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Owóksape - An Online Language Learning Platform for Lakota

This paper presents Owóksape, an online language learning platform for the under-resourced language Lakota. The Lakota language (Lakȟótiyapi) is a Siouan language native to the United States with fewer than 2000 fluent speakers. Owóksape was developed by The Language Conservancy to support revitalization efforts, including reaching younger generations and providing a tool to complement traditional teaching methods. This project grew out of various multimedia resources in order to combine their most effective aspects into a single, self-paced learning tool. The first section of this paper discusses the motivation for and background of Owóksape. Section two details the linguistic features and language documentation principles that form the backbone of the platform. Section three lays out the unique integration of cultural aspects of the Lakota people into the visual design of the application. Section four explains the pedagogical principles of Owóksape. Application features and exercise types are then discussed in detail with visual examples, followed by an overview of the software design, as well as the effort required to develop the platform. Finally, a description of future features and considerations is presented.