Stabilizing Indigenous Languages – From Documentation to Revitalization

This project joins the expertise of scholars in applied linguistics, Indigenous literatures, and bilingual education with that of tribal communities to advance research and efforts to revitalize endangered Indigenous languages. We seek support for the 2009 Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium, and international forum for the exchange of scholarship and best practices on teaching and preserving the world's Indigenous languages. This conference will be a venue for: (1) preparing an anthology of Indigenous language revitalization intitiatives, including written and oral traditions; and (2) convening stakeholders to provide input into a grant proposal to the NEH-NSF Documenting Endangered Languages program. Key to the seed grant and the larger project is teh direct involvement of Southwest Indigenous communities in the collection of spoken and written linguistic resources that can be applied to tribal language revitalization efforts while furthering knowledge and understanding of Indigenous languages and the unique cultural knowledge they encode.