Jamie Zhou
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Moira Saltzman
Co-Presenter: Tan, Anthony
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Linguistics / LSA
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Session 4 – 2:40pm – 3:30 pm
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Jamie Zhou
Presenter: 46
Abstract
Jejueo, the language spoken by the native inhabitants of Jeju Island in South Korea, is among the thousands of languages that are currently considered endangered. Through language contact, Jejueo is gradually becoming standardized to mainland Korean. To preserve the language, the Jejueo Talking Dictionary project intends to compile numerous audio recordings and vocabulary in one app, making the Jeju language easily accessible to people all around the world and of various ages. Researchers collected audio files and other cultural and linguistic information from people who speak the language, which was then added into Dropbox and Firebase Database for ease of retrieval. The app development portion consisted of combining Java code–mostly from videos that centered around specific features such as search bars, buttons, and activities–into Android Studio. The app will mirror existing language apps such as Memrise or Duolingo. Primarily, it will be translated to English, Korean, and Japanese, though more translations are ideal. The app is expected to be a valuable and accurate resource in preserving the Jeju language, and the results will contribute to studies on the validity of Talking Dictionaries, which have thus far proven useful in language acquisition. Jeju Island natives and linguistic anthropologists are the main beneficiaries of the research. If successful, the methods of reviving Jejueo can be extended to other endangered languages. Languages are not only a reservoir of history that allows us to understand linguistics better–for example, the endangerment of Jejueo can be categorized under contact linguistics–but also a valuable cultural heritage.
Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences
