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applications</title></head><body>
<div>Dear Papuanists and Austronesianists</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>As many of you will know, substantial sums of money are at last
being made available for fundamental research on endangered languages.
I am attaching a document with details of three sources of
funding.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>The newest and largest source is the Lisbet Rausing Fund, some 16
millions pounds, or about $US 30 million, to be administered by SOAS
(the School of Oriental and African Studies) at the U. London.
The Rausing Fund will probably be most flexible and widely accessible
of the three sources in this document. The administrative
machinery for this fund is still being put in place but I understand a
notice inviting a first round of applications will be published quite
soon. Copies of two SOAS press releases about this fund are appended,
along with a web address for an article about it in<i> Scientific
American</i>.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Andrew Pawley</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Date: Tue, 16 Jul
2002 13:40:14 +0100<br>
Reply-To: info@eldp.soas.ac.uk<br>
Sender: FUNKNET -- Discussion of issues in Functional Linguistics<br>
<span
></span> <FUNKNET@listserv.rice.edu><br>
From: Jacqueline Arrol-Barker <info@eldp.soas.ac.uk></div>
<div>Subject: The Endangered Languages Documentation Programme From:
Jacqueline Arrol-Barker <info@eldp.soas.ac.uk><br>
Subject: The Endangered Languages Documentation Programme<br>
To: FUNKNET@listserv.rice.edu<br>
<br>
Please find below outline details of a new research programme for
the<br>
documentation of Endangered Languages.<br>
<br>
Initial announcement<br>
<br>
The Endangered Languages Documentation Programme<br>
<br>
<br>
A. A new research programme for the documentation of
endangered languages.<br>
<br>
There is a very strong prospect that a private foundation will
initiate a<br>
programme of grants to support the documentation of endangered
languages,<br>
and appoint the School of Oriental & African Studies, London
University<br>
[SOAS] to administer the scheme. The prospective Invitation to
Apply, which<br>
is likely to be disseminated in late August, will contain full
guidelines<br>
and contact details for any further inquiries. In the interim,
no further<br>
details will be made available and prospective applicants are
requested to<br>
avoid contacting SOAS with inquiries.<br>
<br>
The purpose of this announcement is to indicate the rationale of
the<br>
putative programme and enable potential applicants to begin
considering the<br>
details of their possible proposals.<br>
<br>
B. Rationale.<br>
<br>
The rationale of such a programme will be familiar to potential
applicants:<br>
the pace at which languages are becoming extinct is increasing
throughout<br>
the world. Furthermore, since only about one-third of the
world’s languages<br>
have literate traditions, the vast majority of languages which die
will<br>
leave no substantial record of themselves, or the cultural traditions
that<br>
they have sustained. Quite apart from the loss of individual
cultural<br>
expressions, this process reflects a grave diminution in human and
cultural<br>
diversity and a loss of the knowledge on which they are based and
which they<br>
embody.<br>
<br>
The objective of the proposed programme would be twofold: to
encourage the<br>
development of linguistic fieldwork in endangered languages,
especially by<br>
younger scholars with a grounding in linguistic theory, who will
thereby<br>
also be provided with support between basic graduate work and the
assumption<br>
of university positions; and to support the documentation of as
many<br>
threatened languages as possible, focused on where the danger of
extinction<br>
is greatest, facilitating the preservation of culture and knowledge,
and<br>
creating repositories of data for the linguistic and social sciences,
and of<br>
course for indigenous communities. Such documentation should,
therefore,<br>
have regard not only to the formal content and structure of languages,
but<br>
also to the varied social and cultural contexts within which languages
are<br>
used. In addition to the intellectual quality of applications,
principal<br>
grounds for support will be the degree of endangerment and the urgency
of</div>
<div>the issues.<br>
<br>
<br>
C. Applications.<br>
<br>
Applications will be invited from researchers - who might
include suitably<br>
qualified research students or postdoctoral candidate, as well as
senior and<br>
established academics - with qualifications in and, ideally,
experience of<br>
field linguistics. It is anticipated that all applicants will
have, or will<br>
have developed in advance of funding, a formal link with (preferably
an<br>
established position in) a university or comparable research
institution.<br>
<br>
The core of the programme will probably be grants to support more or
less<br>
elaborate projects for the documentation of individual or closely
related<br>
endangered languages, involving one or more researchers and
receiving<br>
support for up to three or, in exceptional circumstances four,
years.<br>
However, individuals (including suitably qualified research students
and<br>
postdoctoral fellows) may apply for grants.<br>
<br>
In the first instance applicants will be expected to submit a
relatively<br>
brief Summary Proposal Form. These will be assessed and those,
which appear<br>
to conform to the programme’s expectations as to importance and
quality,<br>
will be invited to submit a more detailed application.<br>
<br>
It is anticipated that in this first ‘round’ the date for
submission of<br>
Summary Proposals will be mid-October 2002; invitations to submit
detailed<br>
applications will be despatched in late November 2002; and the closing
date<br>
for detailed applications will be early January 2003.<br>
<br>
Detailed applications will have to conform to a variety of
standards<br>
(including ethical and technical standards), which will be specified
in the<br>
formal Invitation to Apply some time in late August. Meanwhile,
potential</div>
<div>applicants are requested not to contact SOAS.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Date: Fri, 26 Jul
2002 12:08:18 +0100<br>
Reply-To: info@eldp.soas.ac.uk<br>
Sender: FUNKNET -- Discussion of issues in Functional Linguistics<br>
<span
></span> <FUNKNET@listserv.rice.edu><br>
From: Jacqueline Arrol-Barker <info@eldp.soas.ac.uk><br>
Subject: Endangered Languages Project<br>
Comments: To: Linguist <linguist@unix.tamu.edu>,<br>
Endangered
Languages <endangered-languages-l@carmen.murdoch.edu.au>,<br>
Lagb Essex
<lagb@essex.ac.uk>, LGShift <lgshift@lists.sil.org>,<br>
Indknow
<indknow@u.washington.edu>,<br>
"Elsnet-List@Let. uu. Nl" <elsnet-list@let.uu.nl>,<br>
"Ling-Amerindia@Unicamp. Br"
<ling-amerindia@unicamp.br>,<br>
"Celtic-T@Tc. Umn. Edu" <celtic-t@tc.umn.edu>,<br>
"Centralasia-L@Fas. Harvard. Edu"
<centralasia-l@fas.harvard.edu>,<br>
"Lingtyp@Listserv. Linguistlist. Org"<br>
<lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org>,<br>
Anthro-L
<anthro-l@listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu>,<br>
Colibri
<colibri@let.uu.nl>, Corpora <corpora@hd.uib.no>,<br>
Linguistic-Exploration<br>
<linguistic-exploration@listserv.linguisticlist.org>,<br>
Fonetiks-Request <fonetiks-request@mailbase.ac.uk>,<br>
Language-Culture <language-culture@cs.uchicago.edu>,<br>
Australian-Linguistics-L<br>
<australian-linguistics-l@coombs.anu.edu.au>,<br>
Nzlinguist
<nzlinguist@massey.ac.nz><br>
To: FUNKNET@listserv.rice.edu<br>
</div>
<div>Press Release<br>
<br>
To help explore and record linguistic diversity across the globe, a
British<br>
foundation has provided £20,000,000 over ten years to create an<br>
international scholarly program to study endangered languages.<br>
<br>
The scale of the funding is commensurate with the urgent--and<br>
enormous--threat to the world's linguistic diversity. Many of the
languages<br>
that will be studied are linguistic isolates. All are very nearly
extinct.<br>
They have never been adequately analysed or recorded, and they are
typically<br>
spoken only by a few elderly people. These languages--and their<br>
speakers--deserve to be remembered, and to take their place in
history. At<br>
the same time, this worldwide project to preserve crucial knowledge
about<br>
the world's linguistic heritage will vitally illuminate the history of
how<br>
humanity settled the earth.<br>
<br>
The Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund aims to support research in the<br>
humanities and the social sciences. This grant, together with other
family<br>
benefactions amounting to many millions of pounds, is intended by the
Hans</div>
<div>Rausing family to help British universities maintain the highest
standards<br>
of academic scholarship.<br>
<br>
When deciding to secure the participation of SOAS in this program--a
process<br>
that took many months of consultation--the Fund's trustees expressed
the<br>
greatest confidence in the achievements and potential of the School,
and in<br>
enthusiasm and dedication of its scholars and leaders. The trustees
were<br>
impressed by the fit between their own profound concern at the threat
to<br>
knowledge of linguistic and cultural diversity globally, and
SOAS's<br>
long-standing and distinguished study of small languages in Africa,
Asia,<br>
the Middle East and elsewhere. The Fund's trustees also share with
SOAS a<br>
commitment to the highest ethical standards when co-operating with
small<br>
language communities-- people who are often marginalized and
dispossessed.<br>
<br>
Part of the grant will underwrite an academic programme within
SOAS,<br>
utilising SOAS's staff and facilities. It will train field-workers
and<br>
deepen knowledge of endangered languages through specially designed
courses<br>
in field linguistics generally and endangered languages in particular
as<br>
well as by co-ordinating scholarly activity, publicity and
consultation in<br>
the field. But the bulk of the fund will be administered by SOAS
to provide<br>
grants to scholars throughout the world to document and analyse
endangered<br>
languages.<br>
<br>
Professor Colin Bundy, Director and Principal of SOAS, voiced
unqualified<br>
delight at the news of the award. "SOAS was founded in 1916
as a specialist<br>
institution for the study of languages in Asia, and later in Africa.
We<br>
created the first British linguistics department (in 1932) and our
Library<br>
was identified in 1961 as a national resource for the study of Africa
and<br>
Asia. Our history, mission and ethos equip us for this visionary
project."<br>
He stressed that in addition to the School's regionally defined
departments<br>
concentrating on language and culture its range of disciplinary<br>
departments – such as anthropology, history, linguistics – offered
a rich<br>
opportunity for becoming a world leader in the documentation and study
of<br>
endangered languages.<br>
<br>
SOAS and the Fund together will underwrite the infrastructure to
manage this<br>
grants programs. This means that other families, foundations and
companies<br>
that would like to donate to this cause, will have the security of
knowing<br>
that 100% of their money goes directly to the recording and study of
nearly<br>
extinct languages. The costs of research and documentation to
ensure that<br>
full knowledge of a language and its use are preserved will vary, but
the<br>
average is about £150,000: we urge all readers of this to give
generously to<br>
this profoundly important cause--before those thousands of the
world's<br>
languages (well over 50% of the total) that are now highly
threatened,<br>
disappear forever. No sum is too small, and all money donated will
go<br>
directly, fully, and only to the cause of recording near-extinct<br>
languages--and thus save a unique world heritage.<br>
<br>
www.eldp.soas.ac.uk<br>
<br>
Direct payments to SOAS can be made direct to the School’s bank
at:<br>
<br>
National Westminster Bank plc<br>
94 Moorgate<br>
London EC2M 6XT<br>
Sort Code: 56-00-23 Account No: 08622655<br>
<br>
All general enquiries should be addressed to Mary O’Shea at SOAS on
07898</div>
<div>4075 or mo2@soas.ac.uk</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>X-Sender: mross@email.eva.mpg.de (Unverified)<br>
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 15:38:28 +0200<br>
To: apawley@coombs.anu.edu.au, jbowden@coombs.anu.edu.au<br>
From: Malcolm Ross <mross@eva.mpg.de><br>
Subject: Fwd: scientific american on endangered languages</div>
<div>X-Virus-Scanned: by AMaViS perl-11</div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>X-Sieve: cmu-sieve 2.0<br>
Delivered-To: linguistics@eva.mpg.de<br>
X-Sender: comrie2@email.eva.mpg.de<br>
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 13:22:36 +0200<br>
To: linguistics@eva.mpg.de<br>
From: Bernard Comrie <comrie@eva.mpg.de><br>
Subject: scientific american on endangered languages<br>
X-Virus-Scanned: by AMaViS perl-11<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Dear All:</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>The August edition of Scientific American
contains an article on endangered languages. the article can be
downloaded in pdf format from the following URL:</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a
href="http://epoch.longnow.org/share/longnow/ScientificAmerRosetta.pdf"
><font face="Arial"
size="-1"
>http://epoch.longnow.org/share/longnow/ScientificAmerRosetta.pdf</font
></a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Bernard</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>PS: The above relates to the US/North
American edition. Other local editions may differ in
content.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<div><tt>--</tt></div>
<div> </div>
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