Collaborative Research: CoLang 2020: Institute for Collaborative Language Research, Montana

Chief Dull Knife Memorial College, Lame Deer MT

Investigators

Abstract

Collaborative and community-based research models have increasingly been the interests in the field of language documentation and revitalization. Since its inception in 2008, the Institute on Collaborative Language Research (CoLang) has been a biennial venue for researchers and community language workers to receive intensive training in collaborative language research responding to the global need for quality language documentation in the face of the world-wide crisis in language endangerment. In 2020, CoLang will be held at the University of Montana (UM), co-hosted by UM and Chief Dull Knife College (CDKC -- a two-year tribal college of the Northern Cheyenne in Montana). It will bring stakeholders together to develop collaborative practices and extend networking among all participants including language workers, language activists, language teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, and linguists from both academic and language communities. In partnering with each other, CoLang 2020 co-hosts (UM and CDKC) will demonstrate an Indigenous/non-Indigenous collaboration at the organizational level and encourage participation from the Indigenous communities of the United States and Canada. The Institute has continuously advanced knowledge in linguistics by its role in developing and sharing cutting edge practices in the scientific, ethical and sustainable methods for understanding the linguistic structure of the world's estimated 7,000 languages and for understanding the complex and important role language plays at the community level. Broader impacts of project activities includes the training of a wide range of audiences in skills in community-centered language documentation, supporting and building capacity at Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) in STEM through the language sciences and the broadening participation of American Indians and Alaska Natives in the language sciences. With prior Institutes held in 2008 (University of California, Santa Barbara), 2010 (University of Oregon), 2012 (University of Kansas), 2014 (University of Texas-Arlington), 2016 (University of Alaska-Fairbanks), and 2018 (University of Florida), CoLang has developed a significant track record of national and international success, and previous participants have incorporated their Institute experiences into successful fieldwork projects and community documentation activities worldwide. CoLang 2020 will devote five weeks to intensive training in collaborative approaches to language documentation. The first two weeks will consist of focused workshops and organized discussions, providing hands-on training in the latest linguistic technology, interdisciplinary methods, and best practices in ethical community collaborations. The following three weeks are dedicated to "practica" (intensive field methods), where students will work directly with speakers of selected endangered languages to learn documentation methods and applications first-hand, integrating the skills acquired during the preceding workshops. The Institute is at the forefront of methodology development through the intensive training facilitated by co-instructors coming from the international community of indigenous and academic experts in linguistic and interdisciplinary researchers. Importantly, CoLang 2020 activities in this area continue to support models of robust, reliable, and ethical research in the social and behavioral sciences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.