Endangered Languages Week 2008

School of Oriental and African Studies
Russell Square, London

30 April to 8 May 2008

Through films, displays, discussions and workshops Endangered Languages Week 2008 presents what is being done to document, archive and support endangered languages at HRELP and around the world. There are approximately 7,000 languages spoken today and half of them are under threat from larger languages.

The theme is “What can WE do?”, exploring how researchers, students, language community members and members of the public can work together to address the challenges of global language and cultural loss.

Activities include:

• UK premiere of the acclaimed new film The Linguists shown at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival (... more info about the film ...)
• Meet an Endangered Language - a series of short presentations where you will come face-to-face with five endangered languages, learn about where they are spoken and why they are threatened, experience their culture - as well as learn some basic words and phrases
• Open Day - when we open our doors so you can meet researchers, see displays of staff and student work, and experience the latest technologies used to record, archive and support endangered languages
• What is Your Language Footprint? - A debate on how to encourage personal action in support of language diversity
• a full day workshop on Engagement and Activism in Endangered Languages Research
• a specialist workshop on using Geographical Information Systems for linguists
• a day of international films on endangered languages with work from Australia, Denmark, Taiwan and UK
• seminars on moral and ethical issues in language fieldwork

Speakers include SOAS staff together with Dr Lise Dobrin (USA), Prof Maurizio Gnerre (Italy), Dr David Harrison (USA), Dr Cecelia Ode (Netherlands), Dr Nicholas Ostler (UK), Prof Peter Sutton (Australia) and Dr Ljuba Veselinova (Sweden).

Most events are free of charge and open to anyone who is interested in endangered languages.

Listen to podcasts from Peter Austin, Maurizio Gnerre, Julia Sallabank and Cathy Edwards at OpenAir online radio

Go to full programme of events

Acknowledgements : For support of the film events, we thank Ironbound Films, Final Cut Films, Dr Kim McKenzie, Dr Yih-Ren Lin, and the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies.