Tag Archives: national geographic

Endangered Language Activism, Enduring Voices Project, Gregory D. S. Anderson, Indigenous Language Activists, K. David Harrison, Language Hotspots, Launches and Public Events, Media and Publicity, Support Endangered Languages

“Vanishing Voices” in National Geographic Magazine, July 2012

Great news! An in-depth article about endangered languages is in this month’s issue of National Geographic Magazine. Written by journalist Russ Rymer, with amazing images by photographer Lynn Johnson, the article explores global language loss, with profiles on language revitalization efforts among speakers of languages such as Tuvan, Aka, Chemehuevi, Wintu, Euchee and Seri.

Living Tongues Director Dr. Gregory D.S. Anderson and Director of Research Dr. K. David Harrison were interviewed for the piece, and their documentation work in Arunachal Pradesh (India), among Aka speakers, is discussed. Pick up a copy in news stands before the end of the month! Here is the cover, which features coverage on Easter Island, and in the top left-hand area, you can see that “Saving Lost Languages” is one of the featured topics of the issue.

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Endangered Language Activism, Enduring Voices Project, K. David Harrison, Language Hotspots, Media and Publicity, Support Endangered Languages

Live-blog from Fieldwork in Kalmykia!

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“Cultural revival in Europe’s only Buddhist region” by K. David Harrison is available online through the Nat Geo Explorers Journal.

“During the past week the Enduring Voices team visited the Republic of Kalmykia, an obscure corner in European Russia, on the Caspian Sea.

The Kalmyk people are of Mongol origin, having migrated to Europe from Mongolia at the turn of the 17th century. They experienced genocide and deportation in the 1940s under Stalin, and have struggled to keep their culture alive…” To read more, click here.

 

Endangered Language Activism, Enduring Voices Project, Gregory D. S. Anderson, Indigenous Language Activists, Media and Publicity, Support Endangered Languages

Dr. Gregory Anderson helps record the Xyzyl Language in Siberia

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Dr. Anderson is currently doing fieldwork in Siberia and recently published an article about his work:

“The 2012 Enduring Voices expedition to the Siberia Language Hotspot has allowed us to explore the current state of the Xyzyl (pronounced hizzle) language from the Republic of Xakasia (pronounced ha-KAH-see-ya, also spelled “Khakasiya”).

We traveled across the birch-covered hills of southern Siberia and into the wind-swept steppe dotted with ancient burial mounds until we reached the Xyzyl territory northwest of Mongolia. We visited five villages and identified fifty to sixty total speakers and semi-speakers.

Xyzyl is an unrecognized “hidden” language officially considered a dialect of the Xakas language. Xyzyl people we interviewed insist theirs is a separate language and our linguistic analysis supports this…”

For the rest of Dr. Anderson’s article, please check out right here on Nat Geo NewsWatch.

Thanks for reading!