Seeing Speech: Ultrasound-based Multimedia Resources for Pronunciation Learning in Indigenous Languages

dc.contributor.authorBliss, Heather
dc.contributor.authorBird, Sonya
dc.contributor.authorCooper, PEPAḴIYE Ashley
dc.contributor.authorBurton, Strang
dc.contributor.authorGick, Bryan
dc.date.accessioned2018-06-06T02:22:32Z
dc.date.available2018-06-06T02:22:32Z
dc.date.issued2018-06
dc.description.abstractPronunciation 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.
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Foreign Language Resource Center
dc.format.extent24 pages
dc.identifier.citationBliss, Heather, Sonya Bird, PEPAḴIYE Ashley Cooper, Strang Burton & Bryan Gick. 2018. Seeing Speech: Ultrasound-based Multimedia Resources for Pronunciation Learning in Indigenous Languages. Language Documentation & Conservation 12: 315-338.
dc.identifier.issn1934-5275
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10125/24771
dc.language.isoen-US
dc.publisherUniversity of Hawaii Press
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
dc.subjectpronunciation learning tools
dc.subjectSalishan languages
dc.subjectIndigenous languages
dc.subjectlanguage documentation
dc.titleSeeing Speech: Ultrasound-based Multimedia Resources for Pronunciation Learning in Indigenous Languages
dc.typeArticle
dc.type.dcmiText
prism.endingpage429
prism.startingpage393

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