The Dakota language is one of many languages endangered by a declining population of native speakers. Join linguists Cati Fortin and Cherlon Ussery and computer scientist Jeff Ondich to hear about their collaboration with the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Dakotah Language Institute to support the preservation and revitalization of Dakota. They will be joined by computer science / linguistics double major Kyra Wilson ’20, who will give a student’s perspective on the curricular, research, and software development aspects of this project.
This event took place on April 16, 2019.
About the Speakers
Cherlon Ussery, Associate Professor of Linguistics, has taught at Carleton since 2009. Her primary research focuses on the syntactic structures and morphological forms of words in several segments of the Icelandic language. She has worked in various capacities since 2014 in order to support the Dakota project. Cherlon has also served on Carleton’s Humanities Advisory Board since 2016.
Catherine Fortin, Associate Professor of Linguistics, has taught at Carleton since 2007, with a focus on syntax, first language acquisition, and working with primary linguistic data. Her main research interests center on the syntax of Indonesian and other Austronesian languages. She has worked in various capacities since 2014 in support of the Dakota project.
Professor of Computer Science Jeff Ondich has taught at Carleton since 1991. He has many years of professional software development experience, with an emphasis on language-related software (http://ultralingua.com/). In addition to his work on the Dakota project, Jeff is currently collaborating with Carleton’s Facilities staff to research how Carleton and other campuses can use their energy-related data to reduce their energy consumption.