Module 1 – Weblog Entry #5 – Bruce Spencer

This is a sampling of some of website oddities that I came across during my research on aboriginal languages. Neither of them deserved their own weblog necessarily but I felt compelled to include them somewhere because of the nature of the content found in each.

1. The Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics is about a proposal put forward by the Canadian Standards Association concerning the development of a Universal Multiple-Octet Character Set. Apparently there’s been a dispute between various aboriginal groups over ownership over certain characters common to their respective language. I have included here because of its connection to aboriginal language (written).

2. The University of Calgary’s Linguistics Department has posted an Aboriginal Languages of Canada Map to show all the geographic location of every known aboriginal language family in Canada. It also provides some statistical information on the more well-known ones.

3. The federal government, through their Canadian Heritage website has information on their Aboriginal Languages Initiative Innovation Fund Pilot Project that maybe of interest to some. I would be interested in learning about any projects derived from this federal initiative so if you hear of any, please let me know.