TY - CHAP
T1 - A community-based participatory approach to orthography development in Papua New Guinea
T2 - The alphabet design workshop
AU - Easton, Catherine
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - The Alphabet Development Workshop (ADW) is a community-based approach to orthography development, in which trained facilitators work alongside language speakers to produce a trial orthography. The ADW grew out of a desire among linguists working in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to assist communities in developing writing systems for their own languages. In the late 1990s, SIL-PNG was sub-contracted by AusAID and the Papua New Guinea National Department of Education to undertake orthography development with communities through Papua New Guinea as part of a national education reform. Until this point, orthography development was largely seen as a linguist-focussed analytical task. In contrast, the ADW grew out of a change in attitude among many SIL linguists working in PNG who desired an orthography development model which was designed to be a community focussed social task. There is an underlying pattern during each workshop: write and read language, identify problem areas, discuss options for problem areas, make decisions, and test decisions. This pattern is followed for the ADW as a whole, as well as being repeated many times within the workshop. Working with both local language experts and community members who are literate in national languages, the ADW approach has proved to be successful in assisting over 100 communities throughout Papua New Guinea to develop orthographies for their languages. A range of examples are provided to illustrate procedural issues, decision making processes and provide a basis for discussion of control, power, and roles. Limitations of this model will also be discussed.
AB - The Alphabet Development Workshop (ADW) is a community-based approach to orthography development, in which trained facilitators work alongside language speakers to produce a trial orthography. The ADW grew out of a desire among linguists working in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to assist communities in developing writing systems for their own languages. In the late 1990s, SIL-PNG was sub-contracted by AusAID and the Papua New Guinea National Department of Education to undertake orthography development with communities through Papua New Guinea as part of a national education reform. Until this point, orthography development was largely seen as a linguist-focussed analytical task. In contrast, the ADW grew out of a change in attitude among many SIL linguists working in PNG who desired an orthography development model which was designed to be a community focussed social task. There is an underlying pattern during each workshop: write and read language, identify problem areas, discuss options for problem areas, make decisions, and test decisions. This pattern is followed for the ADW as a whole, as well as being repeated many times within the workshop. Working with both local language experts and community members who are literate in national languages, the ADW approach has proved to be successful in assisting over 100 communities throughout Papua New Guinea to develop orthographies for their languages. A range of examples are provided to illustrate procedural issues, decision making processes and provide a basis for discussion of control, power, and roles. Limitations of this model will also be discussed.
UR - https://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc/sp29-participatory-linguistics-methods-and-case-studies-from-around-the-world/
M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)
SN - 9781952460067
VL - Special Publication No. 29
T3 - Language Documentation and Conservation
SP - 103
BT - Participatory Linguistics
A2 - Stirtz, Timothy
A2 - Cahill, Michael
A2 - Davison, Philip
PB - University of Hawaii Press
ER -
