Evaluating Indigenous language speech synthesis for education: A participatory design workshop on Ojibwe text-to-speech

Abstract

This paper reports methods and results from a participatory design workshop aimed at evaluating the use of speech synthesis and text-to-speech for Ojibwe language education. Using an existing text-to-speech feature as a starting point, we worked with two groups of Ojibwe language instructors using a guided trial of the speech synthesis system and a two hour semistructured workshop with the aim of creating a lesson plan that utilizes text-to-speech. We highlight the insights from this work, both in how to design and deliver speech synthesis systems for Indigenous language education, but also how to approach and design such a workshop to ensure a fruitful discourse.

Christopher M. Hammerly

Assistant Professor of Linguistics

My research interests include syntax and morphology, particularly the interface between our grammatical knowledge and processing abilities.