Future

Problem Solving Program International 2015-16 Practice Problem 2 Middle/Senior/Adult Division

Disappearing Languages
Future Problem Solving Program International, Inc. Do not post on any website until 2019
At an archaeological site in rural New Mexico, Marco discovers ar7facts that look like cooking tools. Marco is part
of a global team of linguists, lexicographers, and other language specialists, digitally connected across the world's
most remote areas. The team is tasked with preserving the worlds languages. Marco specializes in anthropology
and linguis7cs. He removes the objects and then photographs the tools from mul7ple angles with a 3-D camera.
The date, October 2, 2040, is tagged on the images automa7cally as they upload to the cloud where the global
team has built a collec7on of millions of photos, sound recordings, and videos. Together, the team's documenta7on
of language makes up the largest pool of linguis7c informa7on ever compiled. Marco examines the 3-D models that
oat in front of him. His inspec7on reveals intricate, unfamiliar symbols. Marco feels a rush of joy. The tools might
help illuminate the culture, movement, and way of life of a lost community of speakers.
*****
Across the globe, Amelia is thrilled to be spending her day with a few Alawa speakers in Northern Australia at the
Minyerri School. When the schools aOempts to revive the language in 2015 fell at, it was thought that all
remaining speakers had died. Amelia, a speech-language historian and sociolinguist, has found that some of the
schools students have retained much of their Alawa uency. They do not know tradi7onal idioms and have
forgoOen some words to folk songs they had learned in their youth, but they hold basic conversa7ons and can
translate nouns into Alawa. Using a SoundByte placed over her ear, Amelia records their conversa7ons. The sounds
and tones of the cri7cally endangered language are unfamiliar to her ears and tongue. Several Alawa speakers had
volunteered to use mouthpieces to capture the sounds and movements of their speech. The informa7on is saved to
the cloud just moments aTer capture. Amelia records a eld statement based on her observa7ons, "No amount of
technology can capture what it is like to be immersed in a dying language. We must cover the globe, on foot if we
have to, to truly understand and preserve each language.
*****
Despite the ambi7ous and exhaus7ng eorts over decades to prevent languages from becoming ex7nct, language
specialists have not been able to move fast enough to preserve the nuances of the ways people once
communicated. Now, complex databases exist with wriOen data, sounds, images, and videos, each capturing a
fragment or a snapshot of human language. Drake, an expert in discourse analysis, wants Amelia to focus less on
recording sounds that she will not be able to translate when she returns to the lab. Instead, he advocates for no7ng
the details and the purpose of words when transcribing conversa7ons. In Drake's experience, the meaning of the
language is most important. He believes that words that speakers emphasize and the order of a sentence tell a
listener more about the priori7es of a culture than most professionals realize. Drake worries that the ndings from
Amelia's recordings, Marco's archeological ndings, and the work of other team members will be too scaOered to
create a comprehensive history or revitaliza7on of language.
The team knows they have conic3ng interests. How can they move society forward with their combined eorts?
They face the incredible task of deciding the best approach for saving the details and specic nuances of languages,
both past and present. Problem Solvers, the team is seeking your help. Use your six-step process to analyze the
situa3on and come up with an Ac3on Plan that best addresses the preserva3on of disappearing languages
throughout the world.