Announcement – Consortium on Training in Language Documentation and Conservation – Margaret Florey

[from Margaret Florey]

We are pleased to announce the formation of the Consortium on Training in Language Documentation and Conservation(CTLDC). The CTLDC has been established as an international response to the crisis confronting the world’s languages by co-Directors Carol Genetti (University of California at Santa Barbara and InField founder) and Margaret Florey (co-founder and co-Director of the Resource Network for Linguistic Diversity).

The central aim of the CTLDC is to build a global resource for all those who are actively working to maintain linguistic diversity through fostering collaboration among people who are engaged in training in language documentation and conservation. The CTLDC will provide a critical network to foster communication and collaboration, and enhance the sharing of skills and resources.
An international Planning Group has been established to guide the development of the Consortium. The Planning Group (listed below) comprises representatives of organizations which are at the forefront of supporting linguistic diversity through planning and administering training programs, creating funding strategies to support linguistic diversity, designing tools to provide more accurate data on trends in linguistic diversity, establishing resource networks, and developing and influencing language policy. UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage Section has agreed to host the first meeting of the Planning Group in Paris in late 2010. That meeting will allow us to prioritize activities and establish the structure and goals of the Consortium.

Following the 2010 meeting, the CTLDC will open for international membership and will begin to work towards its longer-term goals, to

• construct a clearinghouse of materials accessible to LDC trainers and community members from across the globe,
• provide a forum for the sharing of curricula, teaching and assessment strategies, and methods,
• facilitate the explicit discussion of the goals and models currently being developed and implemented for training in language documentation and conservation (LDC),
• encourage partnerships between trainers of varied backgrounds and experiences,
• take into account a wide variety of perspectives and approaches by bringing together instructors from universities, communities, intensive institutes, school-based programs, language centers, and other initiatives,
• promote new collaborations, exchange ideas, and support training efforts worldwide,
• identify successful practices for LDC education,
• establish ethical and other principles to guide practitioners in documentation, conservation, and capacity-building activities,
• develop strategies to increase the range of funding opportunities to support LDC training at all levels,
• publicize LDC activities and events to raise greater awareness about the importance of linguistic diversity.

We will continue to provide updated information as the Consortium develops, and we look forward to many of you joining us as members and sharing your expertise to further support linguistic diversity.

Advisors and Planning Group for the CTLDC

• American Indian Language Development Institute, USA (Ofelia Zepeda)
• Asia/Pacific Cultural Center for UNESCO, Japan (Misako Ohnuki)
• Asociación Oxlajuuj Keej Maya Ajtziib and Center for the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (Nora England)
• Batchelor Institute for Indigenous Tertiary Education, Australia (Jeanie Bell)
• Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Institute, Canada (Sally Rice)
• Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Mexico (B’alam Mateo Toledo)
• Comhairle Nan Sgoiltean Araich, Scotland (Finlay Macleoid)
• Documentation of Endangered Languages, Volkswagen Stiftung, Germany (Jost Gippert)
• Endangered Language Fund, USA (Doug Whalen)
• First Nations Languages Program, University of British Columbia, Canada (Patricia Shaw)
• Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project, and 3L Summer School London representative, England (Peter Austin)
• Index of Linguistic Diversity, USA (David Harmon)
• Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee, South AFrica (Nigel Crawhall)
• Indonesia Training Workshops (Margaret Florey)
• Institute on Field Linguistics and Language Documentation (InField), USA (Carol Genetti)
• Institute of Language and Culture Studies, Bhutan (Lungtaen Gyatso)
• Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas and Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Mexico (José Antonio Flores Farfán)
• LinguistList, Digital Endangered Languages and Musics Archive Network, and Electronic Metastructure for Endangered Languages Data, USA (Helen Aristar-Dry)
• Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages and National Geographic Society, USA (David Harrison)
• Mahidol University, Thailand (Suwilai Premsrirat)
• Miromaa Aboriginal Language and Technology Centre, Australia (Daryn McKenny)
• National Science Foundation, Documenting Endangered Languages Program, USA (advisor, Susan Penfield)
• Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures, Australia (Nicholas Thieberger)
• Program of Professional Development in Intercultural Bilingual Education for the Andean Countries, Universidad Mayor de San Simón, Cochabamba, Bolivia (Luis Enrique Lopez)
• Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan (Toshihide Nakayama)
• Resource Network for Linguistic Diversity, Australia (Margaret Florey and Nicholas Thieberger)
• School of International Studies, University of South Australia (Kathleen Heugh)
• SIL International, USA (J. Stephen Quakenbush)
• Summer School on Documentary Linguistics in West Africa (Felix Ameka)
• Te Puna Wānanga, University of Auckland, New Zealand (Peter Keegan)

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