Endangered Languages Project

The Alliance for Linguistic Diversity together with Google, The Linguist List and the University of Hawaii has launched the Endangered Languages Project, a site providing information and documentation about endangered languages conceived as an online collaborative efforts by researchers, students and speakers to document these languages.

Language preservation and revitalization through the Internet: the Niue language

Rocket Systems, the internet service provider on Niue, has been awarded a $US10,000 grant to build a website where young and old can work together to create a draft dictionary of IT terminology in Vagahau Niue. This initiative wants to bring together the young people, who are Internet savvy, with the older one, who preserve the culture and the language. This initiative recognizes the powerful role that new technologies can play in language revitalization and preservation: "the Niue language - Vagahau Niue - will survive only if it is in everyday use" Rocket director Emani Fakaotimanava-Lui says "and this means on the internet".

What is lost when a language goes silent?

Read this compassionate article by National Geographic about three vanishing languages (Tuvan, Akan and Seri).

Vanishing Languages - Photo Gallery - Pictures, More From National Geographic Magazine

Vanishing Languages - Photo Gallery - Pictures, More From National Geographic Magazine

Lingua sarda: richiesta maggiore tutela

Maggiore tutela della lingua sarda nel testo del disegno di legge di ratifica della Carta Europea delle lingue regionali e minoritarie: è quanto richiesto dall'assessore alla Pubblica Istruzione Milia ai parlamentari sardi. Qui l'articolo relativo all'iniziativa di Milia, e qui il disegno di legge attualmente in discussione.

An experiment in "crowdmapping" an ethno-linguistic map of the Caucasus

Stanford's linguist Asya Pereltsvaig, together with cartographer Jake Coolidge, is the author of a map of the ethno-linguistic mosaic of the Caucasus region. The method they adopted is particularly interesting, as they used crowsourcing techniques to refine the representation provided by a map obtained rrawing on previously available ethnic and linguistic maps, supplemented by demographic data from other sources: "Despite these achievements, mistakes and imprecisions have crept into these maps, as we expected they might. In order to identify such errors, we turned to “crowdediting”—inspired by the idea of “crowdsourcing”—and welcomed comments and corrections from informed readers, especially those who live in the Caucasus or have done fieldwork there. More than a dozen readers answered our call, writing both in the Disqus comments section and on our Facebook page with corrections, suggestions for amendments, and links to additional maps to draw on."

Cambodia: preservation efforts for the Kuay language

Kuay is a language spoken in Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. It has no writing system and is rapidly losing speakers. Documentation of Kuay is left to initiatives such as the work by linguist Gerard Diffloth, who is trying to preserve the language and the particular historical and technical knowledge of the Kuay ethnic group. This article reports about his efforts.

A mathematical model for planning language revitalization programs

According to mathematician Anne Kandler, the rate of loss of a language can be represented by means of a mathematical model, that can actually help in reversing the fate of dying languages by establishing the number of native speakers needed for a stable bilingual population to emerge. Here is the article appeared in the Discover Magazine, here is a link to the scientific article, and here the news as reported by The Scotsman.

Which language for primary instruction?

In Goa, regional languages are being supported by Chief Minister against English as a primary means of instruction in elementary schools. Read the full article here.

Preservation efforts for Mexican indigenous language

Triqui de la baja (trc) is an indigenous language of the Copala region of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico. The language is considered at risk of extinction. This article reports about the efforts for preserving it, and about its value as a precious source of traditional ecological knowledge, as shown by Gloria Moreno. Moreno's knowledge of herbal medicine may get lost as the language struggles to survive and be transmitted to younger generations.

Lingua piemontese

Una proposta di legge per incentivare la tutela, la valorizzazione e la promozione del patrimonio linguistico del Piemonte. La notizia qui.

Una nuova generazione monolingue in India

In India, paese che accoglie ufficialmente venti lingue diverse, sta crescendo una nuova generazione monolingue. Monolingue inglese. Leggi la storia qui: http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/indias-new-english-only-generation/