workshop | Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages

In October 2012, Dr. K. David Harrison traveled to Bogotá, Colombia, to participate in the 3rd annual “Festival de la Palabra” (Festival of Words) in honor of the diversity indigenous languages and cultures in Colombia.

The event was organized by the Instituto Caro y Cuervo. More information, including the event program, can be found on the event website, which describes the event as follows:

“El Festival de la Palabra Caro y Cuervo en su tercera versión está dirigido a presentar la riqueza cultural de diversas comunidades indígenas de nuestro país a través de manifestaciones culturales (música, danza, arte propio, medicina tradicional), esta es una oportunidad para compartir un espacio alrededor de la palabra.

El Festival de la Palabra Caro y Cuervo es el evento más destacado dentro de las actividades que la institución desarrolla en el marco de la conmemoración de sus 70 años de existencia. La programación incluye talleres, conferencias y mesas redondas sobre lenguas nativas en las que participarán representantes de las comunidades indígenas, estudiosos e investigadores de estas comunidades; así mismo habrá una muestra artística y cultural. El evento contará también con la participación del lingüista David Harrison quien es conocido por sus estudios de lenguas en peligro de extinción.”

In conjunction with the festival, Dr. Harrison was also involved in teaching a Talking Dictionary Workshop. He met many leaders in the field of indigenous language activism in Colombia. Here are some of his photos, and the rest of the slideshow can be viewed on his Living Tongues photo album on Facebook.

Prof. Eudocio Becarra (Uitoto language expert) with Páez (Nasa Yuwe) team members Yesenia Rincón Jimenéz and Anania Piñacue.

Embera team recording: Angelica Maná Avila, Daniel Aguirre, Lina Tobón Yagaií

Audience at K. David Harrison lecture on digital dictionaries

Instituto Caro y Cuervo, Bogotá, Colombia

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).