A new project led by The University of Western Australia's Language Lab will enable First Nations people to use Aboriginal English when interacting with technology.
The University of Western Australia received $2.3 million funding from Google to carry out the project, Aboriginal English Voices.
Dr Celeste Rodriguez Louro, Director of UWA's Language Lab, will lead a team to collect and manage data and set up culturally appropriate governance.
Image: Dr Celeste Rodriguez Louro.
A steering committee made up of a majority of First Nations people has been established to oversee the project.
"The project is the first to support First Nations people in Australia by allowing them to use Aboriginal English, the variety of English spoken by 80 per cent of First Nations people in Australia, when interacting with technology," Dr Rodriguez Louro said.
"It will address a lack of inclusion in Google's automated speech recognition products such as voice search, video search, message dictation, automated captioning, and programs which convert text into speech."
Dr Rodriguez Louro said First Nations people had struggled because the existing technology was unable to accurately recognise and understand their speech.
"The partnership will build on UWA's reputation as an internationally recognised hub for the study of Aboriginal English, First Nations languages and cultures and decolonial linguistic practice," Dr Rodriguez Louro said.
"It will create opportunities to train First Nations youth across Australia who will be hired as research assistants and fieldworkers and provide employment opportunities for First Nations consultants, scholars and communities.
"It will also create exciting opportunities for Higher Degree by Research students who are studying linguistics to complete industry internships at Google."
