Saving Languages and Dena’ina

A Plan to Save Thousands of Endangered Languages is an NPR interview (July 14, 2006) with Terry Langendoen and a cameo appearance by Peter Kalifornsky speaking Dena’ina. (Note that the text on the NPR page wrongly states there are 6,000-7,000 declining languages. The interview correctly states that about half that number are in decline.)
Langendoen is [...]

Ös in US Geography Bee

As reported in the Seattle Times today, Ös known as Чулымский язык in Russian and Chulym in English (clw) was in one of the questions of the final round of the National Geographic Bee (think spelling bee, but with geography questions).
As posted in the article, the question was: Chulym, an endangered language with fewer [...]

2008 – International Year of Languages

With apologies for this brief entry, the General Assembly has pronounced 2008 the International Year of Languages (media release). Thanks to Indigenous Languages Speak for the entry Good News about this announcement.
Although intermittently at first, the United Nations General Assembly generally names each year for a topic of focus. Recently, years have received more than [...]

News bits

Indian language preserved on CD (July 1, 2000): The National Indian Telecommunications Institute uses a grant from the Fund for Four Directions to record Comanche.
American Indian/Alaska Native Education: An Overview (May 21, 2007): Article by Jon Reyhner summarizing the history, current situation and issues of Native education in the US.
Language Activists Panel Summary (1996): Article [...]

Teachers looking for budgets

The US education system is complex. Education is the responsibility of individual states, and with 50 states, that means a wide variation in how language revitalization programs are handled both because of state language policy as well as budget availability. Nevertheless, there is a national Department of Education and funding is provided from time to [...]

Software for Language Learning

CALICO (Computer Assisted Language Instruction COnsortium) has an annual conference to discuss methods of using computers to assist with language instruction. This year’s symposium has just passed, but in 2001, Robert Balas and Anne George presented on their “La Taupe” and “A travers la lumiere” programs that allow popular video software QuickTime videos to be [...]

Ladino in Spain

A descendant of medieval Spanish, the endangered language Ladino (lad) is once again of interest in Spain.
A language spoken by the Jews in the Iberian Peninsula (the Sephardic Jews), Ladino followed them when they were exiled in Spain by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492 and in Portugal by King Manuel five years later. [...]

News Links

Obituary: Karl V. Teeter: Researcher of Wiyot and Maliseet
Nationalism, Native Language Maintenance and the Spread of English: A Comparative Study of the Cases of Guam, the Philippines and Puerto Rico: A dissertation by Sharon Clampitt, provided online
Effective Language Education Practices & Native Language Survival: from Native American Language Issues 1990. Contents include Dene standardization and [...]

News Links

Linguistic diversity and scholarship: Endangered languages as a critical part of diversity and as a resource for scientific inquiry
3 at UA nominees for Regents’ Professor: Ofelia Zepeda, cofounder of the American Indian Language Development Institute is nominated for Regents’ Professor
One for the Road : Short review of Mark Abley’s Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages
Communicating [...]

Stopping the Tip

In India, the Oraon tribe speak Kuruk or Kurux (kru), a Dravidian language. With more than two million speakers, according to the Ethnologue, it would seem the language is safe.
According to Indian radio site See More Catholic News, however, a tip is underway. A May 9 article relates how social and cultural advancements in conjunction [...]