Language Documentation & Description

Table of Contents

• Organizations/Institutions
• Databases & Websites
• Fellowships for Language Documentation
• Journals
• Language Archives
  • International Archives
  • Areal Archives
• Software and Applications

Organizations/Institutions

• The Endangered Languages Project
• SIL International
• Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages (SPPEL)
• Society for Endangered and Lesser-known Languages (SEL)
• The Foundation for Endangered Languages (FEL)

Databases & Websites

Key resources for language documentation and research include:

• Glottolog: A comprehensive reference for the world’s languages, offering detailed information on lesser-known languages.
• Ethnologue: Provides statistics and detailed information on living languages globally.
• Grammar Watch: A resource for finding, reading, and citing open-access grammars.
• Databases by Association for Linguistic Typology: A collection of databases for linguistic research.
• The E-MELD School of Best Practices in Language Documentation: Offers guidance on various aspects of language documentation.
• Journal of Language Survey Reports: Access to SIL’s sociolinguistic surveys.
• MPI EVA Tools for Language Description: Tools for field linguistics and language description.
• Archiving for the Future: An educational resource for archiving in language documentation.

Fellowships

Several organizations offer fellowships and grants for language documentation and preservation:

• The Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP): Provides grants for documenting endangered languages.
• The Endangered Language Fund (ELF): Offers funding for language preservation projects.
• The Foundation for Endangered Languages (FEL): Supports projects that document and protect endangered languages.
• Firebird Foundation for Anthropological Research (FFAR): Grants for anthropological and linguistic research.
• Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (WGFAR): Dissertation fieldwork grants.

Journals

• Language Documentation and Description
• Language Documentation and Conservation
• Himalayan Linguistics

Language Archives

International Archives

• Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR): A digital repository for endangered language documentation materials.
• Documentation of Endangered Languages (DoBeS): Hosted by the Max Planck Institute.
• Pangloss: An archive for languages and oral traditions, hosted by CNRS, France.
• Rosetta Project: Aims to develop a contemporary version of the historic Rosetta Stone.

Areal Archives

Regional archives focusing on specific geographical areas:

• Alaska Native Language Archive: Preserves and shares documentation of Alaska Native languages.
• California Language Archive: A repository for materials on the languages of California and the Americas.
• Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA): Dedicated to the preservation of indigenous languages of Latin America.
• Pacific And Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC): Focuses on the digital preservation of research materials from the Pacific and surrounding regions.
• Kaipuleohone Language Archive: University of Hawaii’s digital language archive, focusing on the Pacific and Asia.
• LangueDOC: An archive for languages of Russia and neighboring countries.
• African Language Materials Archive (ALMA): A digital archive for African language materials.
• The Computational Resource for South Asian Languages (CoRSAL): Archive focusing on South Asian languages.
• Sikkim-Darjeeling Himalayas Endangered Language Archive (SiDHELA): An archive for endangered languages in the Sikkim-Darjeeling Himalayan region.

Software and Applications

Tools and software commonly used in language documentation:

• FLEx (FieldWorks Language Explorer): A tool for linguistic analysis and data management, particularly useful for managing lexicons and interlinearizing texts.
• ELAN: An annotation tool for audio and video recordings, allowing for detailed transcription and analysis of linguistic data.
• SayMore: Assists in managing and annotating language documentation materials, streamlining the process of preparing data for archiving.
• Lameta: A metadata tool designed to help documenters create, edit, and manage metadata for language resources.
• Field Linguist’s Toolbox: A data management and analysis tool for field linguists, useful for managing dictionaries, texts, and cultural data.
• Phonology Assistant: A tool for analyzing phonetic and phonological data.
• Webonary: Provides a platform to publish dictionaries online, making them easily accessible.
• Praat: A software for phonetic analysis of speech, including speech synthesis and manipulation.
• Lexique Pro: A tool for creating, managing, and publishing dictionaries.
• IPA Keyboard: A tool for typing International Phonetic Alphabet symbols.
• IPA Help: A software for learning and teaching the pronunciation of IPA symbols.
• Comparalex: A database for comparing lexical data across languages.
• Transcriber: A tool for segmenting, labeling, and transcribing speech.
• Other SIL Products: A range of software products for language documentation and analysis.
• Audacity: A free, open-source, cross-platform audio software for recording and editing sounds.
• CuPED: A tool for aligning and analyzing elicited linguistic data.

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