Digital Fluency & Participatory Research: The Chuxnabán Mixe

Online Dictionary

Carmen JanyCal State San Bernardino

(cjany@csusb.edu)

WAIL 2009

The Project Trilingual (Spanish/English/Chux

Mixe) multimedia online dictionary Chuxnabán Mixe: Endangered

Mexican indigenous language spoken in one village in Oaxaca

Using technology & involving the community

This talk Chuxnabán Mixe Participatory research & Web-based

technology The Online Dictionary Challenges & Next steps Conclusions

Mixe Languages Mixe territory: 290 communities in

Oaxaca, 19 municipalities Each community with a different

variety Classification of Mixe varieties still

unclear due to limited documentation Mixe-Zoque language family Mixe varieties differ mostly in their

vowel systems (plain, aspirated, glottalized)

Very few published grammars and dictionaries of the Mixe languages

Chuxnabán Mixe Spoken by 900 people in one village Endangered Language:

Education/Literacy in Spanish No literacy/educational materials Limited language documentation Migration to cities & the US Language ideology: Spanish/English

represent progress/economic growth Fieldwork/documentation since 2006 Orthography established in 2008

San Juan Bosco Chuxnabán, 2008

San Juan Bosco Chuxnabán, 2008

Canseco Family

Web-based technology for language documentation/maintenance Language materials made available

more widely and faster Constant updates/corrections possible Can include sound files and picturess Internet has reached remote villages

in Mexico (including Chuxnabán) Attracts young people Community and other researchers can

easily participate

Web-based technology and Digital Fluency Online materials promote two types of

literacy Literacy in the traditional sense: Reading

& writing in Mixe Digital Fluency: People become more

comfortable using technology (Huffaker 2004; Resnick 2002)

Web-based technology and Participatory Action Research Participatory Research (Benedicto et al. 2002)

Goal: Reduce the power imbalance between researcher and speaking community

How: Community members are actively involved in research with the benefit of self-empowerment

Secondary goal/effect: Foster an environment for native linguists to emerge

This project: Combines new technology with participatory action research (blog)

Trilingual online dictionary: Goals (1) Document the lexicon and grammar of Chuxnabán Mixe (2) Create literacy materials in order to facilitate language

maintenance (3) Involve the community in the process

Four main components a) Illustration and explanation of established orthography b) Description of phonetics and phonology to facilitate

pronunciation c) Searchable dictionary database for searches in Mixe,

Spanish, English, & Semantic class d) Blog for community members to send/post updates

Target audiences Mixe community in Oaxaca Mixes living elsewhere Linguists/researchers working on Mixe

Technical details Website: Dreamweaver Dictionary Database: MySQL Blog: www.blogspot.com

Online Dictionaryhttp://flan.csusb.edu/~cjany/Mixe/

Illustration/explanation of orthography Users literate in Spanish/English, but not Mixe Certain sounds represented in a unique way

Main orthography page All letters of the alphabet; each letter

opens a link to another page with:– a) Set of words where letter occurs in

initial, medial, and final position if applicable

– b) Set of sound files linked to sample words

– c) Additional explanations of how and why letter has been chosen to represent the sound

Description of phonetics & phonology Links to two tables with phonemes: vowels

and consonants Tables following International Phonetic

Alphabet Chart (IPA symbols) Notes & explanations where practical

orthography differs Each symbol linked to new page with sample

words and sound files Allophones, variations of a sound, included Tool may be less valuable for speakers, but

important feature for researchers and linguists (& teachers for pronunciation)

Searchable Trilingual Dictionary Users search in English, Spanish, Chuxnabán

Mixe Target word appears with corresponding two

translations and is accompanied by a phonetic transcription

Each entry is also linked to an audio file and a picture

Database can also be searched by semantic category (plants, animals, food, etc) (for teachers and linguists examining word structures)

Blog Community members can send

updates and/or corrections Allows community to actively engage in

the language documentation process Allows community to take control of

the data contents Community refers to people in the

village and heritage speakers elsewhere

In development: needs implementation and evaluation

Possible additions Description of other parts of the grammar

(morphology and syntax) Sound files from multiple speakers for

each word Examples with entire sentences where

the target words are used Page with narratives, their transcriptions

and sound files, as well as explanations, if needed

Learning modules, games for pedagogical purposes

Technical challenges Unicode characters Database issues (import/export) Blog (goes to external archive)

Other challenges Getting the community involved How to handle updates posted on blog

Conclusions Language maintenance efforts can benefit from more

active use of web-based resources Web‑based language materials give a voice to

linguistically peripheral groups Multimedia facilitates the fast and easy acquisition of

information Project aids literacy development as well as digital

fluency Useful tool for speakers, teachers, and researchers Project represents one possible way in which

participatory research can be combined with the enhancement of digital fluency

ReferencesBenedicto, Elena et al. 2002. Fieldwork as a Participatory Research Activity: The Mayangna Linguistic Teams. Berkeley Linguistics Society Proceedings No. 28. 375-386.

Christie, P. et al. 2000. Taking Care Of What We Have. Participatory Natural Resource Management On The Caribbean Coast Of Nicaragua. Managua and Ottawa: Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de la Costa Atalántica and International Development Research Center.

Hinton, Leanne and Ken Hale. 2001. The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice. San Diego: Academic Press.

Hoogshagen Noordsy, Searle And Hilda Halloran Hoogshagen. 1997. Diccionario Mixe de Coatlán Oaxaca. Summer Institute of Linguistics. 2nd edition (1st edition 1993). Mexico.

ReferencesHuffaker, D. 2004. Spinning yarns around a digital fire: Storytelling and dialogue among youth on the Internet. First Monday 9:1.

INEA (Instituto Nacional para la Educación del los Adultos). 1994. Ayuk Ja’jy Y’ayuujk. Libro del Adulto, Población Mixe (Parte Baja), Oaxaca.

Resnick, M. 2002. Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age. In: G. Kirkman ed. The Global Information Technology Report: Readiness for the Networked Word. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Schoenhals, Alvin and Louise C. 1982. Vocabulario Mixe de Totontepec. SIL. 2nd edition. Hidalgo, Mexico.

Van Haitsma J. D. and Willard Van Haitsma. 1976. A Hierarchical Sketch of Mixe as spoken in San José El Paraíso. Summer Institute of Linguistics 44. Mexico.

Thank you!

¡Dios kujuuyëp!