Language and Oral Epistemologies:
Language is the root of all culture; it is an entire cognitive framework. When minor tongues are eclipsed, communities lose unique idioms, taxonomies, and unwritten vocabularies that describe local flora, fauna, and emotional nuances. With a dying language, centuries of oral poetry, creation myths, and philosophies vanish instantly.
CDEP develops simple recording tools that let community members capture native speakers, especially elders, along with dictionary platforms where they can build their own word lists with recorded pronunciation and local names for plants, animals and places. Transcription and translation tools help communities preserve oral poetry, myths and songs in written form. For unwritten languages, CDEP develops fonts, keyboards and writing tools. It also builds language-learning platforms that communities can fill with their own lessons for youth and the diaspora.