Technology Helps Preserve Endangered Indigenous Languages科技助益瀕危土著語言保護

From smartphone apps to web tools， tribal members are using tech to document and practice their native languages.

從智能手機應用程序到網絡工具，部落成員們正在利用科技手段記錄和練習他們的母語。

Of the 574 federally recognized Native American tribes， only 139 of them still have speakers of their native language， and more than 90% of those languages are at risk of becoming extinct by 2050.

在聯邦政府承認的574個美洲土著部落中，只有139個部落的語言仍然有使用者，而其中90%以上的語言有在2050年前滅絕的危險。

In response to the threat of language loss， some Indigenous tribes are turning towards accessible technology to save and revitalize their languages.

為應對語言消亡的威脅，一些土著部落開始利用簡便易行的科技手段來拯救和復興自己的語言。

The computers in our pockets

口袋中的電腦

When Keegan Livermore， a member of the Yakama Nation1， learned that there were only a couple dozen fluent speakers of Ichishkíin—a language spoken by the Yakama， the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation， and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation—he felt a responsibility to learn the language himself.

當亞卡馬部落的成員基根·利弗莫爾得知能夠流利使用伊奇什基恩語的只有幾十個人時，他覺得自己有責任學習這門語言。伊奇什基恩語是亞卡馬部落、沃姆斯普林斯印第安人居留地聯盟部落、尤馬蒂拉印第安人居留地聯盟部落使用的語言。

While attending a technology panel during a linguistic education workshop， Livermore’s group discussed how language tools could be made more accessible to young people.

在一次語言教育研討會期間，利弗莫爾參加了科技專題組的討論，大家探討了如何使語言工具更便于年輕人使用。

“We’ve already had computer keyboards，” Livermore said. “If we’re thinking about how to get teenagers and college students to use it， why not make a phone keyboard？”

“我們已經有電腦鍵盤了。”利弗莫爾說，“如果我們想讓青少年和大學生使用伊奇什基恩語，為什么不開發手機鍵盤呢？”

Livermore， who at the time was studying linguistics and learning the Ichishkíin language at Heritage University on the Yakama Reservation， describes the process of creating an Android Ichishkíin keyboard as a four-day fever dream， working on his graduate studies during the day and coding the keyboard at night.

那時候，利弗莫爾正在亞卡馬居留地的傳承大學攻讀語言學，同時也在學習伊奇什基恩語。他將開發伊奇什基恩語安卓鍵盤的過程比作一場持續4天的狂熱之夢——他白天努力完成研究生課業，晚上進行鍵盤編碼。

Written Ichishkíin has a 39-character alphabet， many of which are modified English characters. While Livermore could have created a modified English keyboard， he chose to create a keyboard strictly built for Ichishkíin， honoring the actual alphabet of the language.

伊奇什基恩語的文字有39個字母，其中很多是英文字母的變體。利弗莫爾本可以設計改良英文鍵盤，但是為了尊重伊奇什基恩語實際的字母，他選擇為這門語言量身定制一款鍵盤。

Livermore and seven other Ichishkíin speakers then tested the keyboard in text messages and social media posts， modifying the placement of characters until the keyboard seemed optimized for Ichishkíin.

利弗莫爾和其他7位伊奇什基恩語使用者通過發短信和社交媒體發帖來測試鍵盤，不斷改進字母排列，直至鍵盤與伊奇什基恩語幾乎完美適配。

“I was really pushing myself to use it as often as I could，” Livermore said， which helped him build his confidence speaking the language. “It gives me a tether for the language.”

“我真是努力督促自己盡可能多地使用這款鍵盤。”利弗莫爾說，這也幫助他樹立了說伊奇什基恩語的信心。“這款鍵盤讓我與這門語言建立了連接。”

Livermore， who is now working on adapting the keyboard to iOS， envisions using phone keyboards as a way to assign homework in his own future language curriculum. An easy assignment could be a student texting him a couple sentences in Ichishkíin about what they did over the weekend or requiring a few texts a week between class “pen pals，” Livermore said. Those types of assignments inject the language in students’ everyday modern life—a key part of language revitalization.

目前，利弗莫爾正在努力改進鍵盤，以適應蘋果公司開發的移動操作系統。他想象著將來在自己講授的語言課程中，可以通過手機鍵盤來布置作業。利弗莫爾說，一項簡單的作業可以是讓學生用伊奇什基恩語編輯幾句話發給他，說說自己周末做了什么；或者要求同班“筆友”之間每周互發幾條伊奇什基恩語信息。諸如此類的作業能將伊奇什基恩語融入當代學生們的日常生活中，這是語言復興的關鍵一環。

Because Ichishkíin speakers must have a grasp of vocabulary to read and type the language， Livermore’s keyboard isn’t an early education tool， but rather an accessible way to integrate practice into a learner’s daily life.

閱讀和打字都需要伊奇什基恩語使用者掌握一定量的詞匯，所以利弗莫爾開發的鍵盤并不是早期教育工具，而是將練習融入學習者日常生活的一種簡易方法。

“It enables you to use what you already know，” Livermore said.

“它能夠讓你把自己已知的東西應用起來。”利弗莫爾說。

Filling in the gaps

填補空白

Along with keyboards and texting， help comes from teachers such as Tami Hohn， a southern Lushootseed lecturer at the University of Washington and member of the Puyallup Tribe.

除了鍵盤和短信，教師也是一大助力。塔米·霍恩就是其中一員，她是華盛頓大學南方盧舒特西德語講師，也是皮阿拉普部落成員。

Lushootseed is a Salishan language spoken by Indigenous people in the Puget Sound region of Washington state. Hohn has taught the language both to children and adults， groups that require different educational approaches， she said.

盧舒特西德語是華盛頓州皮吉特灣地區原住民使用的語言，屬薩利希語系。霍恩教授這門語言，學生有兒童也有成人，她說每個群體的教學方法不一樣。

For children， Hohn developed a curriculum that uses a grammatical approach by breaking down sentences into individual words and syllable sounds. With adults， Hohn teaches an intellectual understanding of the language， one that is informed2 by history， culture， and meaning. An intellectual understanding of the language allows speakers to create their own thoughts through the language， not just string together vocabulary words.

針對兒童，霍恩開發了一門采用語法教學法的課程，將句子拆成一個個單詞和音節。針對成人，霍恩啟發學生把語言當作一種知識來理解，即理解富含在語言之中的歷史、文化和價值，如此便可激發語言使用者以這種語言生成自己的思想，而不僅僅是將詞匯表里的單詞串聯在一起。

For all language learners， Hohn said， language apps—such as phrase-to-picture matching games—can be a great way to practice the language in small moments， like waiting for an appointment or at the bus stop.

霍恩說，對所有語言學習者而言，語言學習應用程序——例如圖文匹配游戲——可謂利用碎片時間練習語言的好方法，比如可在等待約會或等公交車的時候練習。

Lushootseed also has computer and mobile keyboards based on Unicode， but Unicode doesn’t always transfer across digital platforms such as email or various web browsers， making Lushootseed characters show up as odd boxes and nonsensical punctuation.

盧舒特西德語也有基于統一碼的電腦鍵盤和手機鍵盤，但是統一碼在電子郵件或各種網絡瀏覽器等數字平臺之間轉換時經常出錯，導致盧舒特西德語字母顯示為奇怪的方框和無意義的標點符號。

“The support that we really need from [technology] companies is the fonts，” Hohn said. “We shouldn’t have to type in Unicode， we should be able to type anywhere.”

“我們真正需要（科技）公司提供支持的是字體。”霍恩說，“我們不該非用統一碼不可，我們應該在哪兒都能用自己的語言輸入文字。”

Lack of font support is one way Native languages are being forced into the past. Hohn believes tribes shouldn’t have to find a workaround to type in their language.

缺乏字體支持是土著語言客觀上無法傳播的一個原因。霍恩認為，部落成員就該用自己的語言輸入，不應需要尋求變通的方法。

Preservation through audio

保存音頻

According to Hohn， Lushootseed no longer has first-language speakers—people who grew up speaking fluently—so linguists only had access to the language through preserved writings and audio recordings. Recording and archiving audio files of elders or fluent speakers is another preservation tool that can provide a foundation to language revitalization.

據霍恩說，盧舒特西德語已經沒有母語使用者，也就是從小流利說該語言的人，所以語言學家只能通過保存下來的文字和音頻資料來了解這門語言。記錄和保存年長者或流利使用者的音頻資料是另一種可為語言復興奠定基礎的保護方法。

FirstVoices is a suite of web-based tools designed to help Indigenous people archive language information for teaching and preservation. The service provides tribes with a page where audio clips of words， phrases， stories， songs， and more can be uploaded and organized. The initiative， run by the First Peoples’ Cultural Council in British Columbia， also provides grants for communities working on language revitalization to compensate them for the time it takes to archive the audio.

“第一聲音”是一套基于網絡的工具，旨在幫助原住民保存語言信息以便教學和保護。這項服務為部落提供一個網頁，用于上傳和管理單詞、短語、故事、歌曲等的音頻片段。這項計劃由加拿大不列顛哥倫比亞省第一民族文化委員會發起，還為致力于語言復興的社區提供經費，以補償他們為保存音頻花費的時間。

Daniel Yona， FirstVoices’ development manager， stressed that the service enables tribes to approach language documentation and revitalization as each community sees best fit by providing as many tools as possible for each tribe to customize their archive.

“第一聲音”的開發經理丹尼爾·約納強調，這項服務為每個部落提供了盡可能多的工具來定制他們的檔案，從而使每個部落都能夠以自己認為最適合的方式來記錄語言，推動語言復興。

FirstVoices now hosts 31 of the 34 indigenous languages in B.C.， as well as some Native American languages from the United States. Yona says that it’s not a goal to have all of the languages archived on FirstVoices， because the initiative is only one part of the multifaceted effort of language revitalization.

“第一聲音”現在已記錄不列顛哥倫比亞省34種土著語言中的31種，還記錄了美國的一些美洲土著語言。約納說，在“第一聲音”上保存所有語言并不是他們的目標，因為這項計劃只是為語言復興所做的多方面努力的一部分。

“Just because they’re not on FirstVoices doesn’t mean they don’t have dictionaries and they’re not doing work in their own communities，” Yona said. “Technology is one piece of this bigger picture of language revitalization.”

“他們沒有用‘第一聲音’來記錄語言并不意味著他們沒有詞典，或者他們沒有在自己的社區開展工作。”約納說，“在語言復興的遠大宏圖上，技術只是其中一環。”

The threat of a long process

漫長過程的威脅

With the threat of language extinction looming， native language activists such as Hohn and Livermore feel a sense of urgency in everything they do. At the same time， language revitalization is a generational process.

隨著語言滅絕的威脅逐漸逼近，霍恩、利弗莫爾等土著語言保護活動家對自己所做的一切都有一種緊迫感。但是，語言復興是一個世代相傳的過程。

“I will never see in my lifetime the state of language that I aspire to，” Livermore said. The Ichishkíin learners Livermore will teach will become better teachers than he is， and their students will pass on the skills to their descend-ants. Livermore foresees a language revival among future generations， but that doesn’t stop the pressure of needing to do as much as he can right now.

利弗莫爾說：“在我的有生之年，我不可能看到如我所愿的語言復興狀態。”利弗莫爾將來教的伊奇什基恩語學生會成為比他更好的老師，而他們的學生將來會把語言技能傳授給他們的后代。利弗莫爾預計伊奇什基恩語將在未來幾代人中復興，但這并不能消除他的壓力，他現在依然需要全力以赴。

“I feel that sense of urgency all the time，” Hohn said， but being patient in the face of a constant threat of language extinction is essential to successful revitalization. A limited number of Lushoot-seed teachers deeply understand the language. If teachers who do not understand the language in a cultural and historical way are pushed to teach as many people as they can in the name of revitalization， the language will still be reduced to grammar and vocabulary. That childlike understanding of Lushoot-seed， or any other native language， will be detrimental to the integrity and significance of the language， Hohn said.

“我時刻都有那種緊迫感。”霍恩說，但是在語言滅絕的持續威脅面前，保持耐心對語言的成功復興至關重要。能夠深刻理解自己所教語言的盧舒特西德語老師鳳毛麟角。如果老師不能從文化和歷史層面理解這門語言，卻被迫以語言復興的名義教授盡可能多的人，那么這門語言依然會淪為語法和詞匯的堆砌。霍恩說，如此膚淺地理解盧舒特西德語或任何其他土著語言，不利于保持語言的完整，也有損于語言的意義。

“You have to have language with meaning or what’s the point？” Hohn said.

“你要傳承的語言必須是有意義的，否則語言復興還有什么意義？”霍恩說。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）

1北美印第安部落亞卡馬生活在哥倫比亞河、亞基馬河、韋納奇河沿岸，即今日美國華盛頓州中南部地區。

2 inform使充滿。