Using Speech and NLP Resources to build an iCALL platform for a minority language, the story of An Scéalaí, the Irish experience to date

Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Oisín Nolan, Madeleine Comtois, Neimhin Robinson Gunning, Harald Berthelsen, Ailbhe Ni Chasaide


Abstract
This paper describes how emerging linguistic resources and technologies can be used to build a language learning platform for Irish, an endangered language. This platform, An Scéalaí, harvests learner corpora - a vital resource both to study the stages of learners’ language acquisition and to guide future platform development. A technical description of the platform is provided, including details of how different speech technologies and linguistic resources are fused to provide a holistic learner experience. The active continuous participation of the community, and platform evaluations by learners and teachers, are discussed.
Anthology ID:
2022.computel-1.14
Volume:
Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop on the Use of Computational Methods in the Study of Endangered Languages
Month:
May
Year:
2022
Address:
Dublin, Ireland
Editors:
Sarah Moeller, Antonios Anastasopoulos, Antti Arppe, Aditi Chaudhary, Atticus Harrigan, Josh Holden, Jordan Lachler, Alexis Palmer, Shruti Rijhwani, Lane Schwartz
Venue:
ComputEL
SIG:
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
Note:
Pages:
109–118
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2022.computel-1.14
DOI:
10.18653/v1/2022.computel-1.14
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Oisín Nolan, Madeleine Comtois, Neimhin Robinson Gunning, Harald Berthelsen, and Ailbhe Ni Chasaide. 2022. Using Speech and NLP Resources to build an iCALL platform for a minority language, the story of An Scéalaí, the Irish experience to date. In Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop on the Use of Computational Methods in the Study of Endangered Languages, pages 109–118, Dublin, Ireland. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
Using Speech and NLP Resources to build an iCALL platform for a minority language, the story of An Scéalaí, the Irish experience to date (Ní Chiaráin et al., ComputEL 2022)
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PDF:
https://aclanthology.org/2022.computel-1.14.pdf
Video:
 https://aclanthology.org/2022.computel-1.14.mp4