My name is Aidan Pine. I'm a settler of European ancestry born in Victoria, B.C. and I developed this site in order to bring together the various themes of my research as well as the language revitalization and open-source software projects that I am involved in.

I fell in love with language revitalization work as a way of combining my interests in language, linguistics, anti-colonial/decolonial methodologies, and computer science.

I am a full-time researcher at the Canadian National Research Council, where I was most recently technical lead for the Speech Generation for Indigenous Language Education project (2022-2025). I am also the founder and lead developer of Mother Tongues, and former technology consultant for the First Peoples' Cultural Council, and the University of British Columbia.

Today, my research is mainly centered on speech synthesis, with a particular focus on data-constrained modelling, evaluation methodologies, and the specific modelling requirements for educational contexts. Have a look at the following section for a fuller description of the broader themes that guide my research.

Photo of Aidan Pine

Research Themes

The sections below help connect my publications to four core themes that run throughout most of my research. You can also view a thematically organized timeline of my publications or a filterable list of all of my publications below.

Language Revitalization

I have loved language ever since I was a child. But, it wasn't until I was an adult that I learned that the linguistic reality of the place I grew up in had been hidden from me.

I learned that this attempted erasure was the result of myriad colonial policies aimed at replacing Indigenous languages with English or French and removing Indigenous people from their lands.

I strongly believe that being an effective supporter of language revitalization efforts requires understand the very harmful processes of language de-vitalization that led to this situation in the first place.

Being able to direct my passion and interest for language into something that supports language revitalization and reclammation efforts has been an endlessly fulfilling pursuit.

Speech Technology

Many communities I worked with had a seemingly simple request: to be able to hear the language in the text-based tools we had been developing together. However, recording the tens of thousands or millions of words that would be in the average dictionary or verb conjugator would be a near impossible task, so the research question became: "What is the minimum number of recordings needed to build a TTS system good enough for an educational setting?".

That question brought me to the University of Edinburgh for my M.Sc., led to a Best Special Theme Paper at ACL based on my dissertation work, and eventually to a three-year grant collaboratively building community-owned TTS systems for SENĆOŦEN, nêhiyawêwin, and Kanien'kéha.

Digital Lexicography

As a First Nations' Languages and Linguistics major during my undergraduate degree, I worked to support the Gitksan Dictionary Project where I worked with elders and speakers of the language to document words and phrases for an online dictionary. The final step of turning the carefully documented dictionary data into something accessible to learners was expensive and challenging. Many web development companies at the time developed products that didn't properly render symbols in Indigenous languages, and the search algorithms they used were designed around English.

This became the focus of my undergraduate honours thesis, and later led to the Mother Tongues dictionaries; a free, open source tool which allows for customizable approximate search and has been used for dozens of Indigenous languages world-wide.

Foundational Language Technology

Speech synthesis and other cutting edge technologies are cool and all, but if the language in question doesn't have reliable access to a Unicode input system/keyboard, then what use is text-to-speech? There's a surprising amount of foundational language technology that is required to build other language technologies. Many NLP researchers working on languages like English take Unicode, keyboards, phonemizers, and forced alignment for granted, but these present real challenges.

One thread of my research is building tools that are either directly requested by communities (like text-audio aligners or orthography converters), or prerequisites to other desired digital technologies (like grapheme-to-phoneme engines).

Research Publication Timeline

The timeline below shows my academic publishing record according to the above themes. While Language Revitalization work has remained constant throughout my career, other themes follow a different pattern. For example, I only start working on Speech Technology after completing my M.Sc. in Speech & Language Processing at the University of Edinburgh in 2021.

Publications (25)

Google Scholar
Presentations (55)
Title Location Presenters Type Year
Language Revitalization & Speech Technology Knowledge, Information and Technology Services (KITS)
Virtual 		Pine, A. Talk 2023
Language Revitalization & Speech Technology ASTU 402 Living Language: Science & Society Guest Lecture
Virtual (University of British Columbia) 		Pine, A. Lecture 2023
Interactive Storytelling & Practical Zero-Shot Text-Speech Alignment using ReadAlong-Studio Lanfrica Talk Series
Virtual (Masakhane) 		Littell, P.
Pine, A.		 Talk 2023
“Watch me Speak!” Interactive Storytelling using ReadAlong-Studio Linguistics Department
Virtual (University of California Santa Barbara) 		Pine, A. Talk 2023
“Watch me Speak!” Interactive Storytelling using ReadAlong-Studio ICLDC 2023: Centering Justice in Language Work
Virtual (University of Hawai'i) 		Pine, A.
Huggins-Daines, D.
Joanis, E.
Littell, P.
Tessier, M.
Torkornoo, D.		 Workshop 2022
“Watch me Speak!” Interactive Storytelling using ReadAlong-Studio Community Workshop for Indigenous Language Technology (CWILTs Series)
Virtual (National Research Council) 		Pine, A.
Huggins-Daines, D.
Joanis, E.
Littell, P.
Tessier, M.
Torkornoo, D.		 Workshop 2022
Developing Speech & Language Technologies for Indigenous Language Revitalization Domain Adaptation Group
University of Toronto 		Pine, A. Talk 2022
Requirements and Motivations of Low-Resource Speech Synthesis for Language Revitalization Centre for Speech Technology Research
Edinburgh 		Pine, A. Talk 2022
Gᵢ2Pᵢ: Rule-based, index-preserving grapheme-to-phoneme transformations ComputEL-5
Dublin 		Pine, A. Talk 2022
Requirements and Motivations of Low-Resource Speech Synthesis for Language Revitalization Best Papers Award Session Plenary at ACL 2022
Dublin 		Pine, A. Talk 2022
Speech Technology & Language Reclamation FNEL 180
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Lecture 2022
Low Resource Speech Synthesis NLP Seminar
National Research Council Canada 		Pine, A. Talk 2021
G2P (grapheme-to-phoneme) the 'what', 'so what', and 'now what' Continual Workshops in Indigenous Language Technology (CWILTs)
Virtual 		Pine, A. Talk 2020
Language Revitalization & Technology ASTU 402
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Lecture 2020
Lexicography, Language Revitalization & Mother Tongues Dictionaries FNEL 382
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Lecture 2020
Language Technology & Language Reclamation FNEL 180
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Lecture 2020
Readalongs: Automatic alignment of speech and text for Indigenous language audiobooks 52nd Algonquian Conference
University of Wisconsin - Madison 		Huggins-Daines, D.
Littell, P.
Pine, A.
Joanis, E.		 Talk 2020
Developing technology to support Indigenous language revitalization in Canada Centre for Speech Technology Research (CSTR)
University of Edinburgh 		Pine, A. Talk 2019
Canadian National Research Council's Indigenous Language Technology Project International Conference on Language Technologies for All
UNESCO HQ, Paris 		Pine, A.
Brinklow, N.
Souter, H.
Lothian, D.		 Poster 2019
ReadAlong Studio: Zero-shot Text/Speech Alignment for Indigenous Language Audiobooks Ottawa AI
NRC Sussex, Ottawa 		Daines, D.
Littell, P.
Pine, A.
Joanis, E.
Torkornoo, D.		 System demonstration 2019
Supplementing text-based Indigenous language applications with synthetic speech Ottawa AI
NRC Sussex, Ottawa 		Pine, A.
Kazantseva, A.		 Poster 2019
Kawennón:nis the Word Maker for Kanyen'kéha Kanyenn'kéha Mohawk Class
Tsi Tyónnheht Onkwawén:na, Tyendinaga 		Pine, A. Talk 2019
Kawennón:nis the Word Maker for Kanyen'kéha Kanyen'kéha Mohawk 101R
Renison University College at University of Waterloo 		Pine, A. Lecture 2019
Language Revitalization & Technology ASTU 402 - Living Language: Science & Society
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Lecture 2019
Language Revitalization, technology, and making the most of your undergraduate experience FNEL 180
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Lecture 2019
Language Revitalization & the Role of Technology Nerd Nite YYJ
Victoria Event Centre 		Pine, A. Talk 2019
UBC Alumni Panel 50th Anniversary of the UBC Linguistics Department
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Panel discussion 2019
Mohawk O'Clock: Limited Domain Speech Synthesis in Kanyen'kéha ICLDC 6
University of Hawaii 		Pine, A.
Littell, P.
Maracle, R.		 Technology showcase 2019
Kawennón:nis: An Online Tool for Learning Verbal Morphology in Kanyen'kéha ICLDC 6
University of Hawaii 		Kazantseva, A.
Brant, R.
Maracle, O.
Maracle, R.
Pine, A.		 Technology showcase 2019
Digital Kinesthetic Learning and the Gitksan Pronominal Paradigm ICLDC 6
University of Hawaii 		Pine, A. Presentation 2019
How to Make a 'Mother Tongues' Digital Dictionary ICLDC 6
University of Hawaii 		Pine, A.
Turin, M.		 Workshop 2019
An Introduction to Gitksan Research LING 372 Guest Lecture
University of Victoria 		Pine, A. Lecture 2018
Developing Digital Tools for Language Revitalization: Demystifying Coding, Apps, and Web Platforms National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics
Tokyo, Japan 		Pine, A.
Turin, M.		 Workshop 2018
Developing Digital Tools for Language Revitalization: Demystifying Coding, Apps, and Web Platforms CoLang
University of Florida 		Pine, A.
Turin, M.		 Workshop 2018
Kawennón:nis: The Wordmaker for Kanyén'keha Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa Immersion School
Ohsweken, Ontario 		Kazantseva, A.
Pine, A.		 Presentation 2018
Seeing the Heiltsuk Orthography from Font Encoding to Unicode: A Case Study Using Convertextract Conference on Collaboration and Computing of Under Resourced Languages
Miyazaki, Japan 		Pine, A. Conference 2018
Ama silkw sa Gitksan Elders Meeting
Gitksan Elder's Center. Gitanmaax, B.C 		Pine, A. Presentation 2018
A multi-dialectal Ayajuthem talking dictionary Sliammon, B.C Pine, A. Presentation 2018
An Introduction to Gitksan Research LING 372 Guest Lecture
University of Victoria 		Pine, A. Lecture 2018
Digital Kinesthetic Learning and the Gitksan Pronominal Paradigm Research in Indigenous Languages and Linguistics
University of Victoria 		Pine, A. Presentation 2018
Practical Phonetics Adult Gitxsan Class
Gitsegukla, & Terrace, B.C 		Pine, A. Lecture 2018
Practical Phonetics Adult Gitxsan Class
Gitanmaax, B.C 		Pine, A. Lecture 2017
A visual presentation with Aidan Pine: The possibilities of our new app Ayajuthem language conference
Sliammon, B.C 		Pine, A. Conference 2017
Sim ayeehl k'uuhl FNEL 180 Guest Lecture
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Lecture 2017
Ama silkw sa Gitksan Elders Meeting
Gitksan Elder's Center. Gitanmaax, B.C 		Pine, A. Presentation 2017
Dim liseewis Xsiwis g̲ant Sginist wil wihl hahlaalst sit'aadiit Gitksan Language Symposium
Gitksan Wet'suwet'en Education Society. Hazelton, B.C. 		Smith, J.
Pine, A.		 Conference 2017
Lexicography for Endangered Languages FNEL 382 Guest Lecture
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Lecture 2017
Mobile App Development BC Breath of Life Institute
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Workshop 2017
Introducing Waldayu & Waldayu Mobile ComputEL-2: The 2nd Workshop on Computational Methods for Endangered Languages
University of Hawaii 		Pine, A. Conference 2017
Making the most of undergraduate research FNEL 180 Guest Lecture
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Lecture 2016
Mobilizing Language Data: An Endangered Language Dictionary App Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Conference 2016
'Nit gwihl Jabisi'm FNEL 180 Guest Lecture
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Lecture 2015
Connecting Linguistics to Language Learners: a Lesson Plan for Gitksan Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Conference 2015
Preferential Encliticization in Gitksan Linguistics Department
University of British Columbia 		Pine, A. Presentation 2014
Quantifier Scope in Gitksan Gitksan Research Group Research Seminar
University of British Columbia 		Barois, M.
Bicevskis, K.
Cheng, K.
Pine, A.		 Presentation 2014

Contact

If you're a language revitalization practitioner or a researcher interested by similar things, I'd love to hear from you! If you're a student looking for summer internship possibilities at the National Research Council and have experience in related research areas, please reach out to my NRC email.

[email protected]

GitHub: @roedoejet