ELL: NSF News Release: NEW DATABASE TO SAVE ENDANGERED LANGUAGES

[Steven Bird]

------- Forwarded Message

>From profiler-sender at nsf.gov  Mon Jul  9 23:29:12 2001
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 23:21:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: NSF Custom News Service <cns-admin at nsf.gov>
To: CNS Subscribers <cns-subscribers at nsf.gov>
Subject: [tip010709] - News Releases

The following document (tip010709) is now available from
the NSF Online Document System

   Title: New Database to Save Endangered Languages
    Type: News Releases
 Subtype: Computer/Information Sciences

It may be found at:

    http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?tip010709


Full text follows.

 ---------------------------- CUT HERE  ----------------------------
NEW DATABASE TO SAVE ENDANGERED LANGUAGES
MICHIGAN FACILITY COULD REVEAL STARS' SECRETS
NSF FUNDS STUDY OF RECENT IMMIGRANTS' CHILDREN



July 9, 2001


For more information on these science news and feature story
tips, please contact the public information officer at the end of
each item at (703) 292-8070.  Editor: Peter West


NEW DATABASE TO SAVE ENDANGERED LANGUAGES

   The emergence of English and Spanish as the dominant languages
of global commerce is causing many other tongues to fall into
disuse.  This trend alarms social scientists worldwide because
linguistic research not only provides cultural information, but
also insight into the diverse capabilities of the human mind.


   To combat the decrease in the number and diversity of languages
and to capitalize on a growing store of digitized linguistic
data, a team of National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded
researchers led by Anthony Aristar at Wayne State University is
developing an endangered languages database and a central
information server that will allow users to access the material
remotely by computer.  A $2 million NSF grant to Aristar and his
colleagues at Eastern Michigan University, the University of
Pennsylvania and the University of Arizona will be used to create
this public digital archive.

   The goals of the Electronic Metastructure for Endangered
Languages Data (E-MELD) project are to collect data on endangered
languages and to devise a Web-based protocol so that new and
existing data will be accessible to researchers and native
speakers everywhere.  The researchers on the E-MELD project will
start with 10 distinct endangered languages to design a system
that will be versatile, useful and extensible.  E-MELD is modeled
on the Internet, where standard communications protocols allow
users to access information housed on a variety of very different
operating systems, including UNIX, Windows-NT, and VMS. [Dave
Vannier]


  The first version of E-MELD is expected to appear online this
fall at: http://www.linguistlist.org.

   (For more history on efforts to save endangered languages,
contact Mary Hanson, (703) 292-8070)


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