Neasa Ní Chiaráin
Contact Information
Email: neasa.nichiarain@tcd.ie
Address: Phonetics & Speech Laboratory,
Centre for Language and Communication Studies,
Room 4074 Arts Building,
Trinity College Dublin,
College Green,
Dublin 2
Quicklinks
Research Interests
Irish language speech synthesis, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and accessibility applications of synthesis
Current Projects
- Working on the abair.ie Irish language speech synthesiser
- Identifying and investigating synthesiser end-user groups and their requirements
- Addressing the hardware/software requirements needed to improve user accessibility
Biography
Neasa Ní Chiaráin is working on the development of speech and language technology for Irish, particularly on Irish language synthetic voices as part of the ABAIR initiative (www.abair.ie) in the Phonetics and Speech Lab, CLCS. As well as working on the development of the underpinning linguistic resources needed for synthesis, her research focuses on exploring the application of speech and language technology in a Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) context, particularly for the teaching/learning of Irish.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Ghil'Ad Zuckermann, Sigurður Vigfússon, Manny Rayner, Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Nedelina Ivanova, Hanieh Habibi, Branislav Bédi, LARA in the Service of Revivalistics and Documentary Linguistics: Community Engagement and Endangered Languages, Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Computational Methods for Endangered Languages, ComputEL-4 - 4th Workshop on Computational Methods for Endangered Languages, Online, 02-03 March 2021, ACL, 2021, pp13 - 23
Elham Akhlaghi, Anna Bączkowska, Branislav Bédi, Harald Berthelsen, Cathy Chua, Catia Cucchiarini, Hanieh Habibi, Ivana Horváthová, Christèle Maisonniaux, Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Manny Rayner, Assessing the Quality of TTS Audio in the LARA Learning-by-Reading Platform, EuroCALL 2021, Paris, France, 25 - 27 August 2021, 2021
Elham Akhlaghi, Branislav Bédi, Harald Berthelsen, Matthias Butterweck, Cathy Chua, Hanieh Habibi, Junta Ikeda, Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Manny Rayner, Sabina Sestigiani, Ghil'ad Zuckermann, How enetCollect groups are collaborating to build the LARA platform, European Network for Combining Language Learning with Crowdsourcing Techniques: WG1/WG3 Meeting, Naples, Italy, 26-28 March 2020, 2020
Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide, Emily Barnes, Testing the discrimination and grammatical use of consonantal contrasts in Irish using an iCALL platform, EuroCALL 2020, Copenhagen, 19-22 August 2020, 2020
Emily Barnes, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide & Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Deconstructing bilingual phonological awareness: the case for language-specific instruction, Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, California, USA, July 2020, 2020
Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Foghlaim ríomhchuidithe teanga-chliste agus teicneolaíocht na hurlabhra: Féidearthachtaí do theagasc/d'fhoghlaim na Gaeilge: Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning and speech technology: Possibilities for the teaching and learning of Irish. , TEANGA, the Journal of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics, 27, 2020, p79-97
Emily Barnes, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide & Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Bilingual phonological awareness: when interdependence becomes interference, International Association for the Study of Child Language conference, Philadelphia, USA, 2020
Emily Barnes, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide & Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Unravelling complexity in bilingual phonemic awareness: the role of orthography, International Symposium on Bilingual and L2 Processing in Adults and Children, The Netherlands, 2020
Ní Chasaide, A., Ní Chiaráin, N., Berthelsen, H., Wendler, C., Murphy, A., Barnes, E. and Gobl, C., Can we Defuse the Digital Timebomb? Linguistics, Speech Technology and the Irish Language Community, International Conference on Language Technologies for ALL (LT4All): Enabling Linguistic Diversity and Multilingualism Worldwide, UNESCO, Paris, France, 4-6 December 2019, edited by Adda, G., Mariani, J. , European Language Resources Association (ELRA), 2020, pp177 - 181
The Potential of Text-to-Speech Synthesis in Computer-Assisted Language Learning: A Minority Language Perspective in, editor(s)Alberto Andujar , Recent Tools for Computer- and Mobile-Assisted Foreign Language Learning, Hershey, PA, IGI Global, 2020, pp149 - 169, [Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide]
Elham Akhlaghi, Branislav Bédi, Fatih Bektaş, Harald Berthelsen, Matthias Butterweck, Cathy Chua, Catia Cucchiarin, Gülşen Eryiğit, Johanna Gerlach, Hanieh Habibi, Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Manny Rayner, Steinþór Steingrímsson and Helmer Strik, Constructing multimodal language learner texts using LARA: experiences with nine languages, Proceedings of LREC 2020, Proceedings of the 12th Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (LREC), Marseille, France, 11-16 May 2020, European Language Resources Association, 2020, pp323-331
The development of an online game-based simulation for the training of English language teachers in virtual environments in, editor(s)Frederiksen, Karen-Margrete; Larsen, Sanne; Bradley, Linda; Thouësny, Sylvie , CALL for widening participation: short papers from EUROCALL 2020, Research-publishing.net, 2020, pp334-341 , [Vasmatzoglou, Areti; Ní Chiaráin, Neasa]
Ní Chasaide, A., Ní Chiaráin, N., Berthelsen, H., Wendler, C., Murphy, A., Barnes, E. and Gobl, C. , Leveraging Phonetic and Speech Research for Irish Language Revitalisation and Maintenance, ICPhS 2019: the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, 2019, pp994 - 998
Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Language Learning arising from the Multidisciplinary Irish Speech Technology Initiative, ABAIR, European Network for Combining Language Learning with Crowdsourcing Techniques: WG3/WG4 Meeting, Trnava, Slovakia, 27-29 November 2019, 2019
Emily Barnes, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide, & Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Listening to minority voices: towards best practice in bilingual literacy assessment, Childhood Bilingualism Research Network Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 2019
Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide, Integrating Dialogue within an iCALL Platform for Irish, Dialog for Good (DiGo) 2019: Workshop on Speech and Language Technology Serving Society, Stockholm, Sweden, 10/09/19, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 2019
Towards the design of iCALL tools for beginner Mandarin Chinese learners in Ireland in, editor(s)Fanny Meunier, Julie Van de Vyver, Linda Bradley, and Sylvie Thouësny , CALL and complexity - short papers from EUROCALL 2019, Research-publishing.net, 2019, pp385 - 390, [Hongfei Wang, Neasa Ní Chiaráin]
Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide, An Scéalaí: autonomous learners harnessing speech and language technologies, SLaTE 2019: 8th ISCA Workshop on Speech and Language Technology in Education, Graz, Austria, 20/09/19 - 21/09/19, ISCA, 2019, pp94 - 98
An iCALL approach to morphophonemic training for Irish using speech technology in, editor(s)Fanny Meunier, Julie Van de Vyver, Linda Bradley, and Sylvie Thouësny , CALL and complexity - short papers from EUROCALL 2019, Research-publishing.net, 2019, pp314 - 320, [Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide]
Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide, Recycling learner data for acquisition of targeted linguistic features: a custom-built iCALL platform, Proceedings of the XIXth International CALL Research Conference, CALL Your Data, Bruges, Belgium , edited by J. Colpaert, A. Aerts and F. Cornillie , 2018, pp292 - 294
Barnes, E., Ní Chasaide, A. and Ní Chiaráin, N., The design and pre-testing of literacy and cognitive tasks in Irish and English, Literacy Association of Ireland 42nd International Conference, Dublin, Ireland, 2018, pp1 - 11
Ó Broin, D., Barnes, E., Ní Chiaráin, N. and Ní Chasaide, A., A Story Based Game for Teaching Phonics for the Irish language, Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Games Based Learning, Sophia Antipolis, France, 2018, pp495 - 503
An Scéalaí: synthetic voices for autonomous learning in, editor(s)P. Taalas, J. Jalkanen, L. Bradley and S. Thouesny , Future-proof CALL: Language Learning as Exploration and Encounters - short papers from EUROCALL 2018, Research-publishing.net, 2018, pp230 - 235, [Ní Chiaráin, N. and Ní Chasaide, A.]
Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Teicneolaíocht na hUrlabhra agus na Teanga don Ghaeilge, Seimineár poiblí ar an ríomhaireacht sa Ghaeilge , Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU, 08 May 2017, 2017
Emer Gilmartin, Jaebok Kim, Alpha Diallo, Yong Zhao, Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Ketong Su, Yuyun Huang, Benjamin R. Cowan, Nick Campbell, CARAMILLA - Speech Mediated Language Learning Modules for Refugee and High School Learners of English and Irish, Proceedings of the Seventh ISCA workshop on Speech and Language Technology in Education 2017, 7th ISCA workshop on Speech and Language Technology in Education (SLaTE 2017), Stockholm, Sweden, 25-26 August 2017, edited by Olov Engwall, Jose Lopes and Iolanda Leite , KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden, 2017, pp138 - 143
Criteria for evaluating a game-based CALL platform in, editor(s)K. Borthwick, L. Bradley and S. Thouësny , CALL in a climate of change: adapting to turbulent global conditions - short papers from EUROCALL 2017, Voillans, France, Research-publishing.net, 2017, pp229 - 234, [Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide]
Ní Chasaide, A., Ní Chiaráin, Wendler, C., Berthelsen, H., Murphy, A. and Gobl, C., The ABAIR Initiative: Bringing Spoken Irish into the Digital Space, INTERSPEECH 2017, Stockholm, Sweden, 2017, pp2113 - 2117
Ní Chiaráin, N. and Ní Chasaide, A., Effects of Educational Context on Learners' Ratings of a Synthetic Voice, Proceedings of the 7th ISCA Workshop on Speech and Language Technology in Education (SLaTE 2017), Stockholm, Sweden, 2017, pp47 - 52
Emily Barnes, Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide, Departures from the "norm": how the phonology, morphology and orthography of the Irish language impact on literacy instruction and acquisition, Exploring the Literacy Landscape: Celebrating 40 Years of Research and Practice, Literacy Association of Ireland 40th Annual Conference, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin, 29-30 September 2016, Literacy Association of Ireland, 2017, pp22 - 32
Emer Gilmartin, Jaebok Kim, Alpha Diallo, Yong Zhao, Neasa Ni Chiarain, Benjamin R. Cowan, Ketong Su, Yuyun Huang and Nick Campbell, CARAMILLA - Speech Mediated Language Learning Modules, Proceedings of the 12th Summer Workshop on Multimodal Interfaces eNTERFACE'16, eNTERFACE'16, Enschede, The Netherlands,, August 2016, edited by Truong, K. P. and Reidsma, D. , CTIT, 2016, pp61 - 65
Neasa Ní Chiaráin, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide, An Ghaeilge agus Úsáid na Teicneolaíochta Ar-Líne (The Irish Language and Technology On-Line), Pobal na Gaeilge sa Ré Dhigiteach (The Irish Language Community in the Digital Age), The Connemara Coast, Galway, March 2016, 2016
Ní Chiaráin, N., & Ní Chasaide, A., The Digichaint interactive game as a virtual learning environment for Irish, Proceedings of CALL communities and culture - short papers from EUROCALL 2016, Limassol, Cyprus, edited by Salomi Papadima-Sophocleous, Linda Bradley, and Sylvie Thouësny , Research-publishing.net, 2016, pp330 - 336
Ní Chiaráin, N. and Ní Chasaide, A. , Chatbot Technology with Synthetic Voices in the Acquisition of an Endangered Language: Motivation, Development and Evaluation of a Platform for Irish, Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2016), Portoro , Slovenia, 23-28 May 2016, edited by Nicoletta Calzolari, Khalid Choukri, Thierry Declerck, Sara Goggi, Marko Grobelnik, Bente Maegaard, Joseph Mariani, Helene Mazo, Asuncion Moreno, Jan Odijk, Stelios Piperidis , European Language Resources Association (ELRA), 2016, pp3429 - 3435
Ní Chiaráin, N. and Ní Chasaide, A. , Faking Intelligent CALL: the Irish context and the road ahead, Proceedings of the joint workshop on NLP for Computer Assisted Language Learning and NLP for Language Acquisition at SLTC, Umeå, Sweden, 16/11/2016, edited by Elena Volodina, Gintarė Grigonytė, Ildikó Pilán, Kristina Nilsson Björkenstam, Lars Borin , (130), Linköping University Electronic Press, Linköpings universitet, 2016, pp60 - 65
Ní Chasaide, A., Ní Chiaráin, N., Berthelsen, H., Wendler, C., & Murphy, A., Speech Technology as Documentation for Endangered Language Preservation: The Case of Irish, Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences , Glasgow, Scotland, 2015, pp1-5
Ní Chiaráin, N., & Ní Chasaide, A. , The TATL framework for CALL development., Critical CALL - Proceedings of the 2015 EUROCALL Conference, Padova, Italy, edited by Francesca Helm, Linda Bradley, Marta Guarda, Sylvie Thouësny , Research-publishing.net, 2015, pp427 - 432
Ní Chiaráin, N., & Ní Chasaide, A., Evaluating Synthetic Speech in an Irish CALL Application: Influences of Predisposition and of the Holistic Environment, Proceedings of SLaTE 2015: ISCA International Workshop on Speech and Language Technology in Education, Leipzig, Germany, edited by S. Steidl, A. Batliner, & O. Jokisch , 2015, pp149-154
Cabral, J., Campbell, N., Ganesh, S., Gilmartin, E., Haider, F., Kenny, E., Kheirkhah, M., Murphy, A., Ní Chiaráin, N., Pellegrini, T., Rey Orozko, O., MILLA - Multimodal Interactive Language Learning Agent, DialWatt - Semdial 2014. The 18th Workshop on the Semantics and Pragmatics of Dialogue, Edinburgh, Scotland, edited by V. Rieser & P. Muller , 2014, pp164-166
Ní Chiaráin, N., & Ní Chasaide, A. , Evaluating text-to-speech synthesis for CALL platforms. , Antwerp CALL 2014: International CALL Research Conference, Antwerp: University of Antwerp, 2014, pp104-110
Ní Chasaide, A., Ní Chiaráin, N., Wendler, C., Berthelsen, H., Kelly, A., Gilmartin, E., Uí Dhonnchadha, E., Gobl, C., Towards personalised, synthesis-based content in Irish (Gaelic) language education, Proceedings of the ISCA Special Interest Group link (SIG) on Speech and Language Technology in Education (SLaTE) , Venice, Italy, 2011, pp29-32
Research Expertise
Recognition
Awards and Honours
Provost's Teaching Award - nominee