University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills (UnBQ)

Published purpose

We will create a text-to-speech (TTS) synthesizer and verb conjugator for nêhiyawêwin (Plains Cree). The development of a software-based verb conjugator for nêhiyawêwin represents an opportunity to develop a resource that encompasses significant role in filling the gap in the availability/accessibility of language resources that are suited to the structure of nêhiyawêwin. The development of a TTS synthesizer will be integrated with the verb conjugator and will similarly fill a gap in the availability/accessibility of resources. TTS synthesis is valuable in this context because it will provide learners access to standard pronunciation of words in environments where immediate access to a fluent speaker may be difficult. Because of the polysynthetic nature of nêhiyawêwin, it is impossible to create separate recordings of every word, whereas appropriately designed TTS can produce audio for any word the verb conjugator can generate. The development of a software-based verb conjugator for nêhiyawêwin represents an opportunity to develop a resource that encompasses significant role in filling the gap in the availability/accessibility of language resources that are suited to the structure of nêhiyawêwin. The development of a TTS synthesizer will be integrated with the verb conjugator and will similarly fill a gap in the availability/accessibility of resources. TTS synthesis is valuable in this context because it will provide learners access to standard pronunciation of words in environments where immediate access to a fluent speaker may be difficult. Because of the polysynthetic nature of nêhiyawêwin, it is impossible to create separate recordings of every word, whereas appropriately designed TTS can produce audio for any word the verb conjugator can generate. We will create a text-to-speech (TTS) synthesizer and verb conjugator for nêhiyawêwin (Plains Cree). The development of a software-based verb conjugator for nêhiyawêwin represents an opportunity to develop a resource that encompasses significant role in filling the gap in the availability/accessibility of language resources that are suited to the structure of nêhiyawêwin. The development of a TTS synthesizer will be integrated with the verb conjugator and will similarly fill a gap in the availability/accessibility of resources. TTS synthesis is valuable in this context because it will provide learners access to standard pronunciation of words in environments where immediate access to a fluent speaker may be difficult. Because of the polysynthetic nature of nêhiyawêwin, it is impossible to create separate recordings of every word, whereas appropriately designed TTS can produce audio for any word the verb conjugator can generate.