Initial focus: Warlpiri
Warlpiri is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in the Tanami desert (NW of Alice)
There are a number of factors influencing this choice:
- Rich lexical materials have been collected by linguists over decades (Ken Hale, MIT, from 1950’s) resulting in one of the most comprehensive lexical databases for any Australian Language
- There is a relatively large community of people interested in learning their traditional language
- Until now, results haven’t been produced in a format usable by the community (only raw printouts)