About Living Tongues Institute
Our mission is to ensure language survival for generations to come. We support speakers who are saving their languages from extinction through activism, education, and technology. Our research teams document endangered languages and cultural practices, publish scientific studies, run digital training workshops to empower language activists, and collaborate with communities to create language resources that will serve as a basis for language revitalization.
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WHAT ARE LIVING DICTIONARIES?
Living Dictionaries are mobile-friendly web tools that support endangered, under-represented and diasporic languages. They include thousands of written entries for words and phrases paired with compelling audio and video recordings, as well as images. Led by community activists and linguists around the globe, Living Dictionaries are collaborative multimedia projects that represent the future of languages: vibrant and continually expanding. View our latest tutorial here:
Read about our latest features here.
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FEATURED VIDEO
Last year, we received a National Geographic Citizen Science Grant to produce a series of short films in the Sora language of Odisha State (India) with subtitled versions in both English and Hindi. The content of the films will cover vanishing traditional knowledge domains of the Sora tribal people.
We are thrilled to share a segment from our latest video project documenting the culture and language of the Sora people of Odisha State, India. Read more on our latest blog post about this project.
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RECENT EVENTS
In September 2020, Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages partnered with acclaimed literary nonprofit PEN America to host a virtual reading event. “Stories of Endangered Language Activism” highlighted the urgency of safeguarding America’s endangered Native American languages. Indigenous writers, language activists and artists read personal stories, poetry and spoken word pieces about their experiences documenting and revitalizing endangered languages. Watch the full Zoom recording above!
JOIN THE LIVING TONGUES SOCIETY
Consider becoming a member of our brand-new Living Tongues Society! It’s a great way to support us, receive invites to exclusive live-streamed events with our researchers, and learn about our work behind the scenes. Sign up here.
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GRANTS & AWARDS
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the following organizations and funding agencies:
2019-2022. Sora Typological Characteristics: Towards a Re-Evaluation of South Asian Human History. National Science Foundation Linguistics Grant Award NSF/BCS #1844532.
2019-2021. Citizen science and cinematography: Documenting stories and technology of the Sora tribe (India). National Geographic Citizen Science Grant.
2018-2020. Documenting the Fragile Knowledge Domains of the Birhor People. The Zegar Family Foundation.
2015-2017. Documentation of Gutob, an endangered Munda language. National Science Foundation/Documentation of Endangered Languages Grant (Award #1500092).
2013-2015. Documentation of Hill Gta’–a seriously endangered Munda language. National Endowment for the Humanities / Documentation of Endangered Languages Grant (Award # PD-50025-13).
2013-2015. Melanesia Online: Ethnobotanical, Ethnozoological, Ethnogeographic knowledge of “tok ples” in Papua New Guinea. Christensen Fund.
2010-2011. Documentation of Remo (Bonda). National Science Foundation / Documentation of Endangered Languages Grant (Award # 0853877).
2007-2013: Enduring Voices Project (Funded by the National Geographic Society)