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Documentation of Endangered Languages

Linguists around the world have preserved languages threatened with extinction.

16.02.2015
© dpa/ZB - Bedrohte Sprachen

The project “Documentation of Endangered Languages” (DobeS) was funded with 28 million euros by the Volkswagen Foundation. The guardian of the data trove that resulted from this research is now the Max Planck Institute for Psycho-Linguistics in Nimwegen. An interview with archive manager Paul Trilsbeek.

What is the definition of an “endangered” language?
A language is endangered if there is a risk that the language will no longer be spoken within a few generations due to the lack of inter generational transmission (i.e. children do not learn the language any more in particular at home). Different levels of endangerment are often distinguished.

How many languages fall into this category and are there regions in the world which are more affected than others?

There are estimates that approximately half of the between 6,000 and 7,000 languages that are spoken today are endangered in some way, so more than 3,000 languages. In general one can say that in regions of the world where there is still a lot of linguistic diversity, also many of these languages are endangered.

Why do researchers want to preserve these languages – isn’t their fading a natural development?
Most researchers want to document and study these languages in the first place, but will also do their best to help the speech communities to preserve or revitalize their language. The rapid decline in the number of spoken languages of the past decades can no longer be attributed to “natural” phenomena alone. Industrialization, globalization as well as political factors had a major impact on the loss of languages.

What exactly will you and your colleagues be doing with the data that was collected for DobeS in the past years?

The primary purpose of the DobeS archive was to have a long lasting multimedia documentation of some of the worlds endangered languages such that they can be studied in the future as well. Besides this, the archive could serve many other purposes, such as the  study of other aspects of these cultures, or the usage of the documentation materials by the communities themselves.

International Mother Language Day, 21 February 2015

www.dobes.mpi.nl

www.volkswagenstiftung.de

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