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“A regulation will stipulate that the family names comes first before the given names when spelling using the Chinese phonetic alphabet, said Li Yuming, deputy director of the State Language Commission, according to the Beijing News on Monday.” [People’s Daily Online] So, Li Yuming, rather than Yuming Li. My Chinese students have usually politely reversed … Read more

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Niue And Cook Island Māori Languages Threatened So runs the headline in Voxy, reporting the work of John McCaffery and Judy Taligalu McFall-McCaffery of the University of Auckland. “Our research indicates that Pacific Island languages in New Zealand show significant signs of language shift and loss, with several languages, especially Cook Island Māori and Niue … Read more

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During a recent vacation I took the opportunity to re-read Stephen Jay Gould’s excellent collection of essays The Lying Stones of Marrakech: Penultimate Reflections in Natural History” (published by Viking in 2001, the year before Gould’s untimely death). In his essay “A Tale of Two Work Sites” Gould reminds us (page 257) that it was … Read more

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Another grammar of an Australian language is to be launched: Amanda Lissarague’s grammar and dictionary of Gathang (see 2008 blog-post on launch of other books published by the ever-productive Muurrbay and Many Rivers Language Centre).

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Once upon a time SBS was a wonderful thing – bringing news and television programs in different languages to Australia, allowing speakers of languages other than English to access information and entertainment on TV, and introducing Australian English speakers to other languages. They ran Australia’s main subtitling service. But worldly powers in Australia are profoundly … Read more

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As part of the MA in Language Documentation in the Endangered Languages Academic Programme (ELAP) at SOAS, students are able to participate in a two-week fieldtrip to Guernsey, Channel Islands, to undertake first-hand fieldwork and document the local highly endangered indigenous language Dgernesiais (or Guernesiais). The fieldtrip is organised by Julia Sallabank, Lecturer in Language … Read more

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[from Sarah Ogilvie] The Endangered Languages and Dictionaries Project at the University of Cambridge investigates ways of writing dictionaries that better facilitate the maintenance and revitalization of endangered languages. It explores the relationship between documenting a language and sustaining it, and entails collaboration with linguists, dictionary-makers and educators, as well as members of endangered-language communities … Read more

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21st of March is Harmony Day in Australia, promoted by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Among ideas for teachers’ lessons are: Language treasure hunt: Use your class/school mates as a resource to ‘collect’ basic words or expressions in other languages. Borrowed words: Search the internet to compile a list of words commonly used in … Read more

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