AI for Saving Dying Languages by Simulating Their Future Evolution

Languages don't go extinct, they morph into something else until they can no longer be formed (via cultural assimilation, etc.).

Many languages are effectively "dead" due to their communities evolving towards a majority language (i.e. the dominant modern languages: English, Mandarin, Hindi and Spanish). AI has the potential to assist in the preservation of these endangered languages by modelling their future evolution using linguistic and anthropological knowledge combined with machine learning technology.

AI modelling of language evolution can help to preserve endangered languages not only by documenting and transcribing spoken language or by creating an online database to document the languages' evolution, but also to make predictions about how these languages will evolve. For example;

How the grammar will change
Which words will be created (neologisms)
How will we use technology to continue to grow language
How we will survive in a "digital" world

Until now these concepts have been known in various disciplines (such as linguistics, anthropology and machine learning) and have existed side by side. However, the concept of AI language evolution modelling is emerging and will be a new discipline encompassing all three fields.

The Problem To Solve

The problem with traditional methods of preserving endangered languages is:

Recording Native Speakers
Writing Grammatical Rules
Creating a Dictionary

The above methods have several limitations:

❌ The methods "freeze" the languages in time, meaning they cease to be alive when the documentation is complete. Therefore language growth would cease once it is documented.
❌ The methods rely upon fluent speakers, and many endangered languages are only spoken by a handful of speakers.
❌ The methods do not appeal to younger generations. Unless a language can adapt to contemporary sounds and ideas it will no longer be of use to younger generations.
❌ The methods do not include any relationship or integration into digital ecology. Without an online presence/model, the language will quickly disappear from the world.

AI provides us with a new approach to preserving endangered languages and revitalising them.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is capable of simulating the future evolution of a given culture's language through modelling. Similar to its existing capabilities:

Climate Predictions
DNA Mutation Predictions
Market Behaviour
Social Trends

We know that language exists as a system of systems. The evolution of the language system into its final form results from the evolution of several factors.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the ability to learn about:

Phonological rules (what sounds mean)
Grammar (the way a language is put together)
Vocabulary (commonly used words)
How metaphors are used in a culture
How the environment impacts the vocabulary of a culture

Using this information, AI can predict how the language will continue to evolve under various scenarios.

Predictions on Evolution of Language by Scientific Means

Both to replicate & predict a language's evolution, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will only be effective when it has several important elements:

1. Historical Linguistic Analysis

To predict how languages evolve, AI will be based on how similar languages in the past evolved.

For instance, If we could see how Proto-Indo-European (PIE), Sanskrit, Hindi changed through time due to phonetic shifts, then AI could do the same thing for endangered languages.

2. Reconstructive Neural Language Modeling

AI can replace missing vocabulary in a language.

Examples of what it could replace include:

Missing nouns
Phrasal verbs which may have disappeared
Missing phonological rules
Predicted changes
Meaning Changes

This is similar to how AI attempts to replicate digital images that have been altered.

3. Simulation of Cultural Environments

Culture defines how a language will evolve.

AI will therefore simulate our cultural aspects such as:

Traditions
Geography
Occupations
Migrations
Technological Environment

For example, if Indigenous Inuit language or Culture encounters the Digital Environment, AI will anticipate the evolution of New Words to describe Digital Products such as Apps, Websites, etc.

4. Simulated Social Behavior

It can also predict:

How slang is formed
The spread of Newly Formed Words
The merging of Dialects
The changes of Bilingual Communities

As such, They will create a Dynamic Representation of Endangered Languages.

The Future of Languages Through Simulation

Future-Simulating Languages - An Overview

How Future Languages Will Form

1. Natural New Vocabulary Development

A computer program will create new words based on existing rules.

Examples:

Compound Words
Analogies
Metaphors
Cultural References

2. Vocabulary That Matches What We Use Today

Examples of Words That Will Have Future Questions:

Smartphone
Drone
Climate Change
Digital Living
Artificial Intelligence

All of the above will be created in the style of endangered languages.

3. Updated Grammar

A computer can use AI to help simplify complex grammatical rules and make them regular, similar to what happens naturally over time.

4. Phonetics Over Generational Time

All Languages Create A Similar Sound Over Time.

Using AI Models To Predict Sound Trends.

The Key To Amphibious People Is Their Ability To Participate In Future Language Evolution Simulation.

2. Conversation Partners Using Artificial Intelligence

Chat models that are programmed to talk in both standard forms of the language as well as the ideal, or advanced, forms.

Users will have the ability to practice:

Correct Grammar
Futuristic Vocabulary
Natural Conversations
Cultural Idioms

3. Digital Ecosystem Integration

Examples of today's digital tools include:

Keyboard design
Predictive text applications
Speech-to-text programs
Transcription software
Translation
Voice Assistant Applications

These tools would be based on new forms of words created from artificial intelligence-generated language models.

4. Cultural Restoration

A variety of songs, stories, and myths have been:

Translated by AI
Re-written by AI
Created as a continuation of previous works by AI
Modernized, but still retain their original authentic characters, by AI

Communities can now create new forms of artistic endeavors in their historical languages by relying on artificial intelligence.

5. Archaeological Reconstruction

Through artificial intelligence, it is possible to reconstruct from historical documents...

Recovering lost languages
Reconstructing Proto-Languages
Reviving Ancestor Languages
Assisting in filling in gaps within the cultural record for historians.

The Future of AI Language Ownership: Ethical Perspectives

There are some major questions that arise from this area of research.

⚠️ Who has ownership of the AI generated language? The communities have ownership of the language, not the corporations.
⚠️ Is it good to give AI the right to create new words for cultures? AI should have the right to create new words for cultures, but only with input and consent from the traditional community.
⚠️ Is it possible that AI would alter the true meaning of the language? Protective measures will be necessary to prevent any misrepresentation of a culture through AI.
⚠️ Should children in the future learn this language? Only if the community enhances the language's development and evolution, and the community would support that.
⚠️ Is an AI simulation of the language authentic? Languages have always changed; therefore, authenticity is not static.

The empowerment to grow a language is the goal of AI language usage -- not to replace anything.

The Future of AI Library: To Create Living Languages with AI

In the coming decades, AI may provide endangered languages with the opportunity to:

create speakers of the language again
be part of the digital society
make adaptations for modern times
develop new language roots while not losing their roots
re-establish meaningful connections between diaspora communities
be returned to a position where they can support themselves again.

A future world would include:

Your phone speaking an endangered language
Your games being available in it
Your assistant comprehending/recognizing it
Your community widely using it on a daily basis

A future language would not be an object locked in a museum, but instead, continually growing.

Summary: People Will Revive Languages, With Support from AI

Artificial Intelligence is an AI tool and Powerful - which will help but it is the communities that speak their language that hold the key to language revival.

Continuity through AI.

Relevance and Modernisation through AI.

Growth and Expansion through AI.

Evolution of Language through AI..

Access to new Ideas through AI..

New and Expanding Imagination thanks to AI.

For the First Time in Centuries - AI Provides Languages with a Vision of a Possible Future - and that Vision may be What Helps Those Languages to Live Again.

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