Documenting endangered languages through training and capacity building among diaspora communities

University Of Hawaii, Honolulu

Investigators

Abstract

The dispersal of people from their places of origin into diaspora communities has accelerated in recent years. The current project supports diaspora communities by working to document endangered languages, which in multiple cases have few written or audiovisual resources. The research team trains speakers in recording languages and developing language learning materials appropriate for their communities. These materials are of immediate use in educational contexts. The project trains graduate students and faculty to mentor heritage undergraduate students in methods of linguistic research and data analysis, culminating in novel research publications on endangered languages. To extend this work to a broad audience, the members of this project organize and host public conversations on language work in diaspora communities in academic and community forums. Endangered languages are often represented by limited descriptive work and documentary materials. A general paucity of language access exacerbates the educational, employment, and healthcare challenges faced by diaspora communities. This project takes a process-oriented diasporic approach to language, analyzing how language works through the lens of complex social factors related to migration and multilingualism. In challenging long-held assumptions about what constitutes a "language community," the diasporic approach addresses a prominent gap in the field of language documentation. Thus, the project bolsters the description and documentation of endangered languages and increases the profile of these languages in linguistic research. Through partnerships with local community organizations, the project's outputs directly support endangered languages in diaspora communities and bridge identified educational gaps. The first goal is to produce richly annotated, multipurpose language documentation materials that serve as the foundation for a wide variety of grammatical studies. This documentary material is accompanied by targeted studies of unique speech phenomena in several languages using state-of-the-art ultrasound technology to complement acoustic measurements. A third goal is to build the capacity for language work within diaspora communities through project-based training workshops for community members on language documentation and conservation. Finally, project members engage in local and international outreach through local cultural events as well as academic conferences. This outreach breaks new ground in the domain of language documentation and conservation by fostering a dialogue between diaspora communities, scholars, and society, with potential for innovative, synergistic progress in language advocacy, maintenance, and education. 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.