Looking for where language justice issues are cropping up in media? Or looking for ways to get involved in your local community? Here is a list of resources compiled by Lee Abraham, Lecturer and Language Program director at Columbia University. Feel free to browse, watch, and share. If you have thoughts, we’d love to hear them in the comments below.
News Reports and Documentaries
Casey, N. (2017, December 26). Thousands once spoke his language in the Amazon. Now, he’s the only one. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://nyti.ms/2pzV1fH
- New York Times video documentary
BBC Radio 4 series on language endangerment and policy, Mark Turin, University of British Columbia / Yale University: available online
Language Matters, PBS: Complete video; Film website
Leanne Hinton (University of California, Berkeley). Breath of Life: Its origins, evolution, and transformative impacts. Video
GLJ is also not the only project taking up language justice issues. If you’re not in New York City and are looking to get involved or just to learn more, check out the following organizations and initiatives taking place around the world (though this list is still mostly Anglo-Eurocentric). If we’ve missed some, please let us know! We’re always happy to compile resources and build connections. The more people are involved, the better.
Scholarly Groups and Associations
Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Linguistics
Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA)
Initiatives
Mobility and Inclusion in Multilingual Europe (MIME). European Union.
Poetry and Endangered Languages
Endangered Poetry Project, Southbank Centre, United Kingdom
Macdonald, F. (2017, October 13). The people saving ‘lost’ words. BBC News.
Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20171013-the-people-saving-lost-words
Organizations
United Nations Study Group on Language: Website
Linguistic Society of America Committee on Endangered Languages and their Preservation (CELP)
DELAMAN is an international network of archives of data on linguistic and cultural diversity, in particular on small languages and cultures under pressure.
Digital Endangered Languages and Musics Archives Network
The Documenting Endangered Languages (DEL) partnership between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH); develop and advance knowledge concerning endangered human languages.
The Endangered Language Alliance (ELA), based in New York City, focused on the immense linguistic diversity of urban areas.
Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) at The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London: repository for documentation of endangered languages.
The Endangered Language Fund dedicated to the documentation and revitalization of endangered languages.
Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP) is to preserve endangered language globally and provides funding for linguists and linguistic anthropologists to document endangered languages.
Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages documents, preserves, and revitalizes endangered languages worldwide through linguist-aided, community-driven multimedia language documentation projects and the development of talking dictionaries.
National Geographic Society’s Enduring Voices is a joint project with the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages that documents languages and prevents their extinction by identifying crucial areas where languages are endangered.
The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) promotes language preservation in the Pacific and South-East Asian region through digitization and archiving of recordings of endangered languages.
Smithsonian Recovering Voices Initiative, led by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in partnership with National Museum of the American Indian and Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, promotes the documentation and revitalization of the world’s endangered languages through research, collaboration, and resources.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger is an interactive atlas enabling viewers to browse through the world’s endangered languages using various search criteria or by clicking on a world map.
UNESCO Endangered Languages Programme monitors and assesses the status and trends in linguistic diversity, and supports advocacy, technical expertise, and training.
Indigenous Knowledge and Languages is an initiative of UNESCO that promotes intergenerational transmission of indigenous knowledge and language.
UNESCO Indigenous Peoples Homepage
UNESCO Protecting Our Heritage and Fostering Creativity
International Mother Language Day Observed throughout the world each year on February 21.
Languages and Inclusive Education consists of ongoing initiatives aimed at enhancing the quality of learning and promoting inclusive education involving language.
Through Linguistic Diversity on the Internet, UNESCO has been providing substantial support to several initiatives and projects to measure linguistic diversity on the Internet.
Local Content on the Internet is the subject of a study prepared by UNESCO, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
UNESCO provides recommendations to its member states concerning Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace.
Explorations in Global Language Justice 