Uncategorized – Page 11 – Endangered Languages and Cultures

Think-tanks or museums

22 March 2011 by Jane Simpson

Here’s where I spent the morning: HASS On the Hill. One reason I went is because I’d like to know how to get policy-makers and implementers interested in the information that university researchers have on matters like – language education, mother tongue medium instruction… Before it started, I caught up with a Chinese colleague who … Read more

CUP Handbook of Endangered Languages

11 March 2011 by admin

The Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages edited by Julia Sallabank and myself will be available in the UK next week (and in Australia in June). The book is being launched by Mari Jones at the conference on Language Endangerment: Documentation, Pedagogy, and Revitalization at Cambridge on 25th March. The Handbook covers issues in linguistic diversity … Read more

ELAR turns 36

2 March 2011 by admin

At the end of last month the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) at SOAS made available its 36th collection of endangered languages materials. Deposits added in February include Bogong from Ghana, Pingjiang from China, Surel from Nepal and South Eastern Huastec from Mexico. The Pingjiang collection of 69 love songs is notable for having a description … Read more

Language Documentation Training

27 February 2011 by admin

The documentary linguistics training course DocLing 2011 wrapped up at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS) on Thursday last week. This was the fourth annual training course held in Tokyo through collaboration between the Linguistic Dynamics project of the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA) and the Hans Rausing Endangered … Read more

Open for business

19 February 2011 by admin

All volumes of our publication series Language Documentation and Description are now available for purchase through the new SOAS online store. Payment can be made by all major credit cards and the store uses the latest security technology, including Verified by Visa, so you can shop in complete safety. Simply register you name and address, … Read more

Another forty years on

11 February 2011 by admin

This month marks the 40th anniversary of the beginning of my professional involvement with Linguistics. And it all started out rather accidentally. In February 1971 I went from Nemingha, New South Wales, to Canberra to begin my Bachelor of Arts (Asian Studies) degree at the Australian National University (ANU). I had intended to study Japanese … Read more

LSA 2011 Sessions on Metadata in Language Documentation and Description

10 February 201121 January 2011 by admin

At the recent annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America in Pittsburgh Jeff Good of University at Buffalo and I organised a tutorial session (Friday 7th January, 1.5 hours) and poster session (Sunday 9th January, 3 hours) on the topic of metadata in language documentation and description. The tutorial talks covered general topics such … Read more

The public wavelength

5 February 201123 November 2010 by admin

At this year’s American Anthropological Association (AAA)

No more Ngarla

5 February 20114 November 2010 by admin

Friday this week (5th November 2010) marks a sad day for Aboriginal languages of the Pilbara region of Western Australia with the funeral of Alexander (“Sandy”) Brown, the last fluent speaker of Ngarla. Sandy was born in 1930 near the De Grey River in the traditional country of the Ngarla which stretched eastwards for about … Read more

Alive & Digital event in New York

5 February 201131 October 2010 by admin

The Trace Foundation is a New York based non-profit non-government organisation that has been working with Tibetan communities in China since 1993, mainly on education, health, rural development, and culture. The Foundation offers grants in these areas, and hosts the Latse Library of Tibetan materials at its home base in Greenwich Village in New York City.
Over the past two years Trace Foundation has organised various events, both exhibitions and lecture series on a range of topics, including minority and endangered languages, especially Tibetan. The series has included the following language-related symposia:

Minority Language in Today’s Global Society — 22 November 2008
Perspectives in Mother Tongue Education — 21-22 February 2009
Vitality and Viability of Minority Languages — 23-24 October 2009
Perspectives on Language Standardization — 27 March 2010
The Relationship between Language, Culture, and Ecology — 24-25 September 2010

On 20-21 November 2010 the sixth and final symposium called Alive & Digital will be held, bringing together scholars and experts who have worked extensively on minority language preservation and new technologies. The main topics to be discussed are what technological breakthroughs lie ahead and how technology today is impacting linguistic minorities worldwide. The first day will involve a diverse group of speakers discussing past and present trends in the relationship between technology and language, and the second day will explore technological issues specific to the Tibetan language including the Tibetan font converter, Unicode, and iPhone applications.
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested.