Creating a corpus for Kven, a minority language in Norway

Abstract

Language documentation, including the development and use of corpora, is frequently linked to revitalisation. This is also the case for the Kven language, a Finnic minoritised language, traditionally spoken in the two northernmost counties of Norway. Kven is a recognised minority language in Norway, protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. This status led to increased efforts to document Kven, including the development of the Ruija Corpus, consisting of recordings of interviews in Kven. The corpus was an important tool for the standardisation of Kven. In this article we describe how the corpus was developed and account for search functions, including a discussion of the limitations of the corpus. We also discuss the role of corpora and other online tools for language revitalisation, with a particular focus on the standardisation of Kven and conclude by reflecting on how expertise also resides with the speakers of an endangered language and that they have a right to be involved in efforts of language documentation and revitalisation.

Maintaining The Environment Using AI in Death Language Era

“…Additionally, sustainable conservation projects and measures to prevent language death indeed need to be a concern for multiple parties. In line with Lane et al's conclusion, (Lane et al, 2022) the data collection process in future projects of this nature should involve not only the academic community but also minority communities.. Another effort that needs to be made is the standardization of methodologies in documenting language corpora. In simpler terms, utilizing old written records from the pre-digital era can greatly assist researchers in gaining further insights into the language and the communities that use it.…”