Displaying items by tag: indigenous languages

Author: Ms Mmasibidi Setaka (SADiLaR Sesotho Researcher)

I was recently invited to join a webinar hosted by the Indigenous Language Action Forum, ILAF, (https://ilaf.co.za/) in short. It is an organisation that promotes indigenous languages, with the aim to ensure the active use of these languages in important sectors such as education, criminal justice, healthcare etc. The webinar was titled “Using the indigenous languages at universities: Why do it and can it work?”. It was a first of its kind for the organisation and it brought different people in advocating for the use of indigenous languages in higher education in one setting. What touched me about this organisation and the webinar itself was the concept of having a positive narrative for the use of indigenous languages. The idea was to have a conversation about languages without putting others down.

Author: Dimakatso Mathe (SADiLaR Sesotho sa Leboa Researcher)

This blog provides a general overview of Sesotho sa Leboa language celebration that took place at the University of Limpopo on the 31^st of July, 2019. The celebration was organised by SADiLaR in response to UNESCO’s proclamation to declare 2019 as the Year of Indigenous Languages. The celebration for Sesotho sa Leboa included presentations on language and culture related topics by various speakers, reciting of traditional poems, and a special celebration to acknowledge Dr. HML Lentsoane’s contribution to the Sesotho sa Leboa literature. The discussion concludes by challenging both government and private entities to come up with similar initiatives while also encouraging speakers of indigenous languages to play their part to advance the development of languages.

UNESCO e tsebagaditše ngwaga wa 2019 bjale ka ngwaga wa go keteka maleme a setlogo (IYIL2019). E be e dira bjalo ka morago ga gore dikutollo tša dinyakišišo di laetše gore maleme a setlogo a kotsing ya go timelela. Ditaba tše di rile go fihla ditsebeng tša SADiLaR gomme ya tšea sephetho sa go keteka maleme a lesometee a semmušo a naga ka go šielana ga dikgwedi tša ngwaga. Moletlo wa go keteka leleme la Sesotho sa Leboa o be o swaretšwe Yunibesithi ya Limpopo, ka di 31 Mosegamanye, 2019.

Diboledi tša go akaretša ditsebi le bafahloši ba tša maleme go tšwa ditheong le diyunibesithing tša go fapafapana ba ile ba bothagana go abelana thuto. Magareng ga tše go boletšwego ka tšona, go kgwathilwe ditlhohlo tšeo di swanetšego go rarollwa ge eba re ikemišeditše go hlabolla leleme la Sesotho sa Leboa. August Shotholo, Kwetepane ka sebele, e bile mosepediši wa modiro go netefatša gore ditiragalo tša letšatši di sepela ka thelelo. Seboledisegolo sa letšatši e bile Prof. MJ Mojalefa go tšwa Yunibesithi ya Pretoria. Yena o ile a bolela go tlala seatla malebana le setlogo sa Moafrika, go se lekalekane ga maleme go ya ka tirišo ya ona, gammogo le ditokelo tša batho go šeditšwe tirišo ya polelo. Bagešo, le ka fihlelela tše dingwe tša dingwalwa tše di badilwego moletlong ka go kgotla mo.

Author: Mmasibidi Setaka (SADiLaR Sesotho Researcher)

The South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) organised a workshop (originally expected to be held at the LREC 2020 conference in Marseille, France) in the field of African Indigenous Language Resources. This workshop aimed at bringing together researchers who are interested in showcasing their research and thereby boosting the field of African indigenous languages. It provided an overview of the current state-of-the-art and emphasises availability of African indigenous language resources, including both data and tools. Additionally, it allowed for information sharing among researchers interested in African indigenous languages as well as starting discussions on improving the quality and availability of the resources. Many African indigenous languages currently have no or very limited resources available and, additionally, they are often structurally quite different from more well-resourced languages, requiring the development and use of specialised techniques. By bringing together researchers from different fields (e.g., (computational) linguistics, sociolinguistics, language technology) to discuss the development of language resources for African indigenous languages, we hoped the workshop would boost research in this field.

Author: Valencia Wagner (SADiLaR Setswana Researcher)

//English: Developing South African indigenous languages through the use of Digital Technologies//

Aforika Borwa e itsege jaaka naga ya bopuontsi. Naga e, e na le dipuo tsa semmuso di le 11, mme dipuo tse di tshwanetse go somarelwa le go tlhabololwa gore di se nyelele.