Grant: Documentation of Endangered Languages

[Forger, Garry J - (gforger)]

Name: Documentation of Endangered Languages 

Sponsor: Volkswagen Foundation 

Deadline: 9/15/2011 

Amount: Varies 

Type: Arts & Culture, Social & Economic, Education 

Description: In view of the foreseeable fact that some languages will rapidly become extinct within a mere one to two generations, systematic documentation would appear to be the task which most urgently needs to be tackled. Such documentation should be characterized by three key terms: data orientation, multifunctionality, and general accessibility.

The exemplary character of the program does not only pertain to the final product of the documentation of individual languages, but also to developing and testing new methods of researching, processing and archiving linguistic and cultural data. The program has a strong interdisciplinary orientation: it not only supports interdisciplinary data collection, it also intends to create opportunities for subsequent multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary utilization of the respective data.

Two types of projects are funded:
(a) Documentation projects which collect, process and archive linguistic and cultural data for (at least) one endangered language lacking sufficient documentation. Existing field material (audio, video, film, photo, texts) may be integrated into the planned documentation, but should be combined with new data collections.
(b) Documentation projects which use the DobeS archive for scientific purposes for example for comparative studies but also to detect new research questions connecting documentation linguistics with other branches of linguistics.

A language shall be deemed to be endangered if, especially for political and economic reasons, its speech community has ceased to speak it in public in favor of the language of the surrounding dominant culture. As a rule, the status of such a language deteriorates to that of a "home language" until, finally, its native speakers adopt the externally conveyed negative attitude towards it and cease to pass it on to their children. Documentation projects may focus on endangered dialects, moribund languages as well as sign languages, too.

Additional Contact:
Peter Wittenburg (for technical information)
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen
Phone +31 24 3 52 11 13
Fax +31 24 3 52 12 13
peter.wittenburg at mpi.nl 

http://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/funding/international-focus/documentation-of-endangered-languages.html?L=1