Algonquian Language Atlas.

CBC News reports:

Sometimes, it takes an outsider to notice the obvious. Such was the case for linguistics professor Marie Odile Junker when she came to Canada from France.

“It struck me you could learn any immigrant language of this land. Chinese, Spanish, but you could not learn those (Indigenous) languages. So, as a linguist, of course, I became interested.”

That’s when Junker began thinking of a way to study and learn about Indigenous languages. What she came up with, was more than a dictionary or phrase book, it was an interactive, multimedia atlas.

“We started in 2002 with a conversation manual for east Cree and then it went viral. Everybody was asking for it. So, I thought of putting all of this on a map and we’ve been collaborating with communities and speakers ever since. We today have over 52 languages, 20,000 sound files, on this atlas.”

The atlas, Junker said, is a portal into Indigenous dictionary building. […]

Junker said, in addition to the atlas, there is an oral stories database, online lessons, and online dictionaries.

Good for her! And in related news, Grocery stores bring Indigenous languages to the aisles. Thanks, Jeff!

Comments

  1. Matthew Roth says

    This might be of interest. The comments have some interesting information about the use of native languages in Montana as well. http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2011/11/american-indian-requiem-masses-from.html?m=1

  2. Marja Erwin says

    Needs a zoom warning.

    I can’t be the only one to get nasty migraines from zooming images.

  3. Marja, thanks for mentioning that, I had not heard of that as a migraine trigger. For you is it zooming specifically, or can other types of (whole-image?) motion do it?

    Probably all motion (and sounds!) on a web page should be click-to-move unless the user clearly requested motion already.

  4. I heartily agree.

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