WELT: Using Graphics Generation in Linguistic Fieldwork

We describe the WordsEye Linguistics tool (WELT), a novel tool for the documentation and preservation of endangered languages. WELT is based on WordsEye (Coyne and Sproat, 2001), a text-toscene tool that automatically generates 3D scenes from written input. WELT has two modes of operation. In the first mode, English input automatically generates a picture which can be used to elicit a description in the target language. In the second mode, the linguist formally documents the grammar of an endangered language, thereby creating a system that takes input in the endangered language and generates a picture according to the grammar; the picture can then be used to verify the grammar with native speakers. We will demonstrate WELT’s use on scenarios involving Arrernte and Nahuatl.