IT researchers preserve remote languages

BY GRETA HARRISON
UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

RESEARCHERS FROM THE MELBOURNE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING are travelling to remote Papua New Guinea to trial a mobile app that will document and preserve the region’s unique dialects; languages that are at critical risk of being lost forever.

The project is being led by Associate Professor Steven Bird [pictured] from the Department of Computing and Information Systems.

PNG has over 800 distinct languages, around one third of the world’s indigenous tongues. This linguistic and cultural treasure is at risk of being lost as the languages fall out of use.

“Now is the time to record and translate the stories and songs, so they can be heard and understood by future generations.” Prof Bird said.

“The best way to do this on a large scale is to use mobile phones. They are already in widespread use, even in villages without electricity, where they are recharged using car batteries.”

Doctoral student, Florian Hanke, developed the software for Android phones, which is capable of recording audio and sharing it over a local network.

“These people have extensive knowledge of their environment and a rich oral literature, none of which is recorded,” said Prof Bird. “We are introducing … social networking in a place with no previous contact with the Web.”

The project taps into the traditional knowledge of elders, combining it with the skills of a younger generation who have western-style education and carry mobile phones.

An elder will record a story on one phone. Someone else will then rate it, or supply another version of the story. Those listening to stories add their vote of approval and in some cases offer additional details.

A bilingual person will then listen to a highly-rated story on another phone and provide a translation into English. Another person will listen to the English and transcribe it. Over time, researchers will build up a large database of translated texts in many of the local languages.

Associate Professor Bird described the technology as a modern-day spoken Rosetta Stone, drawing on the wisdom of the community.

Within PNG, the project is receiving logistical support from the University of Goroka and the Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Dr Avei-Hosea, Dean of Humanities at the University of Goroka, said that PNG was one of the few countries in the world that still practices its oral cultures and speaks its languages, and is richly blessed with untapped traditional knowledge.

“More than 80% of PNG’s knowledge systems have not been researched, recorded and archived.

“Most of the Papua New Guineans who hold such knowledge are old people and if we do not act fast in preserving such knowledge, it is certain that we will lose what is truly ours forever,” Dr Avei-Hosea said.

Comments

[Peter Kranz]

Some technical questions -

Is it possible to use phones than can be set up to use peer-to-peer networking so they can still be used in areas not covered by the national networks then subsequently download the data collected when within range (like OLPC laptops)?

Can Digicel and Telekom come to the party and help provide cheap handsets?

Can this also be linked to educational programmes at local schools? This could be a valuable local learning resource as well. Get the kids involved too and build it into the language and culture curriculum.

[Peter Kranz]

More info here -

http://themelbourneengineer.eng.unimelb.edu.au/2012/02/it-researchers-preserving-the-remote-languages-of-png/

[Peter Kranz]

What a brilliant idea! Especially the community involvement in verifying language details and preserving oral traditions.

Is there a web site where we can keep track of the projects progress?

[Mrs Barbara Short]

Congratulations to the people from the University of Melbourne who are going to help the people from the University of Goroka and SIL record more PNG oral culture - stories and songs, using mobile phones.

They should have a very enjoyable and informative time. Reminds me of the times I recorded the songs on my old reel to reel.

Well educated PNG students, who are bilingual, should be working together to compile lists of the words used in their languages and their meanings - 800 dictionaries - Wow!

A great deal of understanding of the history of PNG tribal groups would be gained from this.