Designing Corpus-Creation Tools for Language Revitalization

Abstract

ABSTRACT: We have developed a set of corpus-creation tools to support the documentation and revitalization of Isga I?abi (also known as Stoney ), a Siouan language spoken in Alberta. This project has emerged from a collaboration between community language champions and university-based researchers, with the goal of creating a new generation of Stoney speakers. The initial phase of the project has focused on expanding the documentary record of the language by creating a corpus of spoken Isga I?abi, recorded from nearly a dozen fluent speakers. We describe the particular constraints that informed the design of the project and how they led us to create several new tools for elicitation. First was an adaptation of the Summer Institute of Linguistics' Rapid Words Collection method, where, instead of focusing on individual lexemes, we collected thematically organized sentences displaying targeted grammatical properties. Next, we developed a photo prompter tool, which allows speakers to describe what they see in a photo, but also to discuss the photo with other speakers in spontaneous discourse. These simple tools allow the speakers to handle the day-to-day work of language documentation themselves, without needing a linguist to be present during those sessions. The outputs from this process (currently over fifty hours of audio) will find their way into various resources and activities for language teachers and learners. Insights from the Isga I?abi speakers themselves reflect on their use of the tools and their perspectives on the project to date.