Category Archives: Workshops

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!

Endangered Language Activism, International Mother Language Day, Language Hotspots, Launches and Public Events, Media and Publicity, Support Endangered Languages, Workshops

“International Mother Language Day” Events at University of West Georgia

At the University of West Georgia in Carrolton, one hour west of Atlanta, in collaboration with local UWG student group BABEL (Building Awareness for the Benefit of Endangered Languages), the events are being held on International Mother Language Day, 2012:
  • February 21 @ 5pm – 6:45pm: Endangered Languages Workshop with Anna Luisa Daigneault in Anthropology Lecture Hall, University of West Georgia. Facebook Event
  • February 21 @ 7pm – 9pm: Free Film Screening of acclaimed film “The Linguists” at University of West Georgia, 1601 Maple Street Dr., TLC Building, Lecture Hall C.  Facebook Event
– See you there! Happy Mother Languages Day!
International Mother Language Day, Language Hotspots, Launches and Public Events, Media and Publicity, Support Endangered Languages, Workshops

“International Mother Language Day” Events at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

flyer designed by Marty O’Connor

Show Your Love for Languages!
In conjunction with UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day (coming up on February 21, 2012) and Valentine’s Day, the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages and the UNC Undergrad Linguistics Club (Underling) team up to bring you these two fascinating events exploring the frontiers of endangered language documentation. Show some love for minority languages by attending these events!

1) Film Screening: The Linguists (Ironbound Films, 2008, 65 minutes)
Date: Monday, February 13th, 2012, 7pm-9pm    Facebook event

Greg Anderson and David Harrison are scientists racing to document languages on the verge of extinction. Filmed in Siberia, India, and Bolivia, this documentary confronts the very forces silencing languages: institutionalized racism and violent economic unrest. The linguists’ journey takes them deep into the heart of threatened cultures and knowledge.

The Linguists world premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival went on to win many awards. Noam Chomsky calls it “a breathtaking thrill ride through the landscape of language” and the film has inspired many people around the world to get involved in language documentation. Greg Anderson is the founder of the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, and one of the institute’s project coordinators, Anna Luisa Daigneault, will be present at the screening to introduce the film and to do a Q & A about endangered language documentation after the film.     http://thelinguists.com/

2) Workshop: Introduction to Endangered Languages and Fieldwork Methods Date: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012, 4pm-6pm   Facebook Event

Minority languages are being increasingly replaced by various politically, economically, or socio-culturally dominant ones. Every two weeks the last fluent speaker of a language passes on and with him/her goes literally hundreds of generations of traditional knowledge encoded in these ancestral tongues. Nearly half of the world’s languages are likely to vanish in the next 100 years.

The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, founded by linguist Greg Anderson, is a non-profit organization dedicated to documenting the world’s most threatened languages. Anderson and fellow institute director of research David Harrison also collaborate with the National Geographic Society in “The Enduring Voices Project”, a global initiative that focuses on the preservation and revitalization of endangered languages through linguist-aided, community-driven multi-media documentation projects.

Anna Luisa Daigneault, Latin American Projects Coordinator and Organizational Fellow at the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, will be holding a two-hour workshop on the importance of doing endangered language research in our current generation. She will provide students with an introduction to fieldwork methodology and speak about the use of digital technology in language documentation. Anna Luisa has worked in the Amazon for several years, documenting the Yanesha language and creating an oral history online database. She has also taken part in several Enduring Voices fieldwork trips to Paraguay, Chile and Peru.

For more information on the screening and the workshop, contact UNC event coordinator Natalie Feingold at ncfein@unc.edu