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# Lakota Language and Emacs
Grant Shangreaux
When I began learning Lakota, the language of my ancestors, there was
no way for me to type it on a computer without using non-free
software. Additionally, the only software I could find supported just
one of the proposed orthographies for the language.
As an Emacs user, I knew that free software offered the ability for
many types of languages to co-exist in the same program and went
looking for how to enable an input mode for Lakota in Emacs. This
talk will discuss how Emacs enabled me to define input modes for
multiple Lakota orthographies using the Quail multilingual input
package.
I will also discuss some of the ethical and cultural considerations I
went through when publishing the package. Lakota and many other
indigenous languages were actively suppressed for many years, and are
in danger of extinction. The language is being recovered now, but
much of the available educational material comes from non-indian
people. Before publishing an input mode for Emacs, I wanted to ensure
that I included an orthography developed by Lakota people, not only
the suggested orthography present in most of my educational material.
Additionally, the choice of where to publish the source as an Emacs
package was important, since some corporations have been known to
support ongoing oppression against indigenous descended peoples.
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