Contains text in Algonquian, Cherokee, Choctaw, Dakota, Danish, Dutch, English, French / Français, German, Iroquoian, Italian, Micmac, Mohawk, Ojibwa, Salishan, Spanish and Swedish languages.
AILLA: Archive of the indigenous languages of Latin AmericaAILLA is a digital archive of recordings and texts in and about the indigenous languages of Latin America. Access to archive resources is free of charge. Most of the resources in the AILLA database are available to the public, but some have special access restrictions.
Registry of Research Data Repositories by discipline
The Rosetta ProjectThe Rosetta Project is a global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers working to build a publicly accessible digital library of material on the nearly 7,000 known human languages. The collection currently contains nearly 100,000 pages of material documenting over 2,500 languages, as well as a growing multimedia collection of modern and historical language recordings.
Syllabics.netSyllabics.net is a tool to aid in the preservation of aboriginal languages. Using this tool you can easily develop materials in syllabics as well as Standard Roman Orthography (SRO) even if you do not have access to a syllabic keyboard layout. It should also work from any computer, tablet, or mobile device without needing to install any fonts or additional software.
Works with Cree, Inuktitut, Naskapi, Ojibwe, and Cherokee.
SIL International Language & Culture ArchivesContains works collected, compiled, or created by SIL, its strategic partners, or members of ethnolinguistic minority communities. Search and browse over 40,000 resources dating from 1935 to the present that describe, document, and/or communicate in the languages and cultures SIL serves.
ELP: Endangered Languages ProjectThe Endangered Languages Project puts technology at the service of the organizations and individuals working to confront the language endangerment by documenting, preserving and teaching them. Through this website, users can not only access the most up to date and comprehensive information on endangered languages as well as language resources being provided by partners, but also play an active role in putting their languages online by submitting information or samples in the form of text, audio or video files. In addition, users will be able to share best practices and case studies through a knowledge sharing section and through joining relevant Google Groups.
ComparaLexComparaLex is an online lexical database developed by the Canada Institute of Linguistics. The database stores language word list data including audio samples and makes them available for linguistic analysis and historical and comparative linguistic reconstruction.
Background Information
The Routledge handbook of language revitalizationThe Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization is the first comprehensive overview of the language revitalization movement, from the Arctic to the Amazon and across continents. Featuring 47 contributions from a global range of top scholars in the field, the handbook is divided into two parts, the first of which expands on language revitalization issues of theory and practice while the second covers regional perspectives in an effort to globalize and decolonize the field. The collection examines critical issues in language revitalization, including:
language rights, language and well-being, and language policy;
language in educational institutions and in the home;
new methodologies and venues for language learning;
and the roles of documentation, literacies, and the internet.
The volume also contains chapters on the kinds of language that are less often researched such as the revitalization of music, of whistled languages and sign languages, and how languages change when they are being revitalized.
ISBN: 9781317200857
Encyclopedia of the world's endangered languagesThe concern for the fast-disappearing language stocks of the world has arisen particularly in the past decade, as a result of the impact of globalization. This book appears as an answer to a felt need: to catalogue and describe those languages, making up the vast majority of the world's six thousand or more distinct tongues, which are in danger of disappearing within the next few decades. Endangerment is a complex issue, and the reasons why so many of the world's smaller, less empowered languages are not being passed on to future generations today are discussed in the book's introduction. The introduction is followed by regional sections, each authored by a notable specialist, combining to provide a comprehensive listing of every language which, by the criteria of endangerment set out in the introduction, is likely to disappear within the next few decades. These languages make up ninety per cent of the world's remaining language stocks. Each regional section comprises an introduction that deals with problems of language preservation peculiar to the area, surveys of known extinct languages, and problems of classification. The introduction is followed by a list of all known languages within the region, endangered or not, arranged by genetic affiliation, with endangered and extinct languages marked. This listing is followed by entries in alphabetical order covering each language listed as endangered. Useful maps are provided to pinpoint the more complex clusters of smaller languages in every region of the world. The Encyclopediatherefore provides in a single resource: expert analysis of the current language policy situation in every multilingual country and on every continent, detailed descriptions of little-known languages from all over the world, and clear alphabetical entries, region by region, of all the world's languages currently thought to be in danger of extinction. The Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languageswill be a necessary addition to all academic linguistics collections and will be a useful resource for a range of readers with an interest in development studies, cultural heritage and international affairs. amp;lt;/P> Each regional section comprises an introduction that deals with problems of language preservation peculiar to the area, surveys of known extinct languages, and problems of classification. The introduction is followed by a list of all known languages within the region, endangered or not, arranged by genetic affiliation, with endangered and extinct languages marked. This listing is followed by entries in alphabetical order covering each language listed as endangered. Useful maps are provided to pinpoint the more complex clusters of smaller languages in every region of the world. The Encyclopediatherefore provides in a single resource: expert analysis of the current language policy situation in every multilingual country and on every continent, detailed descriptions of little-known languages from all over the world, and clear alphabetical entries, region by region, of all the world's languages currently thought to be in danger of extinction. The Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languageswill be a necessary addition to all academic linguistics collections and will be a useful resource for a range of readers with an interest in development studies, cultural heritage and international affairs. extinction. The Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languageswill be a necessary addition to all academic linguistics collections and will be a useful resource for a range of readers with an interest in development studies, cultural heritage and international affairs.
ISBN: 9780203645659
The Cambridge Handbook of Endangered LanguagesIt is generally agreed that about 7,000 languages are spoken across the world today and at least half may no longer be spoken by the end of this century. This state-of-the-art Handbook examines the reasons behind this dramatic loss of linguistic diversity, why it matters, and what can be done to document and support endangered languages. The volume is relevant not only to researchers in language endangerment, language shift and language death, but to anyone interested in the languages and cultures of the world. It is accessible both to specialists and non-specialists: researchers will find cutting-edge contributions from acknowledged experts in their fields, while students, activists and other interested readers will find a wealth of readable yet thorough and up-to-date information.
ISBN: 9781139081566
Publication Date: 2011
Documenting Endangered LanguagesThe rapid decline in the world's linguistic diversity has prompted the emergence of documentary linguistics. While documentary linguistics aims primarily at creating a durable, accessible and comprehensive record of languages, it has also been a driving force in developing language annotation and analysis software, archiving architecture, improved fieldwork methodologies, and new standards in data accountability and accessibility. More recently, researchers have begun to recognize the immense potential available in the archived data as a source for linguistic analysis, so that the field has become of increasing importance for typologists, but also for neighbouring disciplines. The present volume contains contributions by practitioners of language documentation, most of whom have been involved in the Volkswagen Foundation's DoBeS programme (Dokumentation Bedrohter Sprachen). The topics covered in the volume reflect a field that has matured over the last decade and includes both retrospective accounts as well as those that address new challenges: linguistic annotation practice, fieldwork and interaction with speech communities, developments and challenges in archiving digital data, multimedia lexicon applications, corpora from endangered languages as a source for primary-data typology, as well as specific areas of linguistic analysis that are raised in documentary linguistics.
UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in DangerThe online edition of the Atlas is complementary to the print edition It does not reproduce the regional and thematic chapters of the print version, but it offers additional information on the listed endangered languages. Via this interface, you can browse through them, using combinations of search criteria and/or zooming in the map below (see Browsing functionnalities ). For more detailed information, please consult the Languages mapping
GlottologGlottolog provides a comprehensive catalogue of the world's languages, language families and dialects, especially lesser known languages. It assigns a unique and stable identifier (the Glottocode) to (in principle) all languoids, i.e. all families, languages, and dialects. Any variety that a linguist works on should eventually get its own entry. The languoids are organized via a genealogical classification (the Glottolog tree) that is based on available historical-comparative research (see also the Languoids information section).
Open Language Archives Community (OLAC)OLAC is an international partnership of institutions and individuals who are creating a worldwide virtual library of language resources by: (i) developing consensus on best current practice for the digital archiving of language resources, and (ii) developing a network of interoperating repositories and services for housing and accessing such resources.