Talk: Language Documentation and Language Technologies for Lesser-Used Languages

Today, Peter Bouda and Vera Ferreira from CIDLeS will give a talk on “Language Documentation and Language Technologies for Lesser-Used Languages” at the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria (Portugal).

Abstract:
Around 7000 languages are currently spoken all over the world. But each 14 days a language dies. Language documentation is a highly technological linguistic discipline that records and archives linguistic practices of the language communities that are in danger of extinction. The data that is collected in those projects is used in revitalization projects and helps to create software and methods for speakers to actively use endangered languages online and offline. The project „Documentation of Minderico“, a language still spoken by a few hundred people in Minde/Portugal, will be presented as an example case for the technology and software used in language documentation projects and how especially natural language processing technologies support the efforts to keep Minderico a living language.