O n f e r e n c e

Arctic 
Asynchronous online lessons are available in Inuktitut, one of the languages of the Arctic 
(www.tusaalanga.ca/lesson/lessons). 
Middle East 
Online storytelling in Chaldean, spoken in Iraq, can help speakers achieve fluency 
(http://elalliance.org/projects/languages-of-the-middle-east/neo-aramaic/). 
Pacific 
Indigenous sign language from Central Australia can now be learned via online videos 
(http://iltyemiltyem.com/sign/).An online dictionary has been created for the Rapa Nui 
language of Easter Island (Makihara, 2004) Digital storytelling in Pacific Island languages 
are available throughhttp://italklibrary.com/ 
On the recent International Mother Language Day (Feb. 21, 2014), indigenous people 
were asked to tweet a message of their choosing in their mother tongues on Twitter, 
using the hashtag #imld14. According to Scannell (2014), there were just under 500 
tweets using that hashtag in 31 languages. Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) had the most 
tweets at 158. Aragonese (spoken in Spain) came second with 74 tweets, followed by 
Ojibwe (spoken in North America) with 45 and Malagasy (spoken in Madagascar) with 41. 
Perhaps the best argument for using digital tools, indeed all tools of any kind, to engage 
learners in mother tongue learning or re-learning, can be found in the knowledge that 
two aboriginal languages have recently been resurrected from extinction. Both the 
Wampinoag language of the North-East U.S. and the Barngarla language of South 
Australia have recently been successfully revived after having become extinct. The 
Barngala language speakers now have a Facebook page and the Wampinoag language 
speakers can now consult a variety of websites to check on religious vocabulary, 
historical spellings and pronunciation. 
With cultural knowledge being encoded in language, there can be little doubt of the value 
of bringing back languages from the brink of extinction, and technology provides a 
powerful tool in this endeavour. Obsolescence is the bitter pill that accompanies the rapid 
rate at which devices and their applications are being modified, updated and replaced, 
but it is not a reason to refrain from pursuing best practices, interfaces, and 
functionalities for saving an endangered language. As the Dutch expression goes “Never 
shoul
d you forget the language in which your mother loved you.”