Language endangerment and revitalisation

anguage endangerment 

Anggarrgoon

Claire BowernA blog where a linguist documenting Australian languages recounts her experiences and discusses issues in language endangerment and documentation.

BABEL

Ole Stig AndersenA Danish-English bilingual site on endangered languages and language issues, often with multimedia.

Bibliography on language endangerment and language revitalisation

Tasaku TsunodaA bibliography dealing with language endangerment, language death, language revitalisation, language policy and planning, and documentation.

The Birth and Death of Languages

David W. LightfootIn this video, Dr. David W. Lightfoot discusses how and why languages live and die.

Centre d'Etudes des Langues Indigènes d'Amérique

CELIASite includes back issues of the journal Amerindia.

Diversité linguistique et culturelle

ESCOMA variety of videos exploring endangered languages from an academic perspective.

Endangered Language Alliance

Bob Holman, Juliette Blevins, Dan KaufmanA New York-based non-profit organization whose mission is to further the documentation, description, maintenance, and revitalization of threatened and endangered languages, and to educate the public about the causes and consequences of language extinction.

Endangered Language Resources

David NashDavid Nash's endangered language links.

Endangered Languages

SILSIL on language endangerment and its policies on it.

Endangered Languages List

LINGUIST ListA mailing list on endangered language issues.

Endangered Languages on Film, Video, and DVD

Ole Stig AndersenThis overview lists, comments and links to a majority, the author believes, of the available TV/Film/Web-documentaries and features in/on endangered languages.

Endangered Languages: A Webguide to Government Information Resources

Anon.This webguide presents government information resources related to endangered and minority languages.

Enduring Voices

National Geographic & Living TonguesAn interactive map of “language hotspots” intended to promote awareness of language loss.

Ethnologue

SIL International, Raymond G. GordonAn encyclopedic reference work attempting to catalogue all of the world’s known living languages , 6,912 by its count.

The Intangible Heritage Messenger: Endangered Languages

UNESCOThis special issue of the Messenger is devoted to UNESCO’s Endangered Languages Programme, one of the main activities of the Intangible Heritage Section.

Jabal al-Lughat

Lameen SouagAn eclectic linguistics blog focusing mainly on endangered languages in and around the Arab world.

Language Death Bibliography

United Bible SocietiesA bibliography of more than 300 works relating to language death.

Linguapax

UNESCO"Promotion of policies that protect language diversity and that foster the learning of several languages constitutes the basic orientation of the Linguapax Institute."

Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages

Living TonguesThe mission of the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages is to promote the documentation, maintenance, preservation, and revitalization of endangered languages worldwide through linguist-aided, community-driven multi-media language documentation projects.

Lost Tongues and the Politics of Language Endangerment

Salikoko S. MufweneWhat are the factors that drive a language to the brink of extinction, and what allows others to prosper--or simply to survive? Salikoko Mufwene, professor and chair of the department of linguistics at the University of Chicago, explains how globalization, colonialism, politics, and race relations affect how and why we speak the way we do.

Salikoko Mufwene: Goodies

Salikoko S. MufweneAn extensive selection of online articles, many related to language endangerment and change.

Some 2000 Language Reference Resources

Harald HammarströmA bibliography of reference grammars available in the University libraries of Gothenburg, Stockholm, Uppsala, Leiden (incl. Kerns and KITLV), Kungliga Biblioteket or the EVA, MPG Library in Leipzig.

Sorosoro

SorosoroA program intended to safeguard threatened languages.

Teaching Kids About Language Change, Language Endangerment, and Language Death

Kristin Denham"Every time I tell students in my classes about language death and language endangerment, they are surprised and shocked, not only at the information itself, but that they had never heard about it before... Students should have such basic knowledge about language change, language endangerment, and language death well before they happen upon that information in a college classroom."

Transient Languages & Cultures

PARADISECA multi-authored academic blog dedicated largely to language endangerment and documentation, with special focus on the Pacific.

"Une langue disparaît tous les quinze jours"

Dominique SimonnetAn interview with Claude Hagège, author of Halte à la mort des langues.

UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages

UNESCOThe UNESCO Endangered Languages Programme has as its mission to promote and safeguard endangered languages and linguistic diversity as an essential part of the living heritage of humanity.

What Is An Endangered Language?

Anthony Woodbury, LSAFrequently asked questions about endangered languages for the non-specialist.

From Generation to Generation: Survival and Maintenance of Canada's Aboriginal Languages Within Families, Communities and Cities

Mary Jane Norris and Lorna JantzenThis paper explores the survival and maintenance of Aboriginal languages in Canada, focusing on the critical factor of language transmission from one generation to another. It also considers the challenges of language maintenance outside of Aboriginal communities within cities, and provides an overview and classification of endangered and viable Aboriginal languages, with demographic measures of language use, population size and average age of speakers. Factors affecting language survival and maintenance are explored.

Language revitalisation 

The Aboriginal Language Program Planning Workbook

Barbara KavanaghThis workbook is meant to be used in conjunction with the Aboriginal Language Program Planning Handbook, to facilitate group discussions and activities related to the development and implementation of a language program.

Applying Computer Multimedia Storytelling Website in Foreign Language Learning

Wenli Tsou, Weichun Wang, and Yenjun TzengA multimedia storytelling website was designed as a teaching tool. The website contains the following feature modules: Accounts administration module, Multimedia story composing module, and Story re-playing module.

FirstVoices

First Peoples' Cultural FoundationOnline language learning portals for a number of Native Canadian languages.

Guidelines for Strengthening Indigenous Languages

Alaska Native Knowledge NetworkThe guidance offered in these pages is intended to provide assistance to the local language advisory committees created under Senate Bill 103 that are responsible for making recommendations regarding the future of the heritage language in their community.

Indigenous Language Institute

Indigenous Language InstituteILI is intended to facilitate community-based initiatives for language revitalization through collaboration with other appropriate groups and organizations, and promote public awareness of this crisis.

Indigenous Language Revitalisation: Encouragement, Guidance and Lessons Learned

Jon Reyhner and Louise Lockard (eds.)The contents of Indigenous Language Revitalization come from the 14th and 15th annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages conferences, and are meant to help both linguists and community language activists advance the goal of Indigenous language revitalization.

Language Revitalisation Policy: An Analytical Survey, Theoretical Framework, Policy Experience and Application to Te Reo M?ori

Francois Grin, Francois VaillancourtExamines the options for Maori language revitalisation.

Language Revival Links

Logoi.comSome links on language revival.

Languages of the Land: A Resource Manual for Aboriginal Language Activists

NWT Literacy CouncilThis manual has been prepared as an active planning tool for Aboriginal language activists throughout the new Northwest Territories. It is based on the belief that the Aboriginal languages of the Northwest Territories can only be maintained and passed on to younger generations if there is a concerted effort by many individuals and organizations to revitalize the languages.

Myaamia Project

Miami Nation, Miami UniversityThe Miami language is part of the central Algonquian linguistic family and shares close features with Ojibwa-Potawatomi-Ottawa, Mesquaki-Kickapoo and Shawnee. Since 1995, the Miami Nation has been actively involved in language reclamation. We use the term reclamation because the last of our conversational speakers passed on in the early 1960s. Reclamation implies a reconstructive process, which for our case involves the use of written records of Miami-Illinois spanning nearly 300 years.

National Indian Telecommunications Institute

National Indian Telecommunications InstituteNITI's goal is to employ advanced technology to serve American Indians, Native Hawaiians and Alaska Natives in the areas of education, economic development, language and cultural preservation, tribal policy issues and self-determination.

Native Languages of the Americas: Endangered Language Revitalization and Revival

Laura RedishA simple introduction to language revitalisation for the non-specialist.

Revitalising Indigenous Languages

ed. Jon Reyhner, Gina Cantoni, Robert N. St. Clair, and Evangeline Parsons YazzieRevitalizing Indigenous Languages is a compilation of papers presented at the Fifth Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium on May 15 and 16, 1998, at the Galt House East in Louisville, Kentucky.

RNLD: Resource Network for Linguistic Diversity

Margaret Florey, Nick ThiebergerThe Resource Network for Linguistic Diversity aims to link people involved in language work who may be speakers of indigenous languages and their descendents, linguists, staff of language centres, educators (in many different educational settings), archivists, specialists in the development of appropriate technology, and key regional institutions (community, government, nongovernment).

Rosetta Stone: Endangered Language Program

Rosetta StoneCommercial technology development for endangered language revitalisation.

Stabilizing Indigenous Languages

Gina Cantoni (ed.), Northern Arizona UniversityA set of essays on indigenous language endangerment, maintenance, and revitalisation in the United States.

Te Kohanga Reo

Te Kohanga ReoA Maori language and culture movement whose "language nest" method is considered one of the more successful approaches to revitalisation.

Teaching Indigenous Languages

Northern Arizona UniversityAt the heart of this site are 97 full text papers from the 1997 through 2003 Stabilizing Indigenous Languages conferences as well as the 2000 Learn in Beauty and 1989 Native American Language Issues conferences published in Nurturing Native Languages (2003), Indigenous Languages Across the Community (2002), Learn in Beauty: Indigenous Education for a New Century (2000), Revitalizing Indigenous Languages (1999), Teaching Indigenous Languages (1997), and Effective Language Education Practices & Native Language Survival (1990). In addition, there is a link to Stabilizing Indigenous Languages, which includes papers, session summaries, and other materials from the 1994 and 1995 conferences. This site also contains articles on Indigenous language policy, dropout prevention, and teacher training along with over 50 columns from the newsletter of the National Association for Bilingual Education and other related material.

Technology-Enhanced Language Revitalisation

University of ArizonaA set of resources on uses of technology in revitalising Native American languages.

Terralingua

TerralinguaTerralingua "supports the integrated protection, maintenance and restoration of the biocultural diversity of life - the world's biological, cultural, and linguistic diversity - through an innovative program of research, education, policy and on-the-ground action."

Tuakana Teina

Māori Language CommissionThe tuakana-teina project has been developed in response to an increasing demand for creative ways to learn to speak the Māori language, and for opportunities to use the language. The tuakana-teina project is based on the premise that each Māori speaker 'adopts' a person who wishes to learn to speak Māori. The Māori speaker assumes the 'tuakana' role in the relationship and continually speaks Māori to the person wishing to learn (the 'teina') as often as possible in everyday settings about everyday things.

UNESCO Culture Sector – Safeguarding Endangered Languages

UNESCOThe UNESCO Endangered Languages Programme has as its mission to promote and safeguard endangered languages and linguistic diversity as an essential part of the living heritage of humanity.

UNESCO Register of Good Practices in Language Preservation

UNESCOThe purpose of the Register of Good Practices in Language Preservation, a project of UNESCO's Endangered Languages Programme, is to identify, document, and render visible as well as accessible past and current practices that have proven to be successful in the protection of languages and language communities.

Will Indigenous Languages Survive?

Michael Walsh, Annual Review of AnthropologyThis review explores efforts in language revitalisation and documentation and the engagement with Indigenous peoples.

Languages of Africa 

Chadic Newsletter Online

VariousNews related to the study of Chadic languages.

Ega Web Archive

Dafydd GibbonA repository of recordings and information on Ega.

Languages of Zambia

Lee S. BickmoreA bibliography of Zambian languages organised by location and language name.

Tawalt

Madi MohamedA forum and collection of materials on Berber/Tamazight languages, especially Libyan ones.

Web Resources for African Languages

Jouni MahoAn extensive collection of African language links, including a select bibliography.

Languages of America 

Aboriginal Peoples Survey 2001 - initial findings: Well-being of the non-reserve Aboriginal Population

Statistics CanadaIncludes detailed statistics on Aboriginal language acquisition in Canada.

Alaskool

University of Alaska AnchorageOnline materials about Alaska Native history, education, languages, and cultures.

Canada's Aboriginal Languages

The Atlas of CanadaMaps and statistics on Aboriginal languages in Canada.

Center for American Indian Languages

University of UtahThe goals of CAIL include working with community members where languages and cultures are endangered, towards linguistic and cultural revitalization; urgent and ambitious work to document the endangered languages of Native America (where documentation means adequate grammar, dictionary, and abundant texts to represent the language in its many uses); and training students to address scholarly and practical needs involving these languages and their communities of speakers (and those whose heritage languages are involved).

Center for the Study of Indigenous Languages of the West

University of ColoradoThe CSILW is devoted to conducting research on the Native American languages of the western United States, including the Siouan, Caddoan, and Arapahoan groups.

Cheyenne Dictionary Project

Chief Dull Knife CollegeA dictionary of Cheyenne, an endangered language of the western US.

Dakota Language / Nakona Language Lessons

Fort Peck Community CollegeSells language learning materials for Dakota / Nakona; three sample lessons each are online.

Dying Tongues

In-ForumA special report on the endangerment of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara languages for a popular audience.

Etnolingüística: línguas indígenas da América do Sul

VariousA discussion forum and extensive link library on Native South American languages.

The First Nations Languages of British Columbia

Bill PoserMore than thirty languages are spoken by the native people of British Columbia. This site provides information about these languages, much of it in the form of bibliographic information and links to other sites containing more detailed information on particular languages and other relevant topics.

Indigenous Peoples in Brazil

Instituto SocioambientalInformation about the indigenous peoples of Brazil, including extensive bibliographies and links.

J. P. Harrington Database Project

J. P. Harrington, Martha Macri, Victor Golla, Lisa WoodwardThe goal of the J. P. Harrington Project is to increase access to the linguistic and ethnographic notes on American Indian languages collected by J. P. Harrington during the first half of the twentieth century. The men and women he interviewed were often among the last remaining speakers of their languages.

Karuk Language Resources

Karuk Language Program et al.A set of resources developed by and for Karuk learners of Karuk.

Lakhota Language Consortium

Lakhota Language Consortium"Revitalising Lakhota, one child at a time."

Potawatomi Language and Culture

Donald PerrotA site dedicated to the preservation, revitalisation, and dissemination of the Potawatomi language.

Project for the Documentation of the Languages of Mesoamerica (PDLMA)

Terrence Kaufman, John Justeson and Roberto Zavala Maldonado, directors This site presents the aims, history, and results of research by the Project for the Documentation of the Languages of Mesoamerica, internally known as the "Snake Jaguar Project".

The Siouan Languages Bibliography

John P. BoyleThe purpose of this web site is to bring together in one place a searchable bibliography of all the linguistic and language related work done on the Siouan-Catawban languages.

Siouan Texts

Jan F. UllrichA large number of Lakota/Dakota/Assiniboin texts.

Yurok Language Project

Juliette Blevins, Andrew Garrett, University of California, BerkeleyIncludes a variety of interesting online materials for learning and studying Yurok, an endangered Native American language of California. It seeks "to develop a documentary corpus of Yurok that is as comprehensive as possible and contributes as much as possible to understanding the complexities of the Yurok language."

Languages of Asia 

Endangered Languages of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia

IEA RASAt least some 30 languages in the region of Siberia can be seen as endangered. This site includes descriptions and bibliographies, as well as data and technical devices.

Formosan Language Archive

Academia SinicaThe aims of this project are to collect, conserve, edit and disseminate via the world wide web a virtual library of language and linguistic resources permitting access to recorded and transcribed Formosan data collections.

Forum for Language Initiatives

Forum for Language InitiativesResource and training centre working to enable the language communities of northern Pakistan to preserve and promote their mother tongues.

Himalayan Languages Project

George van DriemThe Himalayan Languages Project, headquartered in Bern, has since 1983 represented the largest sustained language documentation effort in the greater Himalayan region. Members of the multi-national research team consist of both students and young linguists working towards their Ph.D. at Bern University as well as post-doc and senior researchers.

Kardinal

Fauzan Helmi SudaryantoKardinaL, stands for “Kamus Tradisonal Online” (Online Traditional Language Dictionary), is intended as an integrated online dictionary for different languages of Indonesia.

Richard Strand's Nuristan Site

Richard StrandThis site contains previously unpublished material on the linguistics and ethnography of Nuristân and neighboring regions, collected and analyzed by Richard F. Strand over the last thirty years.

South Asian Linguistics

John PetersonAn online bibliography for seldom studied and endangered languages of South Asia. The main emphasis here is on recent linguistic works which may not yet be known to the larger academic community, although many older standard works have also been included as well as related non-linguistic material, where this is available. “South Asia” here includes India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Tibet.

Tai and Tibeto-Burman Languages of Assam

Stephen MoreySearchable texts in languages of Assam, several endangered.

Kattang Language Revitalisation

Many Rivers Aboriginal Language CentreAn effort to help revive the Kattang language.

Our Languages

Our Languages MobIntended to become a place where people from all around Australia will be able to share and to come together in all manner of ways to support the 250 plus Aboriginal Languages that exist in Australia.

OzPapersOnline

Claire BowernA blog with notices of recent papers on the Indigenous languages of Australia.

Languages of Europe 

EuroLang

European Bureau for Lesser-Known LanguagesEurolang® is a specialist niche news agency covering topics related to lesser-used languages, linguistic diversity, stateless nations and national minorities within the European Union.

EuroMosaic

European CommissionIn 1992, wishing to take stock of the situation of the various language communities in Europe, The Commission initiated a study on minority language groups in the European Union. The purpose of the study, entitled "Euromosaic", was to find out about the different regional and minority languages in existence and to establish their potential for production and reproduction, and the difficulties they encounter in doing so.

European Bureau for Lesser-Known Languages

European Bureau for Lesser-Known LanguagesThe European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages (EBLUL) is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) promoting languages and linguistic diversity. It is based on a network of Member State Committees (MSCs) in all the ‘old' 15 EU Member States and many of the new Member States that have joined the EU in May 2004.

Languages of Oceania 

Aboriginal Languages of Australia

David NathanThis site has annotated links to 231 resources for about 80 languages. About 35% of these resources are produced or published by Indigenous people.

AusAnthrop

Laurent DoussetThe AusAnthrop site is dedicated to research and resources in anthropology, for academics as well as the layman. Special accent is on Aboriginal Australia, and more specifically on the Aborigines of the Western Desert cultural bloc.

Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database

Robert Blust et al.This database contains 93,074 lexical items from 453 languages spoken throughout the Pacific region. These languages all belong to the Austronesian language family, which is the largest family in the world.

National Indigenous Languages Survey Report 2005

AIATSISA review of the current state of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language use across Australia as well as policy recommendations designed to improve those circumstances.

State of Indigenous Languages in Australia - 2001

P. McConvell and N. ThiebergerThis paper documents the state of Aboriginal languages and the efforts being made to maintain them.

EthnoER wiki

University of MelbourneThese pages allow discussion of various models for online annotation and browsing of ethnographic media corpora.