Researchers at the University of Waikato in New Zealand have developed a high-fidelity synthetic voice for te reo Māori, the indigenous language of the country, in response to concerns over the ownership and control of Māori language data by foreign technology companies. Led by associate professor Te Taka Keegan and his former master's student Kingsley Eng, the project was motivated by a desire for "sovereign digital systems" that prioritize Māori ownership of their language resources.
The initiative began with the recording of 4.5 hours of data from Ngaringi Katipa, a fluent speaker and language mentor, which was later expanded to 7 hours and 45 minutes. The researchers faced challenges due to the unique linguistic features of te reo Māori, such as vowel length and digraphs, which can alter meanings. They employed a phoneme-based approach to training the text-to-speech model, utilizing open-source tools and testing various neural architectures to achieve an effective AI voice with a word error rate of 6.78 percent.
Despite receiving funding from Google, Keegan emphasized that the ownership of the voice model remains a collective responsibility of the Māori community, particularly the tribes affiliated with Katipa. The project aims to empower Māori language speakers and establish a framework for similar initiatives among other indigenous communities globally. Keegan envisions a future where community-owned language models can preserve and promote indigenous knowledge, ensuring that technology serves to empower rather than diminish cultural heritage.
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