Fuhui Hsieh and Shuanfan Huang

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

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

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

Part 3. Computational Methods and Tools for Language Documentation

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

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

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