Fw: Endangered Language Fund announces 10 grants

[Sue Penfield]

----- Original Message -----
From: "C. Thomas Mason" <CTM at CTMASON.COM>

Subject: Endangered Language Fund announces 10 grants


> ELF announces 10 grants
>   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >From Doug Whalen (whalen at haskins.yale.edu) 5 Dec 2003:
>
> The Endangered Language Fund's seventh annual request for proposals
> resulted in the submission of 68 projects on languages throughout the
> world.  As usual, the quality of the proposals was high, leading to many
> difficult decisions.  We funded ten of the projects, and could easily
> have done twenty.  We are hoping to expand our resources for future
> grants.
>
> Of the ten proposals selected, five focused on indigenous American
> languages:
>
> -- Cora McKenna & Brenda McKenna (Nambe Pueblo, NM): "Tewa Dictionary
> and Curriculum, Nambe Dialect."  [Nambe Pueblo is north of Santa Fe.
> Current Nambe classes serve learners from age 4 to 60, so the curriculum
> has to be specially designed. The ELF grant will help collect material
> for the classroom and a better dictionary.]
>
> -- Lisa Conathan & Belle Anne Matheson (UC Berkeley): "Arapaho Description
> and Revitalization." [The Northern Arapaho community feels a need for an
> audio dictionary.  Pitch accents are not necessary for fluent speakers to
> write, but they are difficult for learners to remember.  Conathan and
> Mathesen will work on a dictionary along with a better description of the
> rules of the sound system.]
>
> -- Arthur Schmidt, Rita Flamand & Grace Zoldy (Metis): "The Camperville
> Michif Master-Apprentice Program." [Michif is a mixed language from Cree
> and French. Schmidt, a native Michif, but not a speaker, will apprentice
> himself to Flamand and Zoldy. The Endangered Language Fund grant will
> allow Schmidt to spend time in Camperville in Manitoba, Canada.]
>
> -- Rosemary Beam de Azcona (UC Berkeley): "Southern Zapotec Language
> Materials." [It appears that there are only two remaining speakers of
> San Agustín Mixtepec Zapotec, a southern Zapotec language of Mexico.
> Coatlán-Loxicha Zapotec is declining, though it has about 170 speakers.
> Beam de Azcona will record as much language material as possible.]
>
> -- Rick Thoman & Gary Holton (U Alaska Fairbanks): "The Tanacross
> Athabascan Sound System." [This project will produce a CD-ROM illustra-
> ting the sound system of Tanacross.  Speakers will pronounce selected
> words and phrases with the rich array of ejectives, affricates and
> fricatives as well as contrastive tone. This CD-ROM will be a useful
> resource for Tanacross.]
>
> The five other projects funded include:
>
> -- Nadezhda Shalamova (Tomsk Polytechnic U), Andrei Filtchenko (Rice U)
> & Olga Potanina (Tomsk State Pedagogical U): "Documentation of Vasyugan
> Khanty."
>
> -- Dmitri Funk (Russian Academy of Sciences): "The Last Epic Singer in
> Shors (Western Siberia)."
>
> -- Cheruiyot Kiplangat (Centre for Endangered Languages, Kenya): "Working
> to Save Ogiek and Sengwer of Kenya." [Two languages of the Rift Valley.]
>
> -- Claire Bowern (Harvard U): "Bardi Language Documentation: The Laves
> Material." [An Australian language of the Nyulnyulan family. Bowern will
> re-check texts collected by Gerhardt Laves in 1929 with the remaining
> fluent speakers.]
>
> -- Francis Egbokhare (U Ibadan, Nigeria): "Documenting Akuku Oral
> Traditions." [An endangered language of the Edoid family spoken in
> Edo state of Nigeria.]
>
> As always, we depend on the generosity of our members.  Just a dozen new
> members would sponsor a new grant.  Please visit
>
>                 http://www.ling.yale.edu/~elf/join.html
>
> if you would like to join.
>
>                                                            --Doug Whalen
>                                                     Haskins Laboratories
>                                                   New Haven, Connecticut
>                                                (whalen at haskins.yale.edu)
>