News

New Phone App Launched for the Ma! Iwaidja Dictionary

Version 1.0 of the Ma! Iwaidja mobile phone app, which runs on both iOS and Android platforms, consists of:

  • a 1,500 entry English-Iwaidja dictionary (with audio),
  • a 450-entry English-Iwaidja phrase book (with audio),
  • a Conjugator with a 'wheel-based' interface (UIPickerView) allowing the user to conjugate verbs, body parts, etc., and
  • an information section containing information about endangered languages in Arnhem Land, an introduction to Iwaidja, and cultural notes.

The app also gives users the capacity to record new dictionary or phrase book entries using the on-board recording capability of their phone, allowing each user to 'customize' their app by including, for instance, new phrases which are particularly useful in their interactions or their work.

The iOS version of the app can be downloaded from http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/ma-iwaidja/id557824618?mt=8 and an Android version will be available in October 2012.

Version 1.1, to be launched in May 2013, will essentially turn the app into a highly innovative, user-friendly language documentation tool. Users will be able to upload new entries to a web server, to be 'moderated' (i.e., checked for appropriateness and accuracy), adjusted where necessary, perhaps re-recorded where the sound quality is poor, and made available for download to all users of the app when they next connect to the internet.

Bruce Birch, 2012, Used by permission  

Workshops support dictionary development in Bangladesh

(June 2013) Several of Bangladesh’s ethnolinguistic minority communities are working to gather words, refine data and publish the first dictionaries in their languages. During the month of May, mother-tongue speakers from three communities gathered at the SIL Bangladesh offices in Dhaka for workshops tailored to each team’s stage in the process of dictionary compilation.

ASAO grant funds lexicon distribution in Vanuatu

(March 2013) At this year’s meeting of the Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania (ASAO), SIL anthropologist Dr. Ken Nehrbass was recognized for his role in producing and distributing a reference work that compares six languages spoken on Vanuatu’s Tanna Island. In 2012 the six-language comparative lexicon was distributed to ninety schools on the island. The project was funded by ASAO’s Grant for Returning Indigenous Knowledge to Pacific Island Communities (GRIKPIC).

Colleagues share expertise in Papua New Guinea dictionary workshop

(November 2012) Recently, members of nine language communities in the Aitape area of Papua New Guinea’s Sandaun Province (West Sepik) attended a two-week dictionary-making workshop. These languages have never before been documented in the form of a dictionary. The workshop was led by local people involved with language development in the region who had previously attended an SIL lexicography workshop. This event provided an opportunity to share their new skills and information with colleagues.

Rapid Word Collection: An updated approach to dictionary creation

(May 2012) Far from being a minor by-product of a language development program, a dictionary is a powerful tool for supporting every aspect of language development. However, the time and effort required have often made dictionary publication a daunting prospect, causing it to be relegated to secondary status. SIL linguist Ron Moe has devoted years of study to this problem and developed a method known as the Dictionary Development Process (DDP).

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