Education
Effort seeks to preserve endangered languages


The National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities have launched an effort to preserve endangered languages throughout the world.

The project has so far awarded $4.4 million in grants. An additional $2 million a year is now available, according to the Associated Press.

The effort is being used to preserve Native languages. The University of Alaska, Fairbanks, has received about $110,000 to digitize Yup'ik audio recordings. The Museum of the Cherokee Indian in North Carolina is using $168,000 to digitize, translate, and assess Cherokee language materials.

The Chief Dull Knife College in Montana received $100,000 to protect the Northern Cheyenne language. The University of Arizona is using $200,000 for Mohave and Chemehuevi. There are only five fluent speakers of Chemehuevi, according to a researcher.

Get the Story:
Project Seeks to Preserve Dying Languages (AP 8/10)
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Relevant Links:
National Endowment for the Humanities - http://www.neh.gov
National Science Foundation - http://www.nsf.gov