Seeing Speech: Ultrasound-based Multimedia Resources for Pronunciation Learning in Indigenous Languages
Date
2018
Authors
Bliss, Heather
Bird, Sonya
Cooper, PEPAḴIYE Ashley
Burton, Strang
Gick, Bryan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Language Documentation & Conservation
Abstract
Pronunciation is an important aspect of Indigenous language learning, and one
which requires creative community-oriented solutions. Towards this end, we have
developed a pronunciation learning tool that incorporates ultrasound technology
to give learners a visual aid to help them articulate unfamiliar and/or challenging
sounds. Ultrasound is used to create videos of a model speaker’s tongue movements
during speech, which are then overlaid on videos of an external profile view
of the model’s head to create ultrasound-enhanced pronunciation videos for individual
words or sounds. A key advantage of these videos is that learners are able
see how speech is produced rather than just hear and try to mimic it. Although
ultrasound-enhanced videos were originally developed for commonly taught languages
such as Japanese and French, there has been widespread interest from Indigenous
communities in Western Canada to develop their own customized videos.
This paper reports on three collaborations between linguists and communities in
British Columbia to develop ultrasound-enhanced videos for the SENĆOŦEN,
Secwepemc, and Halq’emeylem languages. These videos can give learners a new
way to learn pronunciation that focuses on seeing speech, and can create new
documentation of understudied sound systems for future generations.
Description
Keywords
pronunciation learning tools, Salishan languages, Indigenous languages, language documentation
Citation
Bliss, H., Bird, S., Cooper, P. A., Burton, S., & Gick, B. (2018). Seeing Speech: Ultrasound-based Multimedia Resources for Pronunciation Learning in Indigenous Languages, Language Documentation & Conservation (12). http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24771