Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages

[Susan Penfield]

Thanks for this post.

Many of us have been concerned about the strong focus on documentation,
sometimes at the cost of revitalization efforts. From the linguists
perspective, it is quite possible to separate the two. However, from the
perspective of every community member I've ever known, these are not
discreet acitivties.

More funding, public and private, needs to clearly integrate both
documentation and revitalization activties, even for the most endangered
languages. I work with a language which has just three speakers left --
revitalizing through some of the most popular means (immersion classes,
language nests) is out of the question because of the age or availability of
the last speakers. Still, the community goal is clearly focused on
revitalizing -- and, thanks to a number of supportive and innovative
softwares, computer-based immersion teaching is possble..

Solicitation for the NSF DEL grants recently came due (September 15
deadline). While these also clearly specify they are not funding
revitalization, they do not discourage the mention of turning documented
language into materials for revitalization (though those activities would
have to be funded  under someone else) ...Still, DEL grants can be seen as
one stage in the broader picture of what it takes to revitalize a language.

S.

On 6/29/06, d_z_o <dzo at bisharat.net> wrote:
>
> FYI...
>
> --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "Don Osborn" <dzo at bisharat.net> wrote:
>
> This funding opportunity may be of interest but it does require that a
> German institution take the lead (although that can involve
> collaboration with institutions and researchers elsewhere). It does
> seem a bit limited of vision of them to frame this only in terms of
> documenting languages before they become extinct, and not to mention
> revitalization efforts, but maybe those can be included. (Thanks to
> Ted Johnson for forwarding mention of this VW Fndn. initiative.)...    DZO
>
>
> Documentation of Endangered Languages
> Next deadline for applications: October 15, 2006
>
> http://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/foerderung/auslandsorientiert/bedrohte-sprachen.html?L=1
>
> Some two thirds of the estimated 6,500 languages still spoken
> throughout the world are in danger of disappearing within the next one
> to two generations. But if a language dies, this also means that a
> piece of the cultural diversity of our world dies with it. The
> initiative cannot stop this development, but it can make sure that
> testimony to these language cultures, which are mostly only passed on
> by word of mouth, is recorded in an electronic archive of endangered
> languages before they vanish without trace: by means of audio tape,
> video camera, still camera and note pad.
>
> The program funds documentation projects as well as symposia and
> summer schools. You will find details regarding the content and
> information about how to file an application in the Information for
> Applicants, which also includes a checklist.
>
> Background: The main phase of the initiative that started in 2002 was
> preceded by a pilot phase in which the researchers of the first eight
> documentation projects together with the "technicians" around Peter
> Wittenburg from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in
> Nijmegen developed a number of standardizations of a technical,
> juridical-ethical and methodological-linguistic nature. This central
> database project trod new ground in terms of the methods used; it
> constitutes the binding framework for the individual documentation
> projects.
>
> --- End forwarded message ---
>



-- 
Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D.


Department of English(Primary)
American Indian Language Devel.Institute
Department of Linguistics
Second Language Acquistion &Teaching
     Ph.D. Program
Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture
The Southwest Center (Research)

Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836
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