Fwd: [CELTIC-T] Endangered Languages Documentation Programme

[Elizabeth J. Pyatt]

FYI - The School of Oriental & African Studies in London has
announced a program for the documentation of "endangered" languages.

>Approved-By: lctl at TC.UMN.EDU
>X-Sender: lctl at lctl.email.umn.edu
>Date:         Mon, 8 Jul 2002 09:13:42 -0500
>Reply-To: "LCTL proj. coordinator" <lctl at TC.UMN.EDU>
>Sender: Celtic language teachers mailing list <CELTIC-T at TC.UMN.EDU>
>From: "LCTL proj. coordinator" <lctl at TC.UMN.EDU>
>Subject:      [CELTIC-T] Endangered Languages Documentation Programme
>To: CELTIC-T at TC.UMN.EDU
>
>Please find below outline details of a new research programme for the
>documentation of Endangered Languages.
>
>Initial announcement
>
>The Endangered Languages Documentation Programme
>
>
>A.   A new research programme for the documentation of endangered languages.
>
>There is a very strong prospect that a private foundation will initiate a
>programme of grants to support the documentation of endangered languages,
>and appoint the School of Oriental & African Studies, London University
>[SOAS] to administer the scheme.  The prospective Invitation to Apply, which
>is likely to be disseminated in late August, will contain full guidelines
>and contact details for any further inquiries.  In the interim, no further
>details will be made available and prospective applicants are requested to
>avoid contacting SOAS with inquiries.
>
>The purpose of this announcement is to indicate the rationale of the
>putative programme and enable potential applicants to begin considering the
>details of their possible proposals.
>
>B.  Rationale.
>
>The rationale of such a programme will be familiar to potential applicants:
>the pace at which languages are becoming extinct is increasing throughout
>the world.  Furthermore, since only about one-third of the world’s languages
>have literate traditions, the vast majority of languages which die will
>leave no substantial record of themselves, or the cultural traditions that
>they have sustained.  Quite apart from the loss of individual cultural
>expressions, this process reflects a grave diminution in human and cultural
>diversity and a loss of the knowledge on which they are based and which they
>embody.
>
>The objective of the proposed programme would be twofold:  to encourage the
>development of linguistic fieldwork in endangered languages, especially by
>younger scholars with a grounding in linguistic theory, who will thereby
>also be provided with support between basic graduate work and the assumption
>of university positions; and to support the documentation of as many
>threatened languages as possible, focused on where the danger of extinction
>is greatest, facilitating the preservation of culture and knowledge, and
>creating repositories of data for the linguistic and social sciences, and of
>course for indigenous communities. Such documentation should, therefore,
>have regard not only to the formal content and structure of languages, but
>also to the varied social and cultural contexts within which languages are
>used.  In addition to the intellectual quality of applications, principal
>grounds for support will be the degree of endangerment and the urgency of
>the issues.
>
>
>C.  Applications.
>
>Applications will be invited from researchers  - who might include suitably
>qualified research students or postdoctoral candidate, as well as senior and
>established academics  - with qualifications in and, ideally, experience of
>field linguistics.  It is anticipated that all applicants will have, or will
>have developed in advance of funding, a formal link with (preferably an
>established position in) a university or comparable research institution.
>
>The core of the programme will probably be grants to support more or less
>elaborate projects for the documentation of individual or closely related
>endangered languages, involving one or more researchers and receiving
>support for up to three or, in exceptional circumstances four, years.
>However, individuals (including suitably qualified research students and
>postdoctoral fellows) may apply for grants.
>
>In the first instance applicants will be expected to submit a relatively
>brief Summary Proposal Form.  These will be assessed and those, which appear
>to conform to the programme's expectations as to importance and quality,
>will be invited to submit a more detailed application.
>
>It is anticipated that in this first round’ the date for submission of
>Summary Proposals will be mid-October 2002; invitations to submit detailed
>applications will be despatched in late November 2002; and the closing date
>for detailed applications will be early January 2003.
>
>Detailed applications will have to conform to a variety of standards
>(including ethical and technical standards), which will be specified in the
>formal Invitation to Apply some time in late August.  Meanwhile, potential
>applicants are requested not to contact SOAS.
>
>