A few weeks ago we introduced a new SOAS World Languages Institute project on the ELAR Blog: virALLanguages. Before the ELAR Blog goes on its summer break, here’s an update on how virALLanguages has evolved over the last couple of months. virALLanguages is a volunteer-run project initiated by the SOAS World Languages Institute and the KPAAM-CAM Project at the University of Buffalo, SUNY. The project facilitates the production of videos containing
This week on the ELAR blog, ELDP grantee Kristian Roncero introduces a Fieldwork Session Planner, which he developed while working on his PhD. Kristian’s ELAR Collection is titled An audio-visual documentation of Chamalal, a language of Dagestan (Russia). By Kristian Roncero Fieldwork is messy, otherwise “armchair linguists” wouldn’t call us “dirty feet linguists”. However, we should think of ways of finding a bit of order in the midst of the chaos. In
This week on the ELAR blog, ELPD grantee Agnes Conrad tells us about her project ‘Grammar of Minyag, a minority language of Western Sichuan‘. Can you give us some background on the language ecology in your area? Minyag (mvm) is an endangered Tibeto-Burman language spoken by somewhere around 10,000 people living in the vicinity of Mt. Gongga, Sichuan, China. Almost all speakers are at least bilingual (Mandarin and Minyag), and
This week on the ELAR blog, SOAS graduate Rebekah Hayes tells us about her experience using an ELAR collection for her MA dissertation. Rebekah completed her MA in Language Documentation and Description at SOAS in 2019, and is now a Research Fellow on the True Echos research project at the British Library. Why did you choose to work with an ELAR collection? I decided to work with an ELAR collection
This week on the ELAR blog, ELDP grantee Richard T. Griscom gives us some insights on his experiences conducting fieldwork remotely – something he also recently discussed on ELAR depositor Martha Tsutsui Billins’ podcast Fieldnotes. Richard’s ELAR collection ‘Documentation of Isimjeeg Datooga’ can be accessed here. By Richard T. Griscom The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a lot of uncertainty into our lives. For those working with endangered language communities the travel
Today on the ELAR blog, we are featuring ELDP grantee Danielle Barth’s project ‘Matukar Panau‘. Matukar Panau is a highly endangered Oceanic language spoken near Madang, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Although most children are no longer learning Matukar Panau, current speakers (approx. 300) form a vibrant community of multilingual speakers in dense social networks. As an Oceanic language on the PNG coast, Matukar Panau has many interesting Papuan features. Danielle’s ELAR
This week on the ELAR blog, ELAR’s Senior Archive Assistant and Communications Officer Leonore Lukschy writes about her search for frog story data in ELAR, and the importance of metadata in endangered languages archives. By Leonore Lukschy Endangered languages archives provide large amounts of materials on underdescribed languages around the world. In times when linguistic field work is not feasible, archives such as ELAR offer a particularly important resource for
In August 2019 Jerson Sebastian published ‘Njanga Neenga’ – a Coastal Dialect Dictionary of the variety of Malayalam spoken by fishermen in Kollam, India, which we will present to you in this week’s blog post. About the language The language documented in Jerson Sebastian’s dictionary is spoken by fishermen in Kollam, which is located in India’s Kerala state. The costal stretch where Jerson Sebastian’s data come from is 12 kilometres
At a SOAS Alumni Continuing the Conversation Event held on the 28 May 2020, Mandana Seyfeddinipur and Pierpaolo di Carlo discussed the question ‘COVID-19: Can Linguists Save Lives?’ and presented the project virALLanguages. The virtual event was the second in the series, and was attended by over 100 people. What is virALLanguages? virALLanguages is a project initiated by the SOAS World Languages Institute and the KPAAM-CAM Project at the University of
On the 28 May 2020, Mandana Seyfeddinipur and Pierpaolo di Carlo will be discussing the role linguists play in translating COVID-19 related information into endangered languages. The event will be the second of the series. Continuing the Conversations – SOAS Virtual Events Series COVID-19: Can Linguists Save Lives? Date and Time: Thursday, 28 May 2020 | 6 PM (BST) Speakers: Mandana Seyfeddinipur & Pierpaolo Di Carlo Moderator: Leonore Lukschy COVID19 is spreading