Language Revitalization Blog

Vitaly Voinov — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:01:58 +0000

The latest edition of Ogmios, the newsletter of the FEL, has an interesting article by John McWhorter of Columbia U. on

The Cosmopolitan Tongue: The

Universality of English

(http://www.ogmios.org/ogmios/Ogmios_040.pdf)

This includes somewhat of a counterargument to the standard party line of language revitalization, so it is interesting the FEL published it. I’m glad that this voice hasn’t been stifled.

Virginia Beavert and the Sahaptin language

Colleen Fitzgerald — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:56:36 +0000

Virginia Beavert keeping Sahaptin language alive
BY PAT MUIR
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Linguist Virginia Beavert speaks five of the fourteen original dialects of the plateau tribes, including Yakama, and has been a long time teacher of the languages and active in their preservation. For her work with tribal languagues she’s has been awarded an honoray doctorate degree from the University of Washington

But Sahaptin, a general term for the language that includes the Yakama dialect, will live on….<for full story>

Native voices bring Olympics home

Colleen Fitzgerald — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:01:42 +0000

Play-by-play commentary in aboriginal languages a labour of love, creativity
February 20, 2010
PAUL WATSON
VANCOUVER–There is no word for seconds in the Mohawk language, which makes it especially difficult to call the action in an Olympic ski race live for television.

“We Shall Remain” from PBS

Colleen Fitzgerald — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:26:55 +0000

From PBS.org: “We Shall Remain: Native Now Language with video We Shall Remain: Native American languages are at a critical juncture. With most fluent speakers older than 50, many languages are on the brink of extinction.
On this site, three tribes at different stages of revitalization talk about their innovative efforts to revive their languages: the Cherokee with fewer than 8,000 speakers, the Absentee-Shawnee with around 100, and the Nipmuc with fewer than ten.”

Rosetta Stone – NY Times article

Colleen Fitzgerald — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:44:48 +0000

The Web Way to Learn a Language

By ERIC A. TAUB

Published: January 27, 2010

The young woman seated next to us at the sushi bar exuded a vaguely exotic air; her looks and style, we thought, made it likely that she was not American born.

J.P. Harrington’s notes

Colleen Fitzgerald — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:58:15 +0000

The J.P. Harrington Project at the University of California, Davis, is seeking to make the field notes accessible to linguists and community members.

Hawaiian language newspapers

Colleen Fitzgerald — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:12:47 +0000

The University of Hawai’i has a digital archive collection that includes newspapers produced in the Hawaiian language.

Maori Language Statistics

Colleen Fitzgerald — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:53:54 +0000

For more details on the health of the Maori language, see this.

Max Planck Institute – Linguistics Resources and Links

Colleen Fitzgerald — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:30:10 +0000

The links at the Department of Linguistics of the Max Planck Insitute for Evolutionary Anthropology include the Leipzig Glossing Rules, Typological tools for field linguistics, the Leipzig Endangered Languages Archives (LELA), and Ethic Guidelines, among other resources.

K. David Harrison on BBC, “The tragedy of dying languages”

Colleen Fitzgerald — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:26:57 +0000

This interview highlights many of the issues raised in “The Linguists.” Check out additional info at the Living Tongues Foundation and at the Language Hotspots websites.