Endangered Languages Week 2007
23-26 April 2007
Theatre, Film & Exhibition
at SOAS, Russell Square
 Living On
A play by David Crystal
Monday 23rd April - 6:30-9:30pm
A reading of the play, followed by discussion with author and cast
Khalili Lecture Theatre
Booking essential 020 7898 4578 elap@soas.ac.uk
David Crystal is one of the world's leading experts on Linguistics
and the English language. The Endangered Languages Project
at SOAS is proud to present the first London reading of his
play 'Living On'.
David Crystal began work on 'Living On' in the late 1990's with
Greg Doran, now associate director at the Royal Shakespeare
Company. His play was based on an article he wrote on endangered
languages for Civilization, the Library of Congress magazine.
"I created a 'last speaker' of a language, Shalema, invented a language, Tamasa, for him to speak, and gave him a cultural background which was a fusion of notions derived from several endangered-language communities around the world. The plot revolves around the interaction between him and a field linguist, Derek, who has been documenting his language, and a British Council officer, Miranda, who works in the city where Shalema lives. All has been going well, but then Shalema refuses to cooperate any further..."
... programme
 In Languages We Live: Voices of the World
A film directed by Janus Billeskov Jansen & Signe Byrge Sørensen
Tuesday 24th April - 5:30-6:30pm - Room B102 · turn up early · no booking required
'In Languages We Live: Voices of the World' is a documentary
about the world's linguistic diversity. Through a number of
personal stories the film asks: What is the significance of
this loss to those who speak these languages as well for the
rest of us?
The film examines language as a social, political and cultural field. Without language, any form of human societal structure would be inconceivable. It is the fundament of our relationships with other people. Why do some languages become world languages, while others are in the process of dying out? How are our language and identity connected? What does it feel like to be the last person to speak a language? How do you document a language? How does language develop? How does one translate linguistic and cultural meaning from one language to another?
"To lose my mother tongue would be like being forced into language exile. I would lose my family's history and culture" -
Director Janus Billeskov Jansen.
 Mlabri and Outsiders ROUGH CUT
A film directed by Janus Billeskov Jansen & Signe Byrge Sørensen
Tuesday 24th April - 6:30-7:30pm - Room B102 · turn up early · no booking required
For centuries the Mlabri have lived as hunters and gatherers in the jungles of northern Thailand, but the forest is disappearing and now modern society is closing in on them. So far they have managed to keep their identity and unique language alive, but at present they number only 300 people.
We meet them at a decisive moment in Mlabri history, when the first youngsters are getting ready to leave the community. This film, made by Danish film-makers Signe Byrge Sørensen and Janus Jansen is mainly in the Mlabri language with English subtitles.
 Endangered Languages Project Open Day
and Display of MA Students' Work
Wednesday 25th April - 10am-4pm - R201
The HRELP Open Day will present the Endangered Languages Project at work, including presentations, talks and practical demonstrations by ELAP, ELAR and ELDP staff and students. It will include practical demonstrations of the language documenter's work in the field and at the computer, as well as presentation of current projects, such as Dawes Online a collaborative project with SOAS Library Archives. Staff and students will be available for discussion or answering questions, and there will be a display of recent work by MA students. See the detailed programme.
 Fragments of the Owl's Egg
A film directed by Kim McKenzie
Thursday 26th April - 5-6pm - Room G2 · turn up early · no booking required
Subtle in structure, understated, full of grace and gentle laughter, this film tells several related stories: how Nadjamerrek, a celebrated Australian Aboriginal artist, is directing a fire management project from his home at Kabulwarnamyo; how rock art surrounds him at every turn; and how he quests far and wide by helicopter to find a lost art site he remembers from his youth. The story is told in Lofty's beautiful, endangered language, Kundedjnjenghmi; it is narrated by linguist Murray Garde and the words we hear seem to mingle with the splendour of the plateau, its rocks, streams and paperbarks, its cave walls and overhangs filled with ancient art.
Fragments is a film made on Aboriginal terms dealing with traditional preoccupations, yet it is very much an artistic hybrid of two ways of seeing. The pathos of the story is extreme: a movie narrated in a dying language, paying tribute to the last traditional master of a near-emptied country, discovers at last a style of film that crosses fluidly between worlds.
seats by reservation for 'Living On' · email elap@soas.ac.uk
seats for film showings · first come first served
ELAP OFFICE · 020 7898 4578 · School of Oriental and African Studies · Thornhaugh Street · Russell Square · London WC1 0XG
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