Digital linguists work to save the Arapaho language
The Arapaho language, once thriving among the Indigenous populations of the Great Plains, is now facing an alarming decline, with a significant number of its native speakers aging. According to the United Nations, nearly 40% of Indigenous languages are at risk of vanishing due to factors such as demographic shifts and systemic discrimination against native speakers. In response to this urgent situation, a dedicated team from the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder, in collaboration with the Northern Arapaho Language and Culture Commission, is harnessing digital technology to preserve and revitalize the Arapaho language. Their innovative approach includes creating extensive databases and educational resources aimed at making language learning more accessible to new generations.
Professor Andrew Cowell, a linguist at CU Boulder, has been at the forefront of these efforts. Upon realizing the significance of Arapaho as the native language of Boulder, Cowell transitioned his focus to Indigenous languages, dedicating himself to the preservation of Arapaho. His team has developed a free online lexical database featuring over 20,000 entries, akin to a digital dictionary, alongside a text database containing more than 100,000 Arapaho sentences. These sentences, drawn from natural conversations and stories collected over the years, are meticulously transcribed and translated, representing the voices of nearly 100 native speakers. Although the full text database is not publicly available due to concerns about potential misuse by artificial intelligence, Cowell plans to release 5,000 sentences that have been approved by native speakers, ensuring that the language remains a living part of the community.
In addition to creating rich linguistic resources, Cowell and his colleagues are developing a curriculum to teach Arapaho as a second language, a significant shift from its traditional home-based learning. By analyzing the frequency of grammatical features and vocabulary within their collected texts, they aim to produce a structured educational program tailored for learners. This initiative not only facilitates language acquisition but also reinforces the cultural identity tied to the Arapaho language. Cowell emphasizes the importance of language as a cornerstone of Indigenous identity, and his work seeks to empower the Arapaho community by ensuring that their language continues to thrive in the face of modern challenges. As these digital tools pave the way for future generations to learn and engage with Arapaho, they represent a hopeful step towards preserving an integral part of Indigenous heritage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIO2YX104CQ
Arapaho
is one of the many an Indigenous languages that are severely at risk of
disappearing
.
According to the United Nations
, 4 in 10 Indigenous languages are currently at risk due to aging populations and ongoing discrimination against native speakers. For Arapaho, the population of native speakers of the language rooted in the Great Plains is aging. In an effort to fend off its disappearance, a team at the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder and the
Northern Arapaho Language and Culture Commission
are deploying digital tools including databases and language education projects.Â
“Arapaho was the native language of Boulder, so when I got hired at CU I decided, well, I’ll look into Arapaho,”
Andrew Cowell
, a University of Colorado Boulder professor of linguistics and faculty director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies,
said in a statement
. “I started looking into Arapaho more and more and doing more work on the side and eventually decided to switch departments into linguistics so I could focus all my energy on indigenous languages.”
Cowell has been working on a
free online lexical database
, with over 20,000 entries, akin to a dictionary, and a text database with over 100,000 Arapaho sentences. These sentences include several natural conversations and stories that the team has recorded throughout the years. Cowell has transcribed and translated the recordings, and the sentences are accompanied with a linguistic analysis. Altogether, their data represents
close to 100 native speakers
.Â
While the text database is unpublished, it has already underpinned important projects aiming to preserve Arapaho and make learning the language more accessible. Â
[ Related:
A lost ancient language may be hiding in plain sight
. ]
“We’ve gotten a list of the frequency of all the nouns in the language and all the verbs,” Cowell explained. “We ranked those, and it allowed us to produce a really small student dictionary where we only included words that occurred around 40 times or more. It means (students) don’t have to flip through rare and uncommon words they’re unlikely to be really interested in as initial learners.”
Cowell and his colleagues are also working on a curriculum to teach Arapaho. The language was traditionally learned at home and not in an academic setting, so the team needed to develop the
educational structure
from scratch.Â
“It’s all based on looking at the text we’ve collected and looking at the frequency of certain kinds of grammatical features that occur,” Cowell explained. “With Arapaho, no one’s really ever tried to teach it as a second language. Now we’re trying to learn it and teach it, and the databases have allowed us to really produce that scaled curriculum.”Â
These efforts align with his aim to produce work that will benefit the Indigenous community. In Cowell’s experience, Indigenous communities consider language a vital part of their identity. One of the reasons that the full text database isn’t publicly available is the fear that it will be used or exploited by
artificial intelligence
. Nevertheless, 5,000 sentences approved by native Arapaho speakers will be published online.Â
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Digital linguists work to save the Arapaho language
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