Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages facts for kids
The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages (LTIEL) is a special group that helps save languages that are disappearing. It's a non-profit organization based in Salem, Oregon, USA. This means they don't work to make money, but to help people.
Their main goal is to study and record languages that are in danger of being lost forever. They also help communities learn and use their native languages again. The person who started this institute and leads it is Dr. Gregory D. S. Anderson.
One cool thing they do is teach young people how to record their elders speaking their traditional languages. This helps create a record of the language and makes the community proud of their heritage.
The institute has made more than 100 "living dictionaries" online. These are like regular dictionaries but they are always being updated and can include sounds and videos of people speaking the language. From 2007 to 2013, the Living Tongues Institute worked with National Geographic’s Enduring Voices Project. Dr. Gregory D. S. Anderson and Dr. K David Harrison, who used to be a research director, are both experts who work with National Geographic. They also partner with groups like La Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala and Ironbound Films, which made a movie called The Linguists.
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What the Institute Does
The Living Tongues Institute works on many exciting projects around the world. They help communities keep their languages alive and share them with new generations.
Saving Languages Around the World
The institute has many projects focused on specific languages. They work with people who speak these languages to record them and create resources. Some of these language projects include:
- Altai-Sayan Language and Ethnography Project
- Ös/Middle Chulym Documentation Project
- Eleme/Baan Language Project
- Kallawaya Language Project
- Munda Languages Project
Finding Language Hotspots
The institute also works on a project called the Language Hotspots Project. This project, called "Enduring Voices", started in 2007 with the National Geographic Society. They travel to places around the world where many languages are in danger. These "hotspots" include places like Bolivia, East India, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Australia.
The Linguists Film Project
The institute was also involved with The Linguists Film Project. This movie helps people understand why it's important to save endangered languages.
Online Living Dictionaries
A big part of their work is creating online Living Dictionary Projects. These digital dictionaries are a great way to keep languages alive and make them available for people to learn and use.
Related Topics
- Language death: When a language is no longer spoken by anyone.
- Language documentation: The process of recording and describing a language.
- Language isolate: A language that has no known relatives.
- Language revival: Efforts to bring a language back into use.
- List of Language Self-Study Programs: Ways to learn languages on your own.
- List of revived languages: Languages that have been brought back.
