Category Archives: Gregory D. S. Anderson

Digital Resources, Endangered Language Activism, Gregory D. S. Anderson, Indigenous Language Activists, Language Hotspots, Launches and Public Events, Media and Publicity, Support Endangered Languages, Workshops

UPDATE! Campaign for Language Technology Kits

Our Indiegogo campaign was featured on Rising Voices as well as Polyglossic.

Join our Facebook event page to receive more updates about our campaign.

19 days left! we can do it! Our sincere thanks to our supporters who have contributed to the cause through our Indiegogo page.

As we count down to the last day of our campaign, we will be posting messages about language activism, bringing you inspirational stories of people using technology to document and revitalize their languages. Thank you all for following our campaign for language technology kits.

Digital Resources, Gregory D. S. Anderson, Indigenous Language Activists, K. David Harrison, Language Hotspots, Launches and Public Events, Media and Publicity, Support Endangered Languages, Workshops

Indiegogo Campaign: Language Technology Kits!

We just launched a new campaign for 8 Language Technology Kits on Indiegogo.
During our fieldwork around the world, we have made some of the first digital recordings of dozens of endangered languages, and we want to empower communities to do their own long-term documentation.

We have met many dedicated language activists who would really benefit from having access to computers and recording equipment so they can continue documenting their vanishing languages. We are raising funds for the equipment and training necessary for them to produce new media in their languages. This will help conserve and revitalize their languages, and also give them a presence online.

Our goal is to raise $24 000 for 8 kits over the next 72 days.

We encourage you to donate to this cause. Please help us spread the word on your social networks!

Digital Resources, Endangered Language Activism, Gregory D. S. Anderson, Indigenous Language Activists, K. David Harrison, Language Hotspots, Media and Publicity, Support Endangered Languages, Talking Dictionaries

Talking Dictionaries – Hot News in the Press!

K. David Harrison’s presentation at the AAAS last Friday in Vancouver publicly unveiled our 8 talking dictionaries projects. We have received a lot of amazing press coverage over the last few days! And more to come this week. Here are some useful links for you:

Here are some of the recent international articles where the Talking Dictionaries, the Enduring Voices Project and the Living Tongues Institute are mentioned.

And more articles and related links are listed on our Living Tongues Facebook Page.

Thanks for reading!

Talking Dictionaries Image

Gregory D. S. Anderson, Language Hotspots, Launches and Public Events, Support Endangered Languages, Workshops

1st Annual “Language Hotspots Workshop” Success!

Monday, July 25th, 2011

By Anna Luisa Daigneault

The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages held the first annual “Language Hotspots Workshop” from July 11th to 14th, 2011 at the Center for Ancient Studies at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. Ten young scholars from various colleges around the country attended the workshop held at the Center for Ancient Studies and Archaeology at Willamette University http://www.willamette.edu/centers/casa/. The workshop was facilitated by Living Tongues Director Dr. Gregory DS Anderson and Organizational Fellow Anna Luisa Daigneault.

The workshop participants were all Living Tongues volunteer researchers currently working on the Language Hotspots Database Project, an ongoing collaborative digital project that is compiling the latest linguistic, anthropological and topographic data on endangered languages to create an innovative online research tool that will be used by scholars as well as speakers of endangered languages. The volunteer researchers are: Natalie Feingold, Eleanor Pollo, Tanager, Erik Joel West, Rachel Eidson, Victoria Osborne, Claire Fallat, Emmy Haskett and Living Tongues intern Cameron French. Data management expert Kimberly Gladman was also involved via Skype. Students represented such schools as University of Oregon, Willamette University, University of the Pacific, Evergreen State University, University of Melbourne, and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

The goal of the event was to inform the participants about the latest research concerning Language Hotspots, specific areas of the world where many endangered languages are clustered. These hotspots exhibit high levels of linguistic diversity as well as high levels of endangerment. Language Hotspots also contain languages that are under-documented, meaning that they lack formal linguistic documentation and language tools such as texts, dictionaries, descriptive grammars and audio-visual materials, which are important for systematic conservation and revitalization efforts by future generations.

This workshop was a platform for participants to learn more about the distribution of Language Hotspots around the world. On Day 1, they learned about the analytical aspects of the model, and focused on recent Living Tongues fieldwork that took place in Eastern Melanesia. Day 2 focused on Database Quality Control methodology, as well as linguistic fieldwork in Siberia. Day 3 focused on the endangered languages of the Americas, and Day 4 was devoted to learning about phonetics and doing linguistic transcription exercises involving many languages located in the Language Hotspots around he world.

The workshop was a great success and all the participants left in high spirits, and will also continue to contribute the first Language Hotspots Database. They each received a Living Tongues silk-screened canvas tote bag (see picture below).